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### From Publishers Weekly In the second installment of British author Ash’s Tears of Artamon trilogy, a skillful mix of horror and romantic fantasy, vampiric dragons soar against a wonderfully gothic backdrop straight out of Tolstoy by way of Stoker, Dumas and Tolkien. At the conclusion of Lord of Snow and Shadows (2003), Gavril Nagarian, Lord Drakhaon of Azhkendir (a princedom in the Rossiyan Empire), succeeded in casting off the Drakhaoul, the dragon-daemon that possessed him. Now Gavril; his mother, Elysia; and his new love, Kiukiu, a gifted "spirit singer," face the wrath of Prince Eugene of Tielen, whose forces Gavril prevented from taking Ashkendir in book one. Eugene returns to defeat Gavril and send the former portrait painter to a mental institution where his brain becomes the subject of mad experimentation (shades of Shelley!). Ash’s playful, tongue-in-cheek brew of Russian history, folklore and myth explores age-old moral dilemmas in a plot as tricky and unpredictable as a Gypsy tarot reading. Fans will look forward to the ultimate confrontation between blood-sucking firebirds and humans in book three. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist After nearly killing the woman he loves, Gavril Nagarian succeeds in extricating himself from the bond that has tied him, body and soul, to a dragon-daemon. But in so doing, he betrays his countrymen, for without the daemon, Gavril is just an ordinary man, lacking magical powers and unable to defend his small holding against Eugene, would-be emperor of the five princedoms. Eugene wants more than a crown, however; he wants power and revenge, and when he unlocks the fabled Serpent's Gate, he gets all that he desires and, perhaps, a bit more than he can handle. He quickly learns that the power of the Drakhaoul can destroy not only his enemies but also his new empress and unborn child, his adored and badly crippled daughter--in short, everything he cares for. Even his own life is imperiled. But as the daemon gains strength and power, becoming one with its host, Eugene begins to lose sight of his most precious gift, his own human heart. Solid, wonderful fantasy, sparkling and imaginative! *Paula Luedtke* *Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved*