# The Dragon's Banker

![Book cover of The Dragon's Banker](/books/covers/the_dragons_banker.jpg)

by [Scott Warren](/books/authors/scott_warren/)
★★☆☆☆

## Review

_The Dragon's Banker_ is a standalone novel by Scott Warren. It tells the story of Sailor Kelstern, a
banker in a fantasy world who, as the title suggests, is hired by a dragon.

One of my favorite niche sub-genres of fantasy[^fate] explores the question:
What if a dragon used their intellect, riches, and magic to subtly shape the
world instead of charging in and breathing fire. I thought _The Dragon's Banker_
fell squarely into this sub-genre; unfortunately I was wrong.

[^fate]:
    My longest running tabletop roleplaying game was based on this premise, so
    it is one that is near and dear to my heart.

The surface premise is this: the world is transitioning from [precious
metal][cm] to [fiat currency][fiat]. The dragon lord Alkarzarian, unbeknownst
to anyone, is the richest being in the world, but he is worried he will lose
that spot if paper money takes off. So he sends his daughter, Arkelai, to find
a banker to help put his hoard to work.

[cm]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_money
[fiat]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money

I think this would have been a really interesting story, and it is the story I
thought I was reading in the first part of the book. However, that is not what
_The Dragon's Banker_ is about.

At the end, it is revealed in a note from Arkelai that they chose Kelstern
because they thought he was as greedy as a dragon. They assumed he would wage
economic war against the other banks and merchants when they bankrolled him,
allowing the dragons to swoop in and pick up the pieces. But Kelstern was too
honorable: taking care of his employees, treating people with respect, and
paying taxes on his ventures.

So the dragons try to provoke him into conflict. Alkarzarian's son turns the
other merchants against Kelstern, ensuring the failure of all his enterprises.
Yet Kelstern persists, causing Arkelai to realize she couldn't continue to
betray the honorable banker. Luckily, she had learned about
[short-selling][short] from Kelstern, which leads to a new plan: take large
short positions in many different companies, and burn them to the ground.

[short]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_(finance)

I enjoyed the parallels between Kelstern and the dragons. Kelstern is the
narrator, and his descriptions of people always focus on their precious
metals: gold teeth, silver embroidery, copper spectacles, platinum necklace.

I was hoping Kelstern would "win" by coming up with a clever, heist-like plan,
or that the dragons would use their superior intellect to do so. Instead, the
dragon's plan became too simple: burn things.

There is also a slight inconsistency: the dragons's plan was to profit off the
human economic system, but they also transferred several pieces of technology
that revolutionized the empire, like fuel-free heat, new ship designs, and
refrigeration. Perhaps the dragons's real motivation was to move humanity
forward? But if so their other behavior seems too misanthropic for that.

While a fun read, the story is far from perfect. In my ideal dragon story, the
fact that the dragon can breathe fire would make no difference and in this one
it was vital.

## Reviews that mention _The Dragon's Banker_
- [_Rogue Bolo_](/books/rogue_bolo/)

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