Review: The Young Jeweler Flies Into An Investigation
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 9, 2013
Draykon, by Charlotte E. English, is a great combination of mystery (one of my favorite genres) and fantasy. English introduces her characters one at a time, as real life does it, then blends them into a whirlwind of action that keeps both mystery and fantasy readers riveted to the end.Llandry is young, extremely talented, sensitive and shy, and-oh-by-the-way-she-has-wings, and has no idea of the genetic power and social conflicts she has inherited with the marriage of her parents and the restrictions of her society. What she does understand is her inner world, which is rich with her talent, her imagination, and the natural world around her. Having been granted an extremely unusual pet at age nine, she has formed a strong bond with it, and through this feels deeply about relationships with living things. Her talent and exploration of the natural world around her lead her into jewelery making, and when she discovers the beauty of some polished stones that she discovers and works them into her wares, she finds that the city she takes them to sell in goes wild for it. Orders flood in after her initial offerings are sold...but there is a dark side: first a theft from a jewelery store, then a murder of a high-society woman where the only things taken are her jewelery, then another murder, and another, all connected to the jewels. Llandry feels responsible that her work has caused these deaths, but also feels powerless to stop the chain of events.Devary mysteriously appears just as Llandry is injured in her first violent encounter in her chain of events. Strangely, her mother knows this visitor to her home and she allows Devary to lead Llandry into the investigation. Eva, close friend of the first murder victim, a woman of high society standing, a titled Lady, and also High Summoner decides to personally investigate her friend's death despite her heavy schedule of duties as High Summoner and the time demands of planning her wedding, having announced her intentions just recently. Llandry's and Eva's separate paths to discovering the true meaning of the jewels, and why these jewels had such effect on Llandry and why these jewels led to the death of Eva's friend and so many more of her countrymen and -women is a story well worth reading.I, for one, am going for Lokant, the next book in the series. I hope you will, too.