A Chorus of Dragons (by Jenn Lyons) Reread: Book Four: The House of Always

 


Welcome to Part 3 of my reread of Jenn Lyons' A Chorus of Dragons, with this post featuring book 4 in the series, 2021's The House of Always.  You can find all my posts in this Reread - 1 post per book - by clicking this link here.

The House of Always is in some ways an odd book, as half of its plot (and the framing device) arguably feels unnecessary - as it deals not with the ramifications of the cliffhanger from book 3 (which will really be felt in the series' finale in book 5) but instead with the process of making those ramifications possible.  As I put in my initial review of this book, it could very much have felt like the series was stalling if done poorly, as well....I and presumably most readers surely wanted to see how the cliffhanger of book 3 would play out here, so it's a hell of a credit to the writing here that this book does not feel like much of a disappointment.  

The way it does so is through a second plotline featuring a number of side characters from books 1-2, many of whom we hadn't seen since book 1, that develops them into really great characters in their own right - and through examining the core relationships between the main trio in a way to finish the development that went on in The Memory of Souls.  And it works really well, even if not quite everything works.

Okay that's about as much as I can say without spoilers, so MAJOR Spoilers and more thoughts after my reread after the jump:

A Chorus of Dragons (by Jenn Lyons) Reread: Book Three: The Memory of Souls

 


Welcome to Part 3 of my reread of Jenn Lyons' A Chorus of Dragons, with this post featuring book 3 in the series, 2020's The Memory of Souls - probably my favorite of the series.  You can find all my posts in this Reread - 1 post per book - by clicking this link here.

The Memory of Souls is where A Chorus of Dragons, with the groundwork underlying the series being largely laid, finally spreads its wings and really goes all out.  Book 1 told the story pretty much entirely from Kihrin's perspective - yeah we had bits told from other perspectives all over the place, but it was Kihrin's story, which generally hindered the narrative.  Book 2 told the story half from Janel's perspective and half from Qown's (with Kihrin in the framing device).  

By contrast the Memory of Souls jumps all over the place.  Kihrin still probably gets half the chapters, but you have parts from Janel's perspective, from Tereath's perspective (finally), from Senera's perspective, from Talea's, from Grizzst's perspective, from Therin's, etc. etc.  In book 1, the wide spread of the plot was a problem, as the story couldn't focus upon a single story arc, leaving large parts feeling unsatisfyingly unresolved or pointless.  But here the wide spread of perspectives all come together in one epic end that massively changes the status quo of the series, to the point where we'll need a whole next book to come to grips with that new status quo (but we'll deal with that next week).  And well, not only do these perspectives give us an interesting story, they build the side and main characters up tremendously, build relationships to the point where I loved so many people here, and well....it's just generally great.  

More specifics after the jump, going heavily into spoilers of course:

A Chorus of Dragons (by Jenn Lyons) Reread: Book Two: The Name of All Things

 


Welcome to Part 2 of my reread of Jenn Lyons' A Chorus of Dragons, with this post featuring book 2 in the series, 2019's The Name of All Things. You can find all my posts in this Reread - 1 post per book - by clicking this link here.

And well, this time around I'm going to pretty much just be gushing, since The Name of All Things is a revelation as compared to The Ruin of Kings.  It's still not a perfect book, nor is it my favorite of the series, and it's still very much dealing with introducing various major characters - particularly Janel, Senera and Qown - and concepts that will be relevant to the rest of the series. 

But whereas The Ruin of Kings's need to introduce the world and it's concepts leads its plot to feel often scattershot, confusing and less interesting, The Name of All Things' narrative is cohesive - long and windy and going in very different places from time to time, but cohesive such that it feels like one complete part of a story.  Even as the story is clearly setting up long term plot arcs - Xaltorath's messing with Janel, Relos Var dealing with the prophecies, the Dragons and Val Korath, etc. - these parts feel like natural parts of the story being told in THIS book, as Janel struggles to fight for her people and to save them and others from threats on a much higher level.  It's just a really great book.  

Spoilers obviously after the Jump:  

A Chorus of Dragons (by Jenn Lyons) Reread: Book One: The Ruin of Kings

 



Welcome to my Reread of Jenn Lyons' epic fantasy series, A Chorus of Dragons!  This series, whose fifth and final book is scheduled to come out in April, began in 2019 with The Ruin of Kings and has since popped out three other epic fantasy doorstoppers: 2019's The Name of All Things, 2020's The Memory of Souls, and 2021's The House of Always.  And since book 2 (The Name of All Things), this has been easily one of my favorite series over the past few years, doing some really interesting things with the genre, and featuring a set of major and minor characters who are really enjoyable, fun, and interesting - to go along with some great dialogue.  I've reread books 2-4 of this series quite a bunch, and figured I'd do a blog reread of each book prior to my review of Book 5, which I got an advance copy of through NetGalley.  

That means we're starting with Book 1: The Ruin of Kings, the first book in the series, and the only one I had never before done a full reread of prior to this point.  And that's because, as I put in my original review of that book (see HERE), I didn't particularly love that book, and wasn't sure if I was even going to continue with the series after that.  And I wasn't alone in that opinion, no less than 3 other SF/F fans I've spoken to who tried book 1 managed to bounce off of it, which is a shame because Book 2 is so so good - and honestly, thanks to the recap of book 1 that starts that book, you could probably start there.  So I've actually advised people to do just that.....but well, Book 4 in the series, The House of Always, ,returns a bunch of characters from book 1, and even without remembering them too well, I felt like I probably wanted to do a reread before the finale.  

Does The Ruin of Kings still stand out as a problem for the series after reading books 2-4?  Or was its issues necessary for the rest to hit the highs?  I wanted to find out, and that's what I'll be discussing in this post, after the jump:

SPOILER WARNING BEFORE THIS POINT