“The Sign of the Dragon” by Mary Soon Lee

I’ve been reading this for the readalong started by my fellow r/Fantasy mod /u/oboist73, so a special thanks to her for making me aware of the existence of this excellent, excellent book. I may even forgive you (and Mary Soon Lee) after my heart heals up, but no promises.

For those who haven’t been doing the readalong - and there’s plenty of time to join in and get that Hard Mode bingo square! - the protagonist of this is Xau, the fourth son of a late king. With their father dead, his elder brothers have each in turn gone up a sacred mountain in their kingdom to ask the dragon that lives there to affirm them as king. Xau’s brothers were all judged unworthy, and devoured; the dragon saw worth in Xau, though, and named him king.

The book covers the reign of Xau, as he does all the things a king has to do: choose a wife (an act of diplomacy more than romance), court his vassals, fight off old rival nations eager to test the young king’s resolve, save the world from an eldritch monster who can control minds and delights in inflicting pain. You know, the usual kinging stuff. Xau baffles both his enemies and his advisors by being completely, uncompromisingly humanistic: he values the lives of everyone, subject or not, and utterly refuses to make the kind of realpolitic compromises that everyone assumes a king must do.

Delightfully, this entire book is one of poetry. Mary Soon Lee gives us a great variety of structures and forms of poetry, and from many perspectives. The king, his queen, his advisors, his children, his guards, his enemies, his friends, his enemies-turned-friends, the dragon, his cat - we get them all.

The story told in the poems is sweeping and epic, and a tragedy. Prepare to have your heart broken, again and again. It’s magnificent, and worth the heartache and the tissues. This book is pretty much the epitome of the hidden gem.