The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham

To top off a week-long deluge of information regarding Daniel Abraham and his upcoming The Dagger and the Coin series, we’ve got a first glimpse of early cover art for The Dragon’s Path, the first volume in the series.

The dragons are gone, the powerful magics that broke the world diluted to little more than parlour tricks, but the kingdoms of men remain and the great game of thrones goes on. Lords deploy armies and merchant caravans as their weapons, manoeuvring for wealth and power. But a darker power is rising – an unlikely leader with an ancient ally threatens to unleash the madness that destroyed the world once already. Only one man knows the truth and, from the shadows, must champion humanity. The world’s fate stands on the edge of a Dagger, its future on the toss of a Coin.

It’s from a catalogue, so likely it’s an early draft, but, well, I kinda dig it! It doesn’t blow my socks off like the Tor Books editions of The Long Price Quartet (A Shadow in Summer, The Price of Spring), but it’s succinct and ‘Fantasy’ without being over-the-top and should appeal to the Joe Abercrombie/Richard Morgan/Paul Kearney/Brent Weeks crowd, which is a very good thing, in terms of his marketability and expanding his audience. Particularly, I like the choice of classic art used in the background, rather than going with something more contemporary. It’s a small touch, but a nice one. My frothing demand for this novel grows.

If/when I get my hands on it, I’ll be sure to post the final version of the cover.

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