Tis an irony that saving the world from destruction required the building of so many destructive weapons, yet it is a world free not only from the White's malice but the respectively greedy and tyrannical ideologies of the Corporatists and Imperials. A world ripe for exploration, with the understanding that some secrets – and all Drakes – should be left alone. A world saved and now rebuilt by those who embraced their shared humanity and risked everything on impossible chances.
When I started book one, The Waking Fire, I had Grimdark suspicions regarding The Draconis Memoria and in finishing as anything compared to GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire is, for me, not exactly a ringing endorsement. Yet also people compared it Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time which, for me, is. While others named it "part Indiana Jones, part Pirates of the Caribbean, and part Mistborn" with an added chunk of steampunk naval fiction. I could not fathom such a series then. Now, on finishing, I say it this breathtakingly unique maskerwork is all that and more, including slices of Shelly's Frankenstein and Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. All infused with the rich Spirit of Tolkien, not in plot but in attitude: tis an old espionage adage never to let sentiment get in the way of one's work, but Lizanne let it guide and strengthen hers.
I salute you all, Lizanne Lethridge, Claydon Torcreek & Krizelle, Captains Corrick Hilemore & Zenida Okanas, Tekela, Loriabeth Torcreek & Lieutenant Sigoral, Captain Braddon & Fredabel Torcreek, Steelfine, Aberus, Professor Graysen Lethridge, Jermayah Tollermine, Lieutenant Talmant, Chief Bozware, the Tinkerer, Skaggerhill, Foxbine, and all the rest who put (and in some cases gave) their lives to end the White and rebuild a new world from the bloody ashes of the old.
