Rating: 4 out of 5.

This is a fantastic second book in the Wake the Dragon series. (You can read my review of book one here: https://nerdgirllovesbooks.com/2022/04/01/spine-of-the-dragon-wake-the-dragon-1-by-kevin-j-anderson/ ) All hell has broken loose, and the Three Kingdoms and Ishara are in chaos. Meanwhile, more and more wreths awaken and they continue plotting to wake the dragon Ossus and re-make the world.

Mandan is now Konag and is his usual wimpy, whiny self, but now he has power. He blindly follows the manipulative direction of Utho and plummets the Three Kingdoms into serious danger. King Adan and Killanan are trying their best to ebb the tide of the wreths takeover of the Three Kingdoms, but face roadblock after roadblock in their path. Thon, the mysterious wreth, still doesn’t know or understand what he is, however he discovers more about his powers. The Frost wreth and Sun wreth leaders continue to underestimate humans and arrogantly plot their revenge against each other.

Meanwhile in Isahara, Key Priestlord Klovus is all feeling his power and stuff, but may find out just how limited it really is. The Empress is still in a coma and her protege and guard watch over her. They create an informational campaign to spread rumors about the Empress so the public will continue to pray for her. They will eventually need to figure out a plan to wrest back public favor and the Empress’ seat from Klovus.

There are a lot of characters and plotlines in this book to keep track of so you need to pay close attention. The author does a better job with pacing in this book, and several of the characters make strides in their development, while others still lag a bit behind. Just as some side arcs come to a close, others are opened. If the author is going to close all of the plot gaps in the next book, he will really need to hit the ground running. I have faith that he is up to the task.

I love that there are such good villains in this book to hate and great heroes to root for. There is plenty of action in this book and we finally see big dragons in action! I look forward to seeing how this series ends.