A fantasy novella with Old West elements, but instead of the constructed white cowboy, the protagonist is an Indigenous woman on a quest to capture a dragon. This short book is packed with complex characters and introduces a setting I’m eager to read more from.

This book does a great deal in a short page count. Clear and self-contained plot, and the core cast of 3 are well and efficiently drawn. Doing some cool stuff with a fantasy version of the Klondike gold rush with the colonial elements of that project dialled up to 11; this isn't set in 19th C North America, but the vibes are very much that. The choice of narrator and elegantly nonstandard diction portray the quite different worldview of the displaced colonised people without doing much explicit infodumping, which is impressive. Could perhaps have done with another 20 or so pages to spool things out just a bit more, but even with that quibble, an excellent 4 1/2 star rounded up effort here, and very keen to see what Lowachee does next in this world.

This book is a captivating and immersive read that hooks you from the first page. The writing is beautifully crafted, with vivid descriptions and strong character development that makes the story come alive. The plot is well-paced, balancing moments of tension with quieter, reflective scenes that allow the characters to grow. The themes explored are deep and thought-provoking, resonating long after the final page. Whether it's the emotional depth, the twists and turns of the plot, or the unforgettable characters, this book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys rich, engaging stories. Highly recommended for fans of fantasy.

The Mountain Crown begins a trilogy that involves dragons and the people who bond with them. Meka travels from the land her tribe has been banished to following a vicious war that decimated much of the land the dragons have lived in for centuries. It is now being plundered for the gold found there and the dragons either killed or enslaved for sport by the victors of the war. She seeks to fulfil an ancient rite of capturing and bonding with a dragon but must navigate the politics and damage left from the war.

I found this novel to be slow in developing with excessive time spent on vague but lengthy descriptions of the connection between Meka and the dragons. Action was episodic, short in duration and did not flow well with the novel's plot. Overall this novel had a dream like character for me with excessive and unfocused story line. However, it did leave me with an interest in reading the next book in the trilogy with hopes the writing becomes more focused and the story line tighter.

A good quick fantasy story. Too fast to me to get deep into it, but good still and easy to read even for not English native people

Publishing date: 08.10.2024
Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

Features:
Semi-talking dragons (telepathy?)
Discrimination, colonization, and slavery
Dragons are either revered or viewed as dangerous animals only (depending on who and where you are)
A little posse

This short story has a lot going for it, and I can see the potential in it. Since this is the first in a trilogy, I might get to see that potential fulfilled. There is great worldbuilding and politics in this book. Some of it is confusing and it is mostly black and white, but it might get expanded upon in a later installment. It just felt like a world I really wanted to get to know better.

The dragons, or suon, play an important role in the story. In this book they are closer to animals than individuals. They do talk, but it is in a strange and broken pattern. Often referring to people or other dragons with adjectives instead of names. Speaking in raw emotions, and even then it is mostly adjectives and visuals. It seems the dragons radiate some sort of "aura" or "magic" that the Ba'Suon can sense and interact with. Excited to see where that can lead.

There were two other centric characters, and one of them caught my heart quickly. The other ... I wish they got more depth. It seems to be a common theme for me and other readers that the book/series has a lot of potential, but due to length and other unknown factors the concepts aren't fleshed out so much. They might! I am not so focused on it that it takes away from my interest, but this specific character I wish got more pages.

Main character is fine. Headstrong and seems to "know better" in some sense. I wasn't feeling any particular way about them.


Final ranking and star rating?
3 stars, C tier. I blasted through this book. It took a few pages, but when I started getting it I was really enjoying it. This has a lot of potential. I will be excitedly waiting for the next one to see just how much of that potential can be fulfilled.
Since it has a few problems, and my review boils down to "it has potential", I will be withholding recommendation until I know where the story takes me. But if interest strikes, go for it.

Took a few chapters to understand the perspective and world, but oh once you do: you cannot stop! So good, and such great storytelling! It shows so many different types of conflict, and really makes you wonder how others feel during these conflicts.

Plus, DRAGONS! :)

This is one of those novellas that has some really strong aspects for me, but also some pretty weak ones.
+ The dragons/suon are great, and I really loved how they interact with the Ba'Suon.
+ The worldbuilding is really good - I can clearly imagine this western inspired world, and the ways the different cultures clash with the nomadic Bra'Suon.
+ I managed to get pretty attached to the characters!

