This is the first volume in The Annals of Drakis. Drakis is a human in the service of the elven House Timuran. The tale begins with the attack on the ninth and final kingdom of the dwarves. During the attack, Drakis gains the final crown of the Dwarf Kings. He is forced to throw it to an allied commander when his group is surrounded and he wants to insure it is captured. They survive and find a dwarf alive; he claims to be a jester and then shows them great riches in a hidden cavern.

Drakis has been hearing a song in his head for the past few weeks and Jugar (the dwarf) says he can help with it. On the way back Jugar keeps asking where a particular item of the plunder went. He also says that the evening Devotions are a way of enslaving everyone that they just don’t remember any cruelties inflicted. When they are finally home, Timuran nearly flays him alive for losing the crown. After he is healed by Timuran’s daughter, and Drakis’s lover, he sees Jugar again and Jugar tells him he needs to remember everything and not to go to Devotions. As Drakis is trying to leave before Devotions, Jugar grabs one of the dwarven artifacts and shatters the altar.

The shattering of the altar causes everyone to remember everything the elves have suppressed in their memories. Some go mad, some become lost in their memories, some become blood crazed, and the few that regain their sanity grab what they can and escape before the elves can recover. The shattering of one altar causes a domino effect with the surrounding households and result in chaos.

Drakis’s group has many encounters and betrayals on their way north following the song that is the lament of the Dragons. The paperback has a chapter from book 2 and I am definitely going to find it.  Highly Recommended ~~ Bob LaPierre