City in the Dragon's Eye by Jordan Loyal Short review

    CITY IN THE DRAGON’S EYE by Jordan Loyal Short is one of the best fantasy novels written in 2024 and like the author’s DREADBOUND ODE series or Richard Nell’s KINGS OF PARADISE, probably the best thing you can get for “fantasy literature” on Kindle Unlimited. If you think this is overly high praise, take my advice when I say that this is a five-star book of an actual scale were five means “fantastic” not “I have no real complaints and don’t want to undermine the author due to the internet algorithm gods.”

    The premise is that this takes place in a 17th-to-19th century-esque steampunk world where magic exists alongside science, but it lacks the “cutesy” quality of much steampunk. It also has elements of the Post-WW1 era where the protagonist’s country has just lost a massive war with many veterans left broken by the experience while others feel they were betrayed by their leaders surrendering.

    Viktor has a particularly problematic affliction, though, in that he now has scales across his body from where he used magic that has infected him with dragon. I mean that literally in that people who use too much magic are turned into dragons and treated like lepers as it happens. He’s fired from every job and made an outcast. Seeking a cure so that he doesn’t have to spend the rest of his life in misery, he ends up uncovering a secret society that wishes to start a new war. Victor is no hero, though. He just wants to get cured of what is probably insoluble.

    There’s also Izola, who is working at a university with her ex-husband. Unfortunately, the latter has just achieved tenure and finds the prospect of his disgruntled former spouse moving up the ranks to be intolerable. Having her career scuttled in the most painfully banal way possible, Izola searches for another way to distinguish herself. Her path crosses with Viktor in a way that goes in several unexpected directions.

    The third protagonist of the work is an incredibly foolish young dandy named Devin who has coasted his entire life on his father’s wealth as well as power. Unfortunately, this has left him with an overinflated sense of importance that gets him into incredible trouble when he attempts to fix a fight for some quick cash, only to run afoul of a local crime lord. Lacking any real resources, he ends up not so much over his head but several fathoms down.

    Jordan Loyal Short is a fantastic writer of prose but his biggest skill is that he’s extremely good at creating vivid believable characters that aren’t typical of fantasy. Viktor’s worries about whether he’ll ever get a girl with his “tumor” or his family now that he can’t hold down a job are infinitely more relatable than your typical hero’s issue with a dark lord. Izola’s inability to be seen at her place of work and regrets about having gotten married too young to a professor who turned out to be only interested in her when she was a worshipful young teacher’s assistant is familiar in a way that former assassin or princess isn’t. Yet, this is still a fantastical world filled with monsters and sorcery.

    If I had any complaints about the book, it would be that I think naming the secret society “The Thule Society” was a bit too on the nose. It’s like the author didn’t trust us to get the parallels with the Weimar Republic. Despite that, this is a wholly original secondary world with more allusions to early 20^th century history than actual parallels.

    In conclusion, if you’re looking for a fantastic new read this Fall then I think you could do far worse than pick this one up. Jordan Loyal Short is an author who manages to be dark without being grimdark and authentic when other authors are archetypal. The fact he’s an indie author versus a mass published one is almost as a shame as I think everyone should try this out.

Available here