History Literature / ArtamonsTears

* InTheBlood - Drakhaouls (literally.) Also, shamanic abilities.

* {{Foil}} - Gavril and Eugene are both dispossesed heirs to thrones, both are followed around by a younger female MoralityPet, both are in love with Astasia at one point or another, both are young well-educated men, and both have an EnemyWithin. However their personalities are complete opposites; Gavril [[IJustWantToBeNormal just wants to be normal]] while Eugene seeks WorldDomination.

-->''I can promise a [[GrimUpNorth snow-covered country haunted by ghosts]], a murdered lord, a shadowy drakhaoul-daemon [[OurVampiresAreDifferent with a craving for innocent blood,]] [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited love,]] [[WorldDomination imperial ambitions,]] court intrigue, an ancient legend about a dead emperor's cursed rubies.''

-->''[[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons And a dragon]].''

Mrs. Ash has also written a dual book {{prequel}} series, ''The Alchymist's Legacy'', dealing with the youth of Estael, the original trilogy's [[TheDragon left-hand-man to the bad guy.]] It also focuses on the earlier lives of Ruaud de Lanvaux, Celestine de Joyeuse, and Jagu de Rustéphan and how they all came to associate with one another in ''[[Literature/ArtamonsTears The Tears of Artamon]]''. ''Tracing the Shadow'' is the first book, taking place for the most part before the events of the original trilogy; ''Flight Into Darkness'', the second and last book, entails the "behind the scenes" events taking place concurrently with it.

!! ''[[Literature/ArtamonsTears The Tears of Artamon]] provides examples of'':

[[caption-width-right:340:[[ButYourWingsAreBeautiful Those are some fine-looking wings there, buddy.]]]]

* ButYourWingsAreBeautiful: While the drakhaol is definitely not pretty, more than a few characters express awe at it's majesty and power. Gavril's angsting about it is perfectly justified, though, since it gives him a HorrorHunger ''and'' makes him ugly.

* BiologicalMashUp: As the Drakhaoul gains more power over its host, the host slowly begins to look more and more draconic.

* {{Foil}} - Gavril and Eugene are both dispossesed heirs to thrones, both are followed around by a younger female MoralityPet, both are in love with Astasia at one point or another, both are young well-educated men, and both have an EnemyWithin. However their personalities are DifferentAsNightAndDay; Gavril [[IJustWantToBeNormal just wants to be normal]] while Eugene seeks WorldDomination.

''I can promise a [[GrimUpNorth snow-covered country haunted by ghosts]], a murdered lord, a shadowy drakhaoul-daemon [[OurVampiresAreDifferent with a craving for innocent blood,]] [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited love,]] [[WorldDomination imperial ambitions,]] court intrigue, an ancient legend about a dead emperor's cursed rubies.''

''[[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons And a dragon]].''

* {{Meido}} - Kiukiu.
* MoralityPet - Eugene has his daughter and Astasia, while Gavril has Kiukiu.

* MysteriousParent - Gavril first learns who his real father is through Kostya as well as the Drakhaoul [[SecretLegacy legacy]] the ''druzhina'' expect him to continue. Additionally, Kiukiu learns of her father through Malusha, that he was [[spoiler: an Arkhel, a Guslyar, and was considered a traitor by his family]].
* NewSuperPower - [[spoiler: Kiukiu's inherent Guslyar abilities, honed by Malusha]]. Gavril can also count, discovering what he can do with his Drakhaoul powers.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot - the Drakhaouls are a kind demon vampire dragon. Also Estael, who is both an alchymist, [[ElementalPowers wind mage]], and EnsembleDarkhorse.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent - The Heavenly Guardians seem to be a rather Old Testament-inspired type of them.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent - The Drakhaouls
* OurDragonsAreDifferent - The Drakhaouls. And if the cover art is anything to go by... [[DidNotDoTheResearch They're actually wyverns]].
* OurSpiritsAreDifferent - Spirits from the Ways Beyond, especially the [[spoiler: sacrificed children]].
* OurVampiresAreDifferent - The Drakhaouls
* PhantasySpelling - "Alchymy," "forte-piano," et cetera.
* PrincessClassic - Astasia (technically she starts out as a duchess and later becomes an empress, but she still pretty much fits the trope).
* [[spoiler: RapidAging]] - [[spoiler: Kaspar sends Kiukiu to the Ways Beyond, where her spirit ends up being trapped for days. By the time Gavril gets her physical body to Malusha to bring her back to the living, Kiukiu has aged into an old woman - her face wrinkled, her hair dried out and completely gray.]]

