The first novel in Lawrence Watt-Evans' Obsidian Chronicles, Dragon Weather.

Can one young boy beat the odds to avenge his family's death by dragon?

Arlian had never left his home village on the Smoking Mountain. The stony ground, jagged peaks, and black glass were all he had ever known of life, and though he dreamed of travel and adventure, he knew deep in his heart that he would probably never leave.

Until the dragon weather came. Incredible heat, oppressive humidity, dark and angry clouds . . . and dragons. Dragons with no feelings, no sympathy, no use for humans; dragons who destroyed his entire village and everyone in it. Everyone, that is, except Arlian.

Orphaned and alone, Arlian is captured by looters and sold as a mining slave. Seven years later Arlian escapes, fueled by years of hatred for the dragons, bandits, and slavers that took his youth away--­and a personal vow to exact retribution from those who have wronged him.

As Arlian makes his way through life, he is obsessed with the concept of justice, determined to avenge his family and his village, and that obsession informs every task, every decision. Even Black, the man he befriends and grows to love as a brother, has little influence against Arlian's obsession. His entire life has one purpose, and one purpose only: revenge.

But can one righteous man change the entire world for the better? Or is he doomed by his own actions to become as unjust as those he seeks to destroy?

LAWRENCE WATT-EVANS has been a full-time writer for more than thirty years, with more than forty novels and well over a hundred short stories to his credit. His story “Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers” won the 1988 Hugo for short story, as well as the Asimov’s Readers Award, but he is probably best known for the Ethshar fantasy series. He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife and the obligatory writer’s cat.