A review by cekisha
The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan

5.0

I finally managed to finish this beast of 600 pages and I'm glad I did!
The author's writing is complex, rich and filled with interesting twists and turns.
I think the most interesting thing about the book is definitely its steampunk world that revolves around the exploitation of drakes aka dragons. The reasons why drakes are sought after lies in their blood, but not many people can use it and those that can are called the Blood-blessed. Drakes are differentiated one from another according to the color:

Blue for the mind.
Green for the body.
Red for the fire.
Black for the push.

However, these dangerous but very profitable creatures are becoming rare due to the never-ending hunting, and since greedy humans haven't had much success in breeding them, it is obvious that something needs to be done.
That's when the legend of the White Drake comes in and various secret organizations and corporations join a battle of getting a piece of it. I immediately associated the White Drake with [b:Moby-Dick or, The Whale|153747|Moby-Dick or, The Whale|Herman Melville|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327940656s/153747.jpg|2409320] which is not far from the truth - in a way they both represent the overwhelming power of the nature and ancient times that keep resisting the man's need to conquer and rule. However, you could say that in [b:The Waking Fire|25972177|The Waking Fire (The Draconis Memoria, #1)|Anthony Ryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456221270s/25972177.jpg|45880091] the White Drake's power goes even deeper and can be compared to the God's.

As for the characters, they are well developed and likeable imo. There are three major POVs and it is obvious that their fates are all gonna get intertwined. I couldn't help but compare Clay to Taniel, Braddon to Tamas and Silverpin to Ka'Poel from [b:Promise of Blood|15790883|Promise of Blood (Powder Mage, #1)|Brian McClellan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1350337505s/15790883.jpg|21512438]. Clay is a young and brave but still hormone-fueled young man just as Taniel is; while Silverpin is a mute "savage" with a mysterious past. On the other hand, the female characters from [b:The Waking Fire|25972177|The Waking Fire (The Draconis Memoria, #1)|Anthony Ryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456221270s/25972177.jpg|45880091] are better written and do not appear as one-dimensional as the ones from the Powder Mage series. My favorite character is Lizanne - she is a badass and does not bullshit around!

The only part of the book that I found underwhelming was the Hilemore's POVs - not because I disliked him as a character, since I found him really interesting, it was because I found the war tactics, artillery and ship mechanical descriptions hard to understand. However, that can be attributed to my disinterest in the topic rather than the author's inability to write well. I must admit I wish the author had switched these parts with any additional info about drakes but then this book wouldn't be part of a steampunk genre I guess.

All in all, a great 5-star read and I can't wait for the sequel [b:The Legion of Flame|25972194|The Legion of Flame (The Draconis Memoria, #2)|Anthony Ryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1488225264s/25972194.jpg|45880124] which comes out in a few months!