The Waking Fire

Orbit Books UK Cover Art by Jaime Jones.

**The Waking Fire** is an epic fantasy novel by Anthony Ryan. It is the first volume in a planned trilogy called The Draconis Memoria. It is Ryan's second series following the immensely popular Raven's Shadow trilogy. It was released on July 5, 2016. It is followed by The Legion of Flame, which was released on June 27, 2017.

The book follows the major POV characters: Claydon Torcreek, Lizanne Lethridge, and Corrick Hilemore.

## Plot Summary

Throughout the vast lands controlled by the Ironship Syndicate, nothing is more prized than the blood of drakes. Harvested from the veins of captive or hunted Reds, Green, Blues and Blacks, it can be distilled into elixirs that give fearsome powers to the rare men and women who have the ability harness them--known as the Blood-blessed. But not many know the truth: that the lines of drakes are weakening. If they fail, war with the neighboring Corvantine Empire will follow swiftly. The Syndicate's last hope resides in whispers of the existence of another breed of drake, far more powerful than the rest, and the few who have been chosen by fate to seek it. Claydon Torcreek is a petty thief and an unregistered blood-blessed, who finds himself pressed into service by the protectorate and sent to wild, uncharted territories in search of a creature he believes is little more than legend. Lizanne Lethridge is a formidable spy and assassin, facing gravest danger on an espionage mission deep into the heart of enemy territory. And Corrick Hilemore is the second lieutenant of an ironship, whose pursuit of ruthless brigands leads him to a far greater threat at the edge of the world. As lives and empires clash and intertwine, as the unknown and the known collide, all three must fight to turn the tide of a coming war, or drown in its wake.

### Main Characters

* Claydon Torcreek
* Lizanne Lethridge
* Corrick Hilemore

### Minor Characters

#### The Blinds

* Keyvine — King of Blades and Whores and ruler of the Blinds underworld
* Cralmoor — prize-fighter and former head of the Blinds underworld
* Derk — Clay's best friend and partner, former member of the managerial class
* Joya — Derk's younger sister
* Speeler — Product dealer in the Blinds
* Jesh — Speeler's muscle
* Mingus — Speeler's muscle
* Red Allice — Unregistered Blood-blessed and former pirate
* Burgrave Crovik — Member of the Blinds underworld and unregistered Blood-blessed

#### Carvenport

* Madam Bondersil — Carvenport Division Director of Arradsian Continental Holdings, Lizanne's former tutor and immediate superior
* Jermayah Tollermine — Technologist and Syndicate employee
* Fredabel Torcreek — Co-owner of the Longrifle Independant Contractor Company and Braddon's wife
* Mr. Redsel — A Blood-blessed agent sent to seduce and spy on Lizanne

#### Feros

* Professor Graysen Lethridge — Estranged father of Lizanne Lethridge. Freelance Technologist. Son of Darus Lethridge, inventor of the microscope and co-inventor of the thermo-plasmic locomotive engine

#### *IPV* *Viable Opportunity*

* Wulfcot Trumane — Captain
* Jebneel Lemhill — First Lieutenant and First Officer
* Boswald Tottleborn — Blood-blessed
* Dravin Talmant — Third Lieutenant
* Naytanil Bozware — Chief Engineer
* Steelfine — Master-at-Arms
* Zenida Okanas — Blood-blessed Captain of the *Windqueen,* and member of the Hive
* Akina Okanas — Zenida's daughter

#### Morsvale

* Tekela Akiv Artonin — Burgravev Artonin's daughter
* Burgrave Leonis Akiv Artonin — Corvantine scholar and nobleman. Secret member of the Co-respondent Brotherhood
* Arberus Lek Hakimas — Friend of Burgrave Artonin, Corvantine cavalry officer, and major in the Imperial Dragoons
* Diran Akiv Kapazin — Head of the Imperial Museum of Antiquities, friend of Leonis and Arberus, father of Sirus
* Sirus Akiv Kapazin — Diran's son, works at the museum, in love with Tekela
* Meeram — Head of the Artonin household staff
* Rigan —Meeram's teenage son
* Misha — Maid in the Artonin household and Kalla's sister
* Kalla — Maid in the Artonin household and Misha's sister
* Mr. Drellic — The Artonin's butler
* Cook — The Artonin household's chef
* The Dressmaker — A cadre agent posing as a dressmaker

#### Torcreek Expedition

* Braddon Torcreek — Uncle of Claydon Torcreek and Chief Shareholder of the Longrifles
* Loriabeth Torcreek — Braddon and Fredabel's daughter, and apprentice Gunhand
* Cwentun Skaggerhill — Longrifle's Chief Harvester
* Preacher — De-anointed cleric to the Church of the Seer and marksman to the Longrifles
* Silverpin — Longrifle's bladehand
* Visandra Foxbine — Longrifle's First Gunhand
* Erric Firpike — Archaeologist and disgraced former employee of the Consolidated Research Company
* Orwinn Scriberson — Principal Field Astronomer to the Consolidated Research Company

#### The Hive

* Arshav Okanas — Chief Director of the Hive and Zenida's half-brother
* Ethilda Okanas — Co-Director of the Hive and Arshav's mother
* Kaylib Traegerhorn — Pirate and Constable of the Hive

#### The Wittler Expedition

* Ethelynne Drystone — Syndicate Blood-blessed, tasked with recovering the White drake
* Captain Wittler — Commander of the Sandrunners
* Clatterstock — The Sandrunners harvester