“Monster is such an easily digestible idea. Horrible, evil to its core, irredeemable. If I’m a monster, then anyone who opposes me is by logical deduction a hero, yes? It’s not that simple. Sometimes everyone is wrong and you must decide whose wrongness is more acceptable.”

-Jenn Lyons

Is this my favorite fantasy series? It might be my favorite fantasy series.

But Callie, you say. I know you in real life, and you’ve never recommend it to me.

That’s probably only because A Chorus of Dragons is five books. Five long books.

Is it worth it? For sure. Once I got past the first two books, did I read the last three in like a month and a half? Absolutely. But I’m wary of recommending my friends a ~112-hour commitment. (Yes, I did actual math).

It’s really got everything you’d want in a fantasy series: a cast of characters with fun names, demons, dragons, geopolitics, a magic sword, weird epistolary framing devices, humor, horses. Lots of horses, and some of them talk (although those aren’t technically “horses”).

It also does have a kind of love triangle, although there’s an aspect of it that I really like that I have yet to encounter in another fantasy book. I’ve hidden the spoilers below.

The Love Triangle Spoilers

It’s polyamory. True polyamory, like A and B are together and B and C are together and C and A are together.

This is just such a fun series, and I can’t see why it doesn’t have a bigger fanbase. There are so many aspects of the world to speculate about, so many cool and distinct characters, writing that moves the story along while still feeling clever and fun to read. The “Chosen One” trope was done in a way that didn’t feel tired, and I was satisfied with how all of the different plot threads wrapped up. Victories and deaths alike both felt earned, and when characters switched sides it was with appropriate reluctance and/or in a way that made sense.

It may be a while before I reread a series of this length, but I definitely see it in my future. In the meantime, I can’t wait to check out Lyons’ other works!