- I found the writing pretty stilted at times, which at times made me confused. It also made it difficult to understand some of the aspects of the characters motivations and what was going on plotwise. I'm hoping this will improve in the sequel (spoilers: I just finished the sequel and there is a vast improvement!)
- I found Méka's characterization got drowned our by Raka and Lilley, which is a shame since she's the POV character.

So yeah, a bit of a mixed bag for me but the world got me invested enough to keep reading the series!

Thank you NetGalley and Solaris for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The premise for this sounded incredible, and even better it’s 150 pages. I really liked the dragons in this, but otherwise the execution just did not work for me. It surprised me how much I struggled to get through such a short book. It’s well-written but I still had a difficult time actually engaging with the work, and more than anything this feels like a me problem and a mismatch between book and reader. I don’t know, maybe I’ll try again at a different time and change my mind, but for the most part I just thought this was a tad overwritten and I couldn’t find an emotional depth to it.

Ahoy there mateys! I was absolutely ecstatic to see new work by Lowachee because she is an author I don’t see enough of. And this has dragons! It is part one of a trilogy. No one is sadder than I am that this novella did not work for me. I read 63% of this 150 page book (about 96 pages). After starting this at the beginning of October and never picking it back up, it is time to let it go.

The positives of this are the dragons. They have a weird way of speaking and they are in charge of the bond with their chosen humans. Of course they are tortured and misused by the ruling class. I did enjoy the main character, Méka, and wanted her to succeed.

One major issue was the politics. It is about the effects of colonization. The land is war torn and about about 10 years have passed since the Kattakans won. Méka is from the Ba’Suon nomadic tribe who lost their island. The Kattakans are very one-dimensional. I know this is because only really see them from Méka’s viewpoint. I found the politics to be very black and white and I would have liked a little more nuance.

The other issue was the length. The novella format does not leave a lot of room for explanation and so the reader is trying to pick up the intricacies of Méka’s quest. The dragons are supposed to help maintain the environmental balance. Méka has to get the king dragon for that purpose but I am not 100% sure why. Or why she agrees to give the dragon to the enemies. Or how her earth sense really works. I wanted more details about the ritual – both its use in the past and present. I also wanted more psychology and feelings from the characters. There really wasn’t much besides light hints in dialogue. I don’t normally say this but I also think I wanted to see viewpoints from the other two main characters. I think a longer length story could have fixed these problems.

In trying to determine whether I wanted to push through or not, I looked into what the next novella is about. It switches to a different character and the plot does not thrill me. Lots of crew loved this one so give it a shot if the blurb sounds interesting. Arrrr!

This is proof that fantasy books don't need to be hundred of pages long to be fantastic.
This is one of the most unique fantasy book I have read in a while. Lowachee writing style is very different to other authors of this genre, which I think lends itself better to a novella style format.

The writing style and length of the book combined create a very fascinating reading experience, that is very compelling read.
I really liked how the dragon has very distinct roles in this novella. I also liked they bonded to riders and not just left as wild animals.

I would strongly recommend this if you want to read something utterly unique and want to try thing different.

This is a common review for both The Mountain Crown and The Desert Talon, the first and second instalment in the Crown Ishia fantasy series
It's an entertaining a promising starts: dragon, action, good world building, and an entertaining and tightly knitted plot
I thoroughly enjoyed it and cannot wait to read the last instalment
4.5 upped to 5
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Karin Lowachee tells a tale after the war between the island states of Kattaka and Mazemoor ended, Méka came to Kattaka to capture a male dragon and return him to Mazemoor for breeding. She is one of the Ba’Suon who can empathic connection to dragons. Lord Shearoji insists she bring the captured dragon from The Mountain Crown (paper from ‎Solaris) and sends Raka, a huge traitor to the Ba’Suon, along with Lilley, a one handed veteran, to ensure the dragon is returned to his city. The problem is that Raka has emotional problems and a love/hate relationship with Lilley. Interesting.

