Dragon’s Son by M. K. Casperson

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Dragon’s Son is a short, suspenseful fantasy novel about a bitter conflict between brothers.

Beotia is a powerful kingdom, which has expanded over the last few generations to rule over many human realms. However, Beotia’s most dreaded enemy is the black dragons who live in the northern mountains. Beotia has long maintained a specialized army of dragon-slayers to defend against this foe, and that army is very much needed.

At the beginning of our story, the king of Beotia is enamored of a mysterious woman, who becomes his mistress and bears him two sons: Villian and Alexis. As the young princes grow up, the king’s only legitimate heir is a weak and unassuming daughter, which encourages their desire for power.

Yet in the end, the conflict that threatens to ruin the kingdom is between the brothers. For their mother was no ordinary woman. She was a dragon in human guise, and she bequeathed to her sons all the ambition, greed, and cruelty of her draconic heritage.

The story that follows is one of conflict between the two brothers, but also of conflict within Alexis himself. Influenced by his young wife, he struggles against the urges derived from his mother’s blood, even though he needs the powers of a dragon to defeat his brother. There’s plenty of suspense in the story, as the reader hopes to find out whether Alexis will overcome both his rival and himself.

Dragon’s Son is a fairly short novel, and the plot moves along at a fast pace. I read almost the entire story in one sitting. I was impressed by Ms. Casperson’s prose style; it was very clean, with almost no distracting copy- or line-editing problems. Viewpoint discipline is very good. The story is written from two different viewpoints (Alexis and his wife Amarea), with strict alternation and each chapter clearly labeled. No risk of getting confused here.

I found a few structural choices a little odd. The first chapter seems to set up a conflict that simply evaporates before it has any significant impact on the story. Meanwhile, the first few chapters from the protagonist’s viewpoint are all epistolary rather than viewpoint narrative. Once the main line of the plot emerges, though, it grabs the reader’s attention very effectively.

One thing that did distract me a little was the presence of historical references that ended up seeming out of place. As someone who’s familiar with Greek and Byzantine history, some character names and setting details seemed to promise that this was a historical fantasy, that certain real-world historical events might make an appearance. That turned out not to be the case, and the story went off in a very different direction than I was expecting. Not a serious issue – it’s probably just a matter of specific inspirations that the author chose not to disguise. Most readers probably won’t be diverted by these.

All in all, a very promising early novel, and a quick and exciting read. I’m interested to see what Ms. Casperson comes up with next. Very highly recommended.