Dragon Empire 3 : Dawn of Empire product reviews

It took me a bit longer to read this title, because it starts off referencing events that happened so close to the end of the previous book that I was compelled to re-read the last few chapters of Book 2 to refresh my memory. I am glad I did, though it wasn't as important to the larger story as it first appears.

While Book 1 had humanity and Earth as its main focus, and Book 2 took us to the Cat homeworld for the most part, this final offering took us back to Earth, but in a completely different context that I can't really explain without giving away major spoilers. What I can say is that the roughly 20% of the story that isn't set on Old Earth is set primarily on the Dragon homeworld or on the water homeworld of the alien species the Cats use as psychic weapons - the Icosapods... basically, a race of naive telepathic octopi with 20 limbs instead of 8.

The way the story twists through the various locations, and the manner in which the key plot element is brought about is pure Kylie Chan literary magic... simple, easy plot, suddenly bam, new plot shift in an unexpected direction, resolved and whap, another twist thrown in your face just to keep you on your toes. It really is masterfully done.

Because there's so much I can't say, I'll wrap this up here with this: If you have enjoyed the first two books in the series... and why wouldn't you have, if you're reading this review... you'll still get a surprise from this finale. As predicted in my review of Book 2, this is indeed the culmination and resolution phase of the trilogy and it does that admirably. A surprise new character bring about some revelations that throw the whole 'Dragon Empire' universe into a new light, showing you the absolute "reality" of life in this literary universe. William Shakespeare wrote in his play "As You Like It" the immortal phrase "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players..." but you must ask yourself... who is the audience, when that stage is the size of the universe? In that place, where the answer lies, beware... for here be dragons.