Matt and Jenny were joined again by one of Atomic Geekdom’s favorite authors Jonathan Maberry to discuss his August 20th, 2024 release of his 3rd book and conclusion to the Kagen the Damn novels - The Dragon in Winter . Watch/Listen to our interview to get an inside look and some exciting news released!
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For a recap of our previous coverage of Kagen the Damned visit our AG Book Club post of the second book in the series: BOOK REVIEW + INTERVIEW / Son of the Poison Rose by Jonathan Maberry.
For audio, please check out the Atomic Geekdom Podcast to listen in.
The Dragon in Winter by Jonathan Maberry
Release Date: 08/20/2024
Published by St.Martin’s Press/ Macmillan
By Matt Spaulding
** POTIENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD FOR KAGEN THE DAMNED Series **
With The Dragon in Winter, Jonathan Maberry has delivered another action-packed, character-driven fantasy and an excellent finale to his Kagen The Damned trilogy. The novel presents the end to the story that began in Kagen The Damned while also opening up a whole universe of potential to see these characters again and explore the return of magic to their world.
Like with all of Maberry’s novel, The Dragon In Winter, despite being over five hundred pages long, moves along at a clip that fans of fantasy may find refreshing and those readers who are fantasy curious are sure to appreciate. This comes from Maberry’s ability to deliver vital information about characters as the action take place rather than stopping for slow info dumps.
In this novel, we find Kagen and his allies working frantically to find a way to battle the Witch King and his armies that will give them the same advantage of magic that the Witch King has. This sends Kagen off to gather armies as well as hunt down magical artifacts, his brothers Jeklan and Faulker to the far north to rescue a dragon, and brings Tuke and Filia into positions of leadership in the army being raised. Meanwhile, the Witch King is seeking to turn himself into a demigod and bring the great god Hastur into the world in a material form so that he may reign supreme for all time.
The novel also keeps us abreast of what is happening with other characters like Mother Frey, Ryssa, and the twins, all of whom have had smaller but important plot lines in this saga. But where, in another author’s hands, some of these stories and characters may feel superfluous, Maberry deftly weaves them all together in a way where each and every one is vital to the outcome of the overall story and you never feel like you’d rather be spending time with another character any time the focus is on any individual.
The other thing that is accomplished in this novel in surprising ways is the complete subversion of several things you thought you knew before. The history of the Silver Empire is not what it seemed, and neither are several characters. If you’re someone who is good at piecing clues together, it’s all there and maybe you’ll figure it out, but if you’re like me and go for the ride without much thought, there are some big surprises in store.
Ending a journey that spans multiple novels is always difficult, because readers get into their head how they think it should end or how it might end, so there’s a risk they will be dissatisfied with the actual end. But I found The Dragon In Winter to be a great example of wrapping up everything in an exciting, meaningful and satisfying way for not only the story, but the characters I have grown to know and enjoy spending time with.