Aerie
Concluding book in the Dragon Jousters series
by Mercedes Lackey

Aerie is the final book in Mercedes Lackey’s Dragon Jousters series. After the culmination of events in Sanctuary it seems hard to believe that there would be any way for the story to really continue without it seemingly going on and on forever without end, somewhat akin to daytime television. Lackey does a nice job of of tying up all of the loose ends and unfinished thoughts of the previous three books.

Aerie is set approximately a year (or so) after the events of Sanctuary. Ari and Nofret are the Great King and Queen of Alta and Tia, now called Altia, and rule together from the new palace. Sanctuary itself has become a priestly city with priests from Altan and Tian temples alike setting up shop and hammering out details together. Because of the influx of priests to Sanctuary, Kiron and the dragon riders have relocated to Aerie, the dragon city, and are in the process of making it livable. Supplies are limited, conditions are harsh, and it takes a lot of work to get the place in order. Here, former Tian and Altan Jousters who have now raised their own dragons from eggs are working together, and are under Kiron’s temporary command.

Kiron, being younger than many and not of noble birth and lacking in traditional Jousting and combat experiance, does not seem to be an ideal leader in the eyes of the high born and former Jousters and this is starting to cause some friction. But Haraket, being a former overseer (remember, he oversaw the Tian compound in Joust) is even less favorable as Lord of the Jousters. To make matters worse, many are starting to question the Jouster’s place in things. They are not the army and it takes quite a bit to provision them, with Alta and Tia at peace what purpose do they serve? Kiron finds the answer, and subsequently earns the respect of the former Jousters, when they begin to patrol the borders and trade routes of Altia to protect merchants, traders, and the Bedu from bandits. Alas, a new enemy is coming.

The new enemy was well thought out, and readers will likely to be thrilled to just what the former oppressors of Tia, whom Ari mentioned in the first book Joust, have been up to and what their plans for Altia are. The mystery as to who is responsible for the disappearance of an entire village and magics used to block the priests from seeing this was well done, but the conclusion of the book and the solution that the main cast arrived at to defeat the enemy seemed a little too predictable to me. Perhaps it was due to my love of Greek mythology, but I found it no surprise that the Gods of Alta and Tia were becoming one and ended up contributing to the final battle. I suspected that we might see something akin to the battle of Troy, in that the gods would be fighting alongside the mortals, and I was correct. I’m still not sure whether I’m disappointed with that fact though. It was an exciting and riveting conclusion, but a little too predictable for my comfort.

Another thing of interest to note here is that Lackey allows the tale in Aerie to be told, not just from the point of view of Kiron, but from several other characters as well. The point of view switches from Kiron, Aketen, and Peri-en-westet, a new character to the story. While a good portion of the story certainly couldn’t have been told without the point of view changes since the events were spread out at various locations and Kiron certainly couldn’t have been everywhere at once, I felt that Aerie lost some of the aspects that made the previous three books in the series integral.

For starters, Peri-en-westet, despite having her tale told and considerable effort given to delve into her character, was essentially the female character tossed in to cause trouble between the protagonist and his love interest. This is evidenced by that fact that, aside from being the one to bring Kiron’s mother to the dragon compound while he was there (by sheer accident however) she played no integral role.

We also saw a change in Aketen’s character that was certainly most unwelcome. Gone was the dignified, stubborn, but lovable Aketen from the previous books. Instead we have a paranoid, foolhardy young woman who is green with envy and sees challenges where none lay. There were several moments where I wondered what had happened to the Aketen we knew and if it might not be better for Kiron if he turned to Peri instead. As for Kiron’s mother, such a disappointment there, though not in the character or writing of her, but in what has become of her due to the death of her husband and the breaking up of her family at the hands of Tian soldiers.

Despite the drawbacks of this book, it was still rich with Lackey’s style of writing. The detail and thought giving to the setting, the culture of the people, and the characters truly brought the story to life and before this reader’s eyes. However, in comparison to the previous three books I found it to be of lesser quality.

Joana’s rating: