The Adamantine Palace
David Gemmell Morningstar Award nominee 2009.
There will be flames
The power of the Realms depends on its dragons. Jealously guarded, nurtured by their handlers, ridden by the aristocracy, they are bred for hunting and for war. But only the alchemists and the mysterious liquid they administer to the dragons stand between the Realms and disaster; for without the liquid, the dragons would return to their natural fury: Unbiddable, terrifying, awesomely strong, able to destroy an entire army and to burn a kingdom to ashes.
Prince Jehal is thinking of other things. Of power over all the Kings and Queens of the Realms; and he is prepared to charm, lie, betray, plot, and murder to get it. Nor is he alone in his ambition. Queen Shezira has her daughters and she means to use them as she herself was used, to gain the ultimate prize, marrying them off to secure her influence and power.
All sell-sword Kemir is thinking of is money. Of freedom from the un-ending arrogance of the dragon riders. And maybe of a little cold revenge against the warlords who both need him and despise him.
And now a dragon has gone missing…
Stephen Deas' debut novel is a gripping tale of Machiavellian politics, of court intrigue, of lust and betrayal. And dragons. Awe-inspiring, horrifyingly powerful, fire-breathing nightmares that have forgotten what freedom tastes like. Until now...
"A fast, sharp, ruthless read" – Joe Abercrombie
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Stephen Deas
Stephen Deas was born in 1968. He once set fire to Wales. Well one bit of Wales. Twice. When not burning principalities he played too much D&D. Despite this he managed to study theoretical physics at Cambridge, get a job at BAE, marry and have two children. He now lives in Essex. With The Adamantine Palace he plans to return to his first love; of setting fire to things.
Stephen Deas also writes under the pseudonyms of Nathan Hawke and Sam Peters. Together with Gavin Smith he writes under the pseudonym of Gavin Deas.
The Memory of Flames
The Memory of Flames consists of three primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Related series The Silver Kings
Reviews and Comments
Stephen Deas' debut fantasy book, The Adamantine Palace, was a good and enjoyable book. I enjoyed reading this book, because the plot was interesting and complex enough to keep me interested in it. The story moved fast forward, which was nice. Although I liked this book, it wasn't a perfect book because it had some flaws. The worst flaw was that there was no map of the world in the hardcover edition (epic fantasy books should always contain a map of the world). I also found the characters to be a bit one-dimensional. The chapters of this book were quite short, but that didn't bother me much, because the writer concentrated on the story and didn't fill the pages with descriptions of scenery etc (to be honest, I would've liked to see a bit more descriptions in this book). In my opinion this kind of fantasy is quite easy to read. I can recommend this book to readers of epic fantasy, because it's an enjoyable book. I'm sure that readers, who like fast moving stories, will like this book.