Drakenfeld by Mark Charon Newton
Drakenfeld, Mark Charon Newton, Tor, 2013, 429 pages, ISBN: 978-1-4472-1929-3
The death of the father is a critical milestone in a man’s life. It confronts him with inescapable proof of his own mortality as well as a powerful spur to examine his own level of maturity, or lack thereof.
At the start of Mark Charon Newton’s engrossing novel, Drakenfeld, Lucan Jupus Drakenfeld, Officer of the Sun Chamber has just finished presiding over a particularly gruesome, but as he explains it, justified, punishment session. Waiting for him as he exits the Temple where the punishment was exacted is his assistant Leana. She hands him a tube with the seal of the Sun Chamber. Inside is notification of his father, Calludian’s death and that he is required to travel to his home city of Tryum in the state of Detrata to deal with his father’s affairs.
After winding up their affairs in Venyn City, Lucan and Leana set sail for Tryum, expecting only a short uncomplicated stay in that city state. Of course we know that this cannot be remotely possible. Shortly after arriving in Tryum, and while most of the city’s upper classes are at a reception to welcome home Maxant, a victorious general, King Licentius’ sister, Lacanta, is discovered stabbed to death inside a locked temple. Lucan as the only representative of the Sun Chamber in the city at the time is asked to investigate.
As Lucan and Leana attempt to track down and unravel the many threads linking to the murder, more bodies pile up. Worse, some of the threads Lucan is finding, implicate his own father in dubious if not corrupt practices. And for good measure, Lucan encounters Titiana, his childhood love whom he had wronged on the orders of his father, dancing in a nightclub.
So… we have a fine witches’ brew of complicated motivations, ancient memories, wrongs unrighted and at least three murders to solve. All this wraps around a poignant story of a young man trying to come to terms with memories of a father whom he respected but couldn’t like. This has all been set into a vivid environment which, with its multiplicity of Gods, cramped, tightly packed neighbourhoods made lawless by want and need, and the monumental temples and villas of the wealthy, closely resembles ancient Rome.
The characters, from the troubled, often indecisive Lucan to Leana who has buried her pain and bad memories into serving the Sun Chamber and supporting Lucan, are well drawn and likeable. There are also a host of useful, occasionally funny supporting characters much like Shakespeare’s mechanicals, rude or otherwise.
If you like high fantasy with well executed world building, interesting characters and complex plots, then I can highly recommend Drakenfeld. 4****
Disclaimer: I received this book from the author himself after winning a competition. That in no way influenced my review which I promise is true and fair.