I was browsing the shelves at Barnes and Noble last week when I came across the two volumes above. They caught my eye immediately. Especially the second one, with its  gorgeous depiction of a moonlit desert city… plus a supergiant bull, whatever the heck that’s about.

I didn’t pick them up right away. Derek Kunsken’s The Quantum Magician, some Angry Robot paperbacks and a bunch of SF magazines were already in my stack, and I’m trying to pace myself. But I did some research when I got home, and I admit I’m intrigued. Deborah A. Wolf is also the author of the Daughter of the Midnight Sun urban fantasy series; the first novel Split Feather came out last year. The Dragon’s Legacy is a planned trilogy, the first volume was a nominee for the 2018 Morningstar Award. Publishers Weekly praised “Wolf’s opulent visual imagination and sly humor” in their review:

Wolf’s epic fantasy debut, the first of a trilogy, is a well-crafted, intricate blend of the politics and magic of multiple cultures. Hafsa Azeina, dreamshifter of the Zeerani desert tribes, can kill her foes as they sleep. She has spent years protecting her daughter, Sulema, from the assassins hunting them, and Sulema has had the chance to come of age as a Zeerani warrior. But Sulema’s father, who may have sent the assassins, has found them. He is the dragon king of the nearby country of Atualon, and his magic prevents the dragon that sleeps under the world from waking and cracking the planet like an egg. Sulema and Hafsa must navigate shifting alliances, ongoing assassination attempts, and manipulation by both friend and foe to try to settle the balance of power and succession…

Titan Books has published two books in the trilogy so far; the third is due next year. Here’s the details:

The Dragon’s Legacy (400 pages, $24.95 hardcover/$14.95 trade/$13.99 digital, April 18, 2017)
The Forbidden City (517 pages, $24.95 hardcover/$16.99 digital, May 15, 2018)
The Seared Lands ($24.99 hardcover/$16.99 digital, April 2, 2019)

The cover artist is uncredited. See all of our recent coverage of the best in series fantasy here.