Dragori Series is a YA Fantasy trilogy of books written by ben Alderson.
The series follows Zacriah Trovirn, an elf from a small village that is, with a strange magical power over the wind. He, together with a group of other elves from all over the kingdom of Thessolina are gathered under King Dalior’s new shapeshifter special unit of the military to fight an incoming attack from Dark Elves, but something seems off to Zacriah.
The series is composed of three books:
- Cloaked In Shadows (2017)
- Found In Night (2018)
- Poisoned In Light (2019)
In 2018, the series also released a prequel, Prince of Flames, focused on Hadrian.
Tropes
- Blow You Away: Zacriah's power over the wind. Although he has limited control of it, he is capable of killing people in brutal ways using it, like tearing Alina's limbs.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: At the end of the first book, Petrer is brainwashed and taken control by King Dalior, he goes on an Entitled to Have You rant about how the king promised to give him Zacriah once the prince is dead, breaks his hand, and forces him to wear a gold bracelet that burns him.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: While angered, Zacriah kills Alina by draining the air from her lungs and then using his wind to tear her limbs from her body.
- The Empath: Nyah has limited powers in this regard, allowing her to detect lies and feelings, but not much more. Gallion, introduced later, is way past his prime in his old age, but still vastly powerful as an Empath, and the one that locked away Zacriah's powers at the behest of his father.
- Official Couple: Hadrian and Zacriah, midway through the first novel, though they're very flirtatious even before that.
- Playing with Fire: Hadrian's powers are to control fire, he can even control what exactly it burns as he can use it in a forest with no harm to it.
- Queer Romance: The same-sex romance between Zacriah and Hadrian is one of the main plot lines of the story.
- Rage Breaking Point: Learning that Alina tried to kill Hadrian makes Zacriah lose himself into pure rage, losing control of his powers and slaughtering her and various people around them during his duel with Illera.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: When Zacriah needs to talk to Hadrian, who is tucked away at the palace, he sends Nyah to find him, since he skill to shift into a moth makes her perfect for a stealth mission like that.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Shifters can change into a given animal, but only that animal.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The Dragori, for all their powers, are extremely weak to gold, which painfully burns them. By using a golden cage, King Dalior is able to completely break and torture Hadrian.
- Weredragon: The Dragori can shift into humanoid dragons with wings and scales.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: An entire part of the shifters that were collected have the power to shift into useless animals, earning them a low rank and instead of military training, they're pushed to work in the kitchen to earn their keep in the palace. Nyah's power is to shift into a moth, which is virtually useless in the war the kingdom is preparing for.
