The Grieving Tree of The Dragon Below Trilogy
© Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Author: Don Bassingthwaite
Pages: 936
Price: $6.99 each
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"The Dragon Below Trilogy"
By: Pat FerraraDate: Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Author Don Bassingthwaite concluded his The Dragon Below Trilogy late last year with the release of The Killing Song through Wizards of the Coast Publishing.
Before I delved into the third installment I wanted to get a true sense of what this series was all about and thus started at the beginning with The Binding Stone (2005) and The Grieving Tree (2006). Being rather unfamiliar with the Eberron world, or Forgotten Realms literature for that matter, I was surprised to find that this series was an unpretentious and easily engaging read.
Let’s get to it!
The Binding Stone
Grade: A
Don starts off the trilogy by gently introducing us to the secluded, wild forest region of The Eldeen Reaches. Geth, a stocky shifter closely related to werefolk, and Adolan, a red-bearded human shaman, are policing the wooded area around the town of Bull Hollow for dangerous beasts. When they locate the two trouble-causing monsters they encounter more than they bargain for as a lone woman gets caught up in the fray. Dandra, a stunning kalashtar psychic from the city of Sharn, has been fleeing from a strange power for the past month. Using her psionic ability to teleport (which can only be done once every couple of days or so) she has been able to evade her captors since her flight from the Shadow Marches began. At the edge of her strength she makes it to the Eldeen Reaches and collapses during the fight. After killing the invasive beasts Geth and Adolan take her to Bull Hollow and care for her.
Back in town a Blademarks mercenary recruiter has just arrived to draw fresh recruits for one of the thirteen dragonmarked houses, House Deneith. Lieutenant Singe and his fellow officer take up residence in Bull Hollow’s only inn just as Adolan rests an unconscious Dandra in his home and Geth goes to the tavern for a well deserved pint. While the townsfolk cheer the loner Geth for his good work Singe erupts at the sight of them. Once upon a time best friends, the shifter and the mercenary wizard of House Deneith were in the Blademarks company nine years ago, and their history isn’t exactly water under the bridge.
The Binding Stone of The Dragon Below Trilogy © Wizards of the Coast Publishing
First of all I gotta say this guy can write and this book was a great introduction to a new series. Don immediately sets up characters that are unique and memorable, so much so that I actually cringed when a favorite persona got killed off (which I haven’t done in a long while). Although you do have your archetypal good and evil forms, the author avoids a common pitfall of fantasy literature by painting characters with a spectrum of moral hues. Not only does this add realism to a lush world but also makes the motivations far more believable and above all leads ample room for character growth. This is evident in Singe and Geth’s haunting back story as well as the addition of a new major player: Ashi. A former foe of the Bonetree clan, Ashi transforms from a stereotypical opponent to a dynamic individual throughout the novel. A great opener.
The Grieving Tree
Grade: A
The second installment of The Dragon Below trilogy plunges you right back into the story as Geth, Singe, and Dandra realize that Dah’mir, the dragon that has been relentlessly pursuing Dandra, is still alive. Having been dealt a severe wound by Geth in The Binding Stone, Dah’mir escapes back to his underground lair of the Bonetree mound to make contact with the Master of Silence deep below the earth. There he is given a new dragonshard to restore his power… yet at a price: as punishment for his previous failure the Master of Silence removes Dah’mir’s capability to take human form, leaving him only able to change into a heron or into his true dragon aspect.
Without his ability to inconspicuously affect events in the world, Dah’mir appoints Vennet d’Lyrandar as his hand and begins his search once more for Dandra and the gang with renewed hatred (especially for Geth). In response Dandra, Geth, and Singe know that the dragon was only injured and so continue to unravel the mystery of Dah’mir’s experiments and intentions. Using the clan folklore of their newly recruited member, the former Bonetree hunter Ashi, the company solves a bit of the puzzle in their race to undermine Dah’mir’s plans.
Ashi’s clan tradition instructs all leaders of the Bonetree to travel east into the dangerous wastelands of Droaam. Following suit the group heads into the seedy city of Vralkek to look for a guide and finds out the region they want to investigate is an ancient hobgoblin ruin site that is now the domain of a powerful ogre mage. Going by the name of Tzaryan Rrac, the ogre mage has cultivated the crude ogre race around Droaam into a civilized military unit. Picking up on Tzaryan’s scholarly interest, Singe decides to masquerade as a professor conducting research on the Dhakaani hobgoblin empire.