Méka is Ba’suon, and she arrives in the Kattakan settlement of Fortune City, as the first step on her journey to a mountain range where dragons nest. She and her people have a form of telepathic communication with dragons, and me,beds of her people must regularly travel to the crown of the mountain to gather a king shown to keep the dragons from becoming too populous there and becoming pests, and inadvertently drawing the ire and guns of Kattakan hunters.

The Kattakan are a conquering nation, with no respect for the Ba’suon, or other peoples. When the Kattakan came to conquer, the Ba’suon chose not to fight, instead moving into camps, or working as lowly servants and the like, preferring balance and peace in their interactions. When Kattakan went tomwar, some Ba’suon enlisted and fought on dragons for their conquerors.

Now, a greedy official keeps Méka’s identity papers and says she must bring him the king dragon she is after, and must take one of his men with her. The man is Ba’suon; he returned from the war a shell of who he was. He will not open up to Méka, and refuses to engage with the unusual Katyakan man Méka convinced to accompany her. His name is Lilley; a former slave, he went to war, fell for a Ba’suon man who returned home after the war, leaving Lilley alone and sad.

Lilley and Méka get along, and with the help of a couple of much smaller dragons, travel with the taciturn Raka up the mountain.

There is a palpable sense of menace author Karin Lowachee introduces early in the tale, which only grows deeper at the start of the journey up the mountain, and the further they travel with the frustrating Raka. When they realize that the official has sent a party of men after them, I expected a confrontation. What I did not expect was the explosion of violence that happens after what had been till then a quiet story of people reckoning with the costs of invasion, war and trauma, and loss of a loved one. I genuinely gasped and put the book down when a cruel, unprovoked act was the catalyst for a shocking amount of violence.

Then, like the Ba’suon need for balance, Lowachee gave us the result, which has Méka choosing her words and actions carefully and deliberately to find a peaceful way to move forward. It’s communication, and some measure of trickery and boldness under a veneer of calm that has Méka finding a path forward that allows her to fulfill her intended mission, and bring home a wounded spirit.

The novella takes a while to get going, and I noticed the author’s tendency for poetic phrasing resulting in confusing text gradually tapered off to the point that the narrative began truly resonating for me.

The story starts out slow, and I had a little difficulty getting into it initially, as I found the author's overly poetic prose difficult to parse at times, but thankfully, this diminished as the story progressed and the sriting became more straightforward, enough to really enjoy this tale, and grow attached to Méka and Lilley. Lowachee left me wanting to learn more about the Ba'suon and their intriguing empathic culture; it's no surprise that someone like Raka, suffering from his Kattakan war experiences and refusing to seek healing would be such a conundrum to Méka.

Though the novella ends with a peaceful resolution (thanks to a powerful dragon overhead), I wonder what is next in this complex world.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Rebellion for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I truly enjoyed my time in this world. I wasn't expecting the Western vibes, but it didn't affect my reading at all, though seeing the word "posse" in a dragon book was a little jarring haha.
You're thrown directly into the story, with things being explained along the way, which could be a bit jarring if certain things weren't explained exactly. Despite this, the story felt very grounded, and I simply can't properly convey the near reverence that was in these pages for the story that was being told.
Everyone felt so solid and I wanted to understand the Ba'Suon culture more and more. The ability that they possess to connect with living things in an empathic sense was really interesting to read about, though the way the suon/dragon's thoughts were conveyed were a little confusing to me at times, and I felt some things could have been clearer in general it was still an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This story feels like it began LONG before the book does. This story reads like it has been years in the making, and that the slice of it that we are getting is a bit in the middle in a world that has been going to hell in a handcart for quite some time, and has now reached a level of FUBAR that STILL isn’t anywhere near as bad as things are likely to get before the end.

And that’s a fascinating way to write a story, because worlds generally DO exist before a particular story in them gets told, and go on existing after the last page of a particular story in them gets turned.

Méka has returned to the land where she was born. A land that once belonged to her people, but no longer does. Even worse, a land that has been conquered by a rapacious empire that has chosen to act as if her people aren’t people at all – merely slaves for their use.

Including the dragons that her people, and only her people, have the capacity, not to control, but to bond with. A bond that the greedy, rapacious Kattakans exploit in order to use both Méka’s people, the Ba’Suon, and the dragons, the Suon, to strip mine the land for gold.

