The Dragon Keeper
Robin Hobb
Voyager
553 pages
Read in 2010

Memories flickered in her mind, filling her with sadness. Memories of flight, of mating, of the hot sandy beaches where her ancestors had laid their eggs... 'Kelsingra', she said softly. In her dreams she drank from Kelsingra's well and the silver ran through her veins, filling her heart with song and her mind with poetry.
In another life, a queen dragon preened herself, her silver-dripping muzzle spreading the fine sheen over her feathery scales. And then she spread and limbered her gleaming scarlet wings. She crouched low on her powerful hindquarters and then sprang effortlessly into the air. Three, four, five beats of her wings and the wind off the river caught her and flung her aloft. She caught the current of warm summer air and soared on it...