Nothing, however, goes as planned when the group discovers Tzaryan’s new general is none other than Singe and Geth’s former Blademarks commander. As old wounds are opened the rift between Singe and Geth widens at a time when the group’s unity is needed most, for unbeknownst to them Dah’mir has already caught wind of their plans and is two steps ahead.
Although constrained somewhat in geographic scope, The Grieving Tree’s plot keeps up its fast pace as major narrative points are brought to light and polished. The group picks up another unlikely ally in the hobgoblin dirge singer Ekhaas during their trek through Droaam and the infamous former commander of the Blademarks Company is unexpectedly revealed. What I liked most about this novel is the sheer subtlety in characterization: a slew of new characters aren’t introduced but the ones that carried over from The Binding Stone show, by their actions, that you’ve only seen the tip of their personality icebergs.
The Grieving Tree also clarifies a huge over-arching plotline that really solidifies the entire trilogy (which all middle installments in my opinion should do). We find out that Dah’mir’s plan, and the reason for his experimentation on kalashtar psychics like Dandra, is to create a new type of servant for the Realm of Madness. These new servants would have the combined dark magics of the Master of Silence as well as the sheer psionic force of the kalashtar people. More importantly though these new servants would be impervious to the powers that sealed off the Realm of Madness from Eberron long ago; namely Gatekeeper and Dhakaani magic. Smooth action and an unresolved final confrontation ensures that the series won’t lose speed as it approaches its final volume.
The Killing Song of The Dragon Below Trilogy © Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Grade: A-
Although Geth, Singe, Dandra and the gang survived their last encounter with the dragon Dah’mir, they lost the powerful binding stone relics discovered in the Dhakaani ruins. Now Dah’mir rushes to the city of Sharn to use the stones on other kalashtar and create a new line of servants for the Master of Silence. Knowing what is at stake, Dandra, Singe, and Geth must warn the kalashtar and rally the Orc gatekeepers for the impending battle.
For the first time in the series Don splits up the narrative into two main plotlines: one centering on Geth and the group’s newfound hobgoblin friend Ekhaas traveling back toward the Fat Tusk Orc camp near the Shadow Marches and the other focusing on Singe, Dandra, Ashi and company going to Sharn.
Using Vennet d’Lyrandar and the bountiful cutthroats of Sharn’s seamy underbelly, Dah’mir has set up base in the City of Towers and is quickly making preparations to capture a large portion of the kalashtar population. While Dandra tries to convince the kalashtar elders of their impending danger, a new threat has quietly emerged. A mesmerizing song has begun to surface in the subconscious depths of the psychics, one that slowly drives its hosts to madness. More shocking than the nature of the song itself though is the fact that the madness seems to be growing more coherent and motivated with each new case.
Back at the Fat Tusk camp Geth and Ekhaas find they have a surprisingly easy time convincing the Gatekeepers and Orc clans to unite in war against Dah’mir and the rest of the Bonetree clan. Between the two isolated groups of our heroes we discover a more sinister threat occurring than just Dah’mir’s plans to create a new line of dark servants. As the madness and pits allies against one another, a new chaotic form of evil is rising up to challenge not only the Gatekeepers, but also Dah’mir and the Master of Silence himself.
The final installment of The Dragon Below Trilogy is just as much fun as the rest of the novels. The interactions between Geth and the Orc populace at Fat Tusk were as entertaining as the author’s descriptions of the much-alluded-to City of Towers. The actual ‘killing song’ subplot definitely threw me for a loop but did well to solidify a core theme in Eberron centering on the idea of madness. Dah’mir, the Master of Silence, and the new threat all rely on power obtained from breaking the limits of rational thought, as if the axis of good and evil hinges on the principle of entropy.
Don proves he can handle two separate plotlines at the same time while smoothly integrating them into the whole story. This worked well in the novel but also limited the potential of character interactions (I love Geth and Singe’s unstable friendship). I also felt the ending to this book was a little rushed. Maybe it’s just because I enjoyed this series so much but it seemed like all of a sudden the gang was split up and moving in their own separate directions, which made me sad. Luckily for us though Don is purportedly working on another trilogy set in the Eberron universe so hopefully we’ll see a lot of these memorable characters in the future.
