Secicao. A powerful drug of immeasurable power and value, but one that’s also destroying the planet.Pontopa Wells is an uncompromising entrepreneur with a dragon and a secicao operation in the Southlands. When she is contracted by King Cini, to incorporate her business with that of the conceited Faso Gordoni, she is initially unsure of her one-time rival.Then, a meeting with her much-loved … rival.
Then, a meeting with her much-loved author, Sukina Sako, convinces Pontopa that she is on the wrong side and that secicao is damaging the planet at an alarming rate.
She and Faso agree to travel with Sukina to the south, to investigate what can be done. However, King Cini has other ideas and is not about to allow his two best secicao producers to just walk away. He intercepts the group at the island of Fraw, but despite their initial incarceration Sukina surprises them all when she summons grey dragons to help them escape.
Now on the other side of a desperate fight for survival, Pontopa discovers that she’s a dragonseer, with the ability to communicate telepathically with, and command, legions of dragons.
Will her new-found ability and a diverse group of allies, be enough to defeat a king who is slowly but surely beginning to show his true nature?
Enter a world of dragons, dragonseers, airships and automatons in this Steampunk-fantasy tale like none other told before.more
This book was quite a surprise. I had no idea where the story was going to go next. I love Dragons, of course, and the Dragons here are depicted very well. The plot is very intricate with lots of twists and turns. The writing is excellent and easy to read. The pacing of the story is well done with each event building up to the next one. There characters are well written and you get a sense of their motivations very quickly all while the writer continues to build their personalities for you. The story winds up the main story line but still leaves a bit of a cliffhanger to draw the reader into the next book. All in all, this book is definitely worth the read. For the record, I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book with the request to leave an honest review for other potential readers. This book meets all of my criteria for a total of 5 stars. I look forward to reading the next installment and reviewing that one as well.
**** SPOILER ALERT ****
UPDATED:
This is not your typical tale of dragon’s and their companions and enemies.
“Dragonseer” is my first introduction to Behrsin’s writing. This “taste” of the author’s writing has left me hungry for more!
Behrsin does an excellent job of world building and I was drawn in to that world very quickly.
As we follow Pontopa’s progress through this action packed and thought provoking story learning about her innate talents and true purpose in life.
I strongly recommend this book.
In the interest of transparency: I was given a copy of this book to edit and review. I admit that I am a little biased. I am sharing this review voluntarily.
This is my own honest opinion.
Very powerful and moving. An analogy of what we humans might be doing to our Earth.
Pontopo was raised believing that the secicao oil from the secicao tree was a wonderful elixir that improved a person’s abilities, and made the King’s army stronger. She and her dragon Velos have been harvesting and making the oil for the King. The King demands that she work with Faso, a pompous inventor, to improve harvesting and production of the secicao. But then she meets someone from Faso’s past who tells them what the harvesting of secicao is really doing. It is killing the Earth and eventually the people. As they join together to let the world know, they will be in danger, taken hostage and forced to drink a liquid that could ultimately change their physiology, and fight to the death to survive. I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Chris Behrsin’s Dragonseer (Secicao Blight Book 1) is exactly what it’s advertised to be, a “Rip-roaring” steampunk fantasy adventure. I loved the world-building here, with its dragons (and dragonseers and the “collective unconscious”), airships, automatons, drug-fueled battles and so much more. Add in a neat cast, from Pontopa Wells (gotta love that name) on down (special credit to big bad drug lord King Cini (again, what name), and an imaginative and well-written plot. The result is definitely all pretty darn great. But for the fact that I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed I could go on with praises. The book certainly deserves it. Since I can’t do that I will simply note that the book is one to read, and it is easy to recommend.
A Good story. A lot of depth to it. The story feels heavy with time to me. A sorrow and also worry for the future. There is some happiness. There will be more books to explain more. If you like books about history in the making, war to achieve it and heroes who come from the bad times then you will love this one.
To me this series would be a better movie. Like they did with “Lord of the Rings” but make two movies for each book. Or better yet a series that would last for a couple of years or so. There is just so much you need to read before you understand what the concept is to be, were one picture would convey it more quickly. I received a complimentary review copy of the book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Received as a review copy, this is an honest review. The way this story is structured sadly made the book not really enjoyable. The characters and action were fine.
Good steampunk story with an original twist! Good reading,with a part two already out…(got it already).