Hidden Cities
Authors: Daniel Fox
Tags: #Magic, #Fantasy fiction, #Dragons, #Fiction, #Fantasy, #General, #Epic
MOSHUI: THE BOOKS OF
STONE AND WATER
BY
D
ANIEL
F
OX
Dragon in Chains
“Fox captures the foggy mysteries of feudal China in exquisite style with this rich fantasy series opener.… Fox’s concisely elegant style mirrors the light brush strokes and deep colors of ancient Chinese paintings, finely balancing detail, emotion and action. Where many Western authors try and fail to capture the nuances of Chinese culture and mythology, this melodious tale quietly succeeds.”
—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“Daniel Fox tackles his material (loosely based on the myths and history of Old China) with a combination of insight, innovation, and sheer command of language that transforms it.… Now I’m waiting for the next book, with all the impatience of a dedicated fan!”
—
Locus
“
Dragon in Chains
is a compelling blend of high-stakes action, well-drawn characters who I really cared about, and a gorgeously painted landscape. This is the kind of fantasy I love to read.”
—K
ATE
E
LLIOTT
“Intense passions and wild imagination … a mythic China intimately imagined.”
—A. A. A
TTANASIO
“A rising star … With talent like Fox’s, the future of fantasy is in good hands.”
—T
ANITH
L
EE
“Fox masterfully weaves multiple story strands into a smooth braid.… A rousing fantasy adventure.”
—BookLoons
“Daniel Fox’s poetic prose … makes even the mundane seem marvelous.… Definitely a novel—and a series—that should be on every fantasy reader’s radar.”
—Fantasy Book Critic
“Fox is a lyrical writer whose greatest strength is evoking the mood and feel of a place—Taishu feels as solid and real as the chains that restrain the titular dragon.”
—
RT Book Reviews
Jade Man’s Skin
“Brutal, brilliant, complex, and startlingly clear all at once, this series does a magnificent job of taking the reader into a culture, a time, a place that most of us have never considered.”
—J
AY
L
AKE
, author of
Pinion“[Builds] on the brilliantly subtle groundwork laid in 2009’s
Dragon in Chains
… Readers who enjoyed Fox’s delicate descriptions and leisurely prose will be thrilled to find more of the same, along with greater depth of story as the numerous characters are pulled together by schemes and destiny.”—
Publishers Weekly“Fox’s love of all things Chinese shines through this sequel to
Dragon in Chains
, which should appeal to fans of Asian-themed fantasy such as Lian Hearn’s
Across the Nightingale Floor
and Barry Hughart’s
Bridge of Birds.
”—
Library Journal“This is both a stand-alone story and an excellent continuation of Fox’s previous novel. Set in a richly detailed, feudal, Asian-style empire, the plot revolves around rebellion, betrayal and bonds.… All told, it is a tale that’s hard to put down until the last line.”
—
RT Book Reviews
B
Y
D
ANIEL
F
OXDragon in Chains
Jade Man’s Skin
Hidden Cities
Moshui
T
HE
B
OOKS OF
S
TONE AND
W
ATER
Hidden Cities
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Del Rey Trade Paperback Original
Copyright © 2011 by Daniel Fox
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
D
EL
R
EY
is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon
is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fox, Daniel.
Hidden cities / Daniel Fox.
p. cm. — (Moshui: the books of stone and water ; bk. 3)
eISBN: 978-0-345-52433-1
1. Dragons—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6106.O96H53 2011
823′.92—dc22
2010042070
Cover design: David Stevenson
Cover illustration: © Robert Hunt
v3.1
A book without a dedication
is like a kiss without salt.
Or something
.Nuff said
.
id he think she was angry, before?
Well, yes. He did think it, and he was not wrong. He had felt the slow stew of her anger, fed over centuries in chains below the sea; he had seen the sudden flare of it when she was suddenly free, when she destroyed a whole fleet of men and ships for their impertinence, abroad upon her waters; he had endured the storm of it when she found herself not so free after all, when she raged through the typhoon.
He had faced her in her fury more than once, eye to eye and far too close.
He still thought he had never seen her quite this angry, and entirely at him.
L
ITTLE THING
, you promised
.
There were proverbs Han knew, teaching people how very foolish it was to make promises to a dragon.
I know I did
. She loured above him, where he stood too close.
I did promise, and I am sorry. I had not meant for this to happen
.
She knew that, she was in his head.
Because she was in his head, she must know this too: that there were just two things he would not willingly relinquish, out of all the world. Despite all terror, and all betrayal. Tien was one of them, and actually this was the other: this constant grinding oppression of scale, this teetering always on the edge of a catastrophic
fall. This revealed savagery, this terrible landscape, eternal wrath, this dragon.