Did you know there’s a fourth Pit Dragon book coming out this spring? I’ve been looking forward to Jane Yolen’s Dragon’s Heart for a while now, so I was thrilled when azang handed me an ARC she found while we were wandering IRA together.
The fourth book definitely lived up to the first three, and felt very much in tone with them even though it’s been more than 20 years since the the third book was published. Whether you’ve read the other books before or not, you’ll definitely want to read or reread the original Pit Dragon trilogy first. Dragon’s Heart picks up literally where A Sending of Dragons leaves off, and deals with some of the consequences of what’s happened in that book, as well as in Heart’s Blood. I think there’s still at least one question left unanswered at the end of book four–but even so, the series very much felt complete to me, in a way it never quite did after book three.
One of the fun things, on reread, was realizing how while Jakkin, the protagonist, was fairly clueless about the gender politics of his world, Akki, the female lead, was always very aware of them, from the very first book. This made me especially delighted to see that, in Dragon’s Heart, we get her POV for the first time, alongside Jakkin.
(I find myself wanting to compare Tenar, Menolly, and Akki now, and how they respond to–or even notice–the oppression of their worlds in their original trilogies, all begun within about a decade of each other, but that of course would be a post all its own.)
Anyway, Dragon’s Heart is due out in May, and if you liked the first three Pit Dragon books, you’ll like this one too. Be sure to read through to the end, including and especially the final Encyclopedia Galaxia entry.