* RousseauWasRight - TheEmperor? He's a pretty nice guy once you get to know him, he's just a bit rough around the edges. The KnightTemplar? He's just ignorant, not bad. The [[OurDemonsAreDifferent vampiric demons who feast on the blood of innocents?]] [[spoiler:They just want to go home.]]
* {{Shadowland}} - The cold, bitter, ProudWarriorRaceGuy filled Azkhendir in contrast Gavril's warm, tourist-drawing, scholar-filled homeland of Smarna.
* [[spoiler: SecondLove]] - [[spoiler: Kiukiu for Gavril]].

* SpiritWorld - The Ways Beyond.
* SuperpoweredEvilside - Khezef
* TheDragon - Estael
* TheEmperor - Eugene, as of book 2.
* TheEmpire - Heavily deconstructed.
* TransformationSequence - Whenever Gavril [[spoiler:or Eugene]] enters his dragon form.
* VirginSacrifice - Drakhaouls must feed on "innocent" blood to recover after expending energy by going into their dragon form. Also, such sacrifices must be made to [[spoiler:open the Serpent's Gate and let them back into Heaven.]]

[[quoteright:360:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/khezef.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:420:[[ButYourWingsAreBeautiful Those are some fine-looking wings there, buddy.]]]]

* AllLoveIsUnrequited - In the first book and for a while into the second one, anyway.
* ArrangedMarriage - Eugene and Astasia.
* BeastAndBeauty - Kiukiu and Gavril, once the latter's BodyHorror kicks in.
* BiologicalMashUp - As the Drakhaoul gains more power over its host, the host slowly begins to look more and more draconic.
* BreakTheCutie - Both Gavril and Kiukiu (hell, just say Kiukiu's name out loud and tell me she isn't supposed to be lovable!) get the treatment.
* ButYourWingsAreBeautiful - Gavril's angsting about his dragonyness is perfectly justified, though, since it gives him a HorrorHunger ''and'' makes him ugly.

* DealWithTheDevil - One of Gavril's ancient ancestors made one, and his family is still suffering for it.
* {{Deconstruction}} - So, it turns out that while TheEmpire does bad things it is ultimately a force for good, that TheEmperor has legitimate reasons for wanting to take over the world, that he genuinely loves the woman he has forced to marry him and eventually earns her love in return, that the LegionOfDoom is made up of human beings who are generally not sadistic and many of whom just want to ensure peace and get back home, and that no-one is actually evil. [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism Huh.]]

[[quoteright:420:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/khezef.jpg]]

''I can promise a [[GrimUpNorth snow-covered country haunted by ghosts]], a murdered lord, a shadowy drakhaoul-daemon [[OurVampiresAreDifferent with a craving for innocent blood,]] [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited love,]] [[WorldDomination imperial ambitions,]] court intrigue, an ancient legend about a dead emperor's cursed rubies?''

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/khezef.jpg
[[caption-width:420:[[ButYourWingsAreBeautiful Those are some fine-looking wings there, buddy.]]]]

--> Sarah Ash

Mrs. Ash has also written a dual book {{prequel}} series, ''The Alchymist's Legacy'', dealing with the youth of Estael, the original trilogy's [[TheDragon left-hand-man to the bad guy.]] It also focuses on the earlier lives of Ruaud de Lanvaux, Celestine de Joyeuse, and Jagu de Rustéphan and how they all came to associate with one another in ''[[Literature/ArtamonsTears The Tears of Artamon]]''. ''Tracing the Shadow'' is the first book, taking place for the most part before the events of the original trilogy while ''Flight Into Darkness'', the second and last book, entails the "behind the scenes" events taking place concurrently with it.

Mrs. Ash has also written a dual book {{prequel}} series, ''The Alchymist's Legacy'', dealing with the youth of Estael, the original trilogy's [[TheDragon left-hand-man to the bad guy.]] It also focuses on the earlier lives of Ruaud de Lanvaux, Celestine de Joyeuse, and Jagu de Rustéphan and how they all came to associate with one another in ''[[Literature/ArtamonsTears The Tears of Artamon]]''. ''Tracing the Shadow'' is the first book, ''Flight Into Darkness'' the second and last.

* LongLostRelative - [[spoiler: After Kiukiu is rescued by Malusha from the Snow Spirits, she finds out from her in the Ways Beyond that Malusha is her paternal grandmother and an Arkhel Guslyar descendent.]]

* PrincessClassic - Astasia (technically she starts out as a dutchess and later becomes an empress, but she still pretty much fits the trope).

Mrs. Ash is also writing a {{prequel}} series, ''The Alchymist's Legacy'', dealing with the youth of Estael, the original trilogy's [[TheDragon left-hand-man to the bad guy.]] ''Tracing the Shadow'' is the first book, ''Flight Into Darkness'' the second.

Mrs. Ash is also writing a {{prequel}} series, ''The Alchymist's Legacy'', dealing with the youth of Estael, the original trilogy's [[TheDragon left-hand-man to the bad guy.]] ''Tracing the Shadow'' is the first published book.