The Kattakans have turned a beautiful place into a steaming, belching wasteland on a par with Mordor. (Auditions for the part of this world’s Sauron are possibly ongoing – I jest but not nearly enough.)

Méka has come to this once-home for a right of both passage and preservation. It is her time to bond with one of the Suons that still live free in the mountain crowns far to the north. Both to refresh the dragons in her adopted homeland and to prevent a single king dragon from taking over too many herds and reducing the genetic diversity in the crowns.

Of course, the powers that be to rape and pillage interfere with her quest – even though it has been sanctioned by her adopted country and the court of the, shall we say, greedy bloodsuckers.

She is duty bound on a quest to bond a dragon. She is being coerced to retrieve a dragon for a criminal’s nefarious purposes. But control of any dragon is illusory at best – and a dangerous illusion at that. As the greedy bloodsuckers are about to discover in fire and blood.

Escape Rating B: The Mountain Crown is an ‘in media res’ story. In other words, it feels like it starts in the middle of things. It’s a method of storytelling that CAN get the reader caught up in the action from the very first page. Howsomever, it can also give the reader the feeling that they’re missing something, or a whole lot of somethings, and not feel like they have what they need to get stuck into the story.

The Mountain Crown read like it straddled that fence, where the problem with straddling a fence is that one gets splinters in the ass. I had a difficulty time, at first, getting into the story because I didn’t feel like I had enough to figure out how the situation reached this pass in the first place. It does not help at all that the primary characters of this story, Méka and her companions Lilley and Raka, are all parsimonious with their words – even when they are speaking to one another.

There’s a LOT that doesn’t get said – even when something is being said at all.

All of which led to my brain attempting to spackle over the bits that were missing with analogies to other stories and other places. The ramshackle mining monstrosity where Méka first arrives sounds a lot like the gold rush encampments of the Klondike, including the weather conditions. The nomadic nature of Méka’s people read like an amalgam of many nomadic cultures around this globe – even if this story isn’t set on any version of our world.

In the end, what brought the story together was the way that it reflected on colonialism and empire, shone a light on cultures whose fundamental principles are greed and acquisition and then explored the possibilities of another way – a way of stewardship and community.

And took the problem of might making right to a whole different level by adding dragons into the mix in a way that both put a temporary check on the ‘evil empire’ AND sowed the seeds for further contention between peoples who were once one.

I have to say that by the end, I really did enjoy The Mountain Crown and that I’m looking forward to the next book in the series, The Desert Talon, coming in February, as well as the third book, A Covenant of Ice, arriving in June. (There’s an irony that the desert book is coming in the depths of winter and the ice book is coming as summer heats up.)

I’m hoping that the rest of this novella trilogy will not just continue this fantastic story but also fill in the blanks and answer my many, many questions about this particular world came to this particular pass – because it has to be a doozy. I can’t wait to find out ALL the answers

Even though this is a novella by wordcount, it felt more like a novel in the best possible way. The worldbuilding is very rich and detailed and the characters are complex. I especially loved Méka with her connection to dragons and the world around her. She’s quietly competent, not here to prove herself, but to do what she has to do for the good of her people and the world with the least possible bloodshed. I can’t wait to get my hands on more!

I really wanted to like this one. Unfortunately I couldn't get over the writing style. Something about it wasn't for me and it got confusing at times.

A quick read with dragons? I think yes! Novella fantasy is one of my favorite genres. I love Nghi Vo, Neon Yang, and so many other writers of short stories with beautiful prose. The Mountain Crown fits that vibe.

The story moves quickly. Being the first in a novella series, there is a lot of description and worldbuilding packed into the short pages. It takes a little bit to really get going, but I think it is worth it!

It’s like a little bite of epic fantasy!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance read of this title. All opinions are my own.

The first book in a new series of novella length epic fantasy (again with this excellent trend!). This is an epic adventure with dragons amidst the aftermath of a bitter war.

I admit I had a hard time engaging with The Mountain Crown, which I strongly suspect was more a me-problem than a book problem. The writing is lush and descriptive, and there is plenty of action with engaging characters. The worldbuilding may be a tad complex, but as the first book in a series of novellas, it's worth its expansiveness. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.