Dragonworld
Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves
ibooks
Fiction, Fantasy
**
DESCRIPTION: The diminutive citizens of Fandora lead a life of peaceful isolation, viewing anything foreign with fearful superstition. As far as they're concerned, the
likes of the strange Southlanders and evil, sorcerous Simbalese can just stay beyond their borders where they belong. Even Fandorans like the hermit Amsel, who seek knowledge
beyond legend and myth, are outcasts. One day, their peace is shattered when the Fandorian boy Johan is found dead, murdered viciously while illicitly trying Amsel's new flying
Wing invention. Jondulrun, the boy's father and Elder of Tamberly Town, immediately suspects the Simbalese. After all, the boy's mangled body was found on the shores of the
treacherous Strait of Balomar, natural boundary between the two lands. It is widely known that the magicians over there have windships, powered no doubt by black magic, so who
else could have murdered the boy? Amsel the stranger must be a Simbalese spy, who tempted Johan with his evil magicks. Jondalrun's fury and grief sees only one outlet:
revenge on the Simbalese.
In Simbala, there has been unrest among the Royal Family and Royal Circle in the capital of Overwood ever since the Monarch-Emeritus Ephrion chose a commoner, the miner
Hawkwind, as successor to the throne over a noble. On top of that, Hawkwind's chief advisor and lover, Ceria, is from the ill-reputed Rayan people. Princess Evirtae
has never stopped lusting for power, and many among the Royal Family subtly support her machinations to prove Hawkwind unfit for the throne.
When a royal ceremony is interrupted by a Northwealdsman hunter, demanding justice for the murder of a child of his people by - there can be no doubt - the barbarian Fandorans
across the Strait, it seems a gift too good to be true. Wars can always be used by those in power to get what they want... and get rid of what they don't.
Amsel, driven from his home and considered dead by the Fandorans of Tamberly Town, is determined to find the answer to what really killed young Johan, and that answer must lie in
far Simbala. With little knowledge of sailing and less of the land he seeks, the scientist sets out across the Strait of Balomar to uncover the truth about Johan's death... and
maybe, just maybe, stop the impending slaughter.
Meanwhile, a third race, older than mankind itself, lurks in the cold, inhospitable north, beyond the Dragonsea. Long have the coldrakes, lesser relatives of the legendary
dragons, stayed there, beyond the ken of humanity, but now their world grows too cold even for their mighty selves. There are old stories about a paradise to the south, but
ancient edicts have prevented the creatures from expanding their range. Those who gave such orders appear to have vanished, and in order to survive the Darkling, halfbreed
leader of the surviving coldrakes, is willing to defy even those ancient laws...
REVIEW: The publishing company, ibooks, is reprinting "classic" stories from the past, so Dragonworld is not new to fantasy, only to me. It originally came out in 1979, and was evidently considered memorable enough for this series. I don't remember it, of course, since I was in kindergarten at the time, but I do remember having an old game for the Commodore based on this tale. Of course, I didn't know it at the time, and never finished it before the disk went belly-up. So, anyway, I was excited to see the root of that game, long a favorite, in print before me. Then I read it, and my excitement soon waned. I almost gave this an Okay rating... about halfway through. After that, it became apparent that, no, the story wasn't going to pick up. Almost everyone - and there are many everyones, many with no reason for being in the story and almost impossible to tell apart - acts like complete idiots for most, if not all, of the story. Characterization never existed, save when the plot decided it wanted some, and even then it was weak. I felt little to no sympathy for anyone but the Coldrakes, and maybe Amsel once or twice, as they were the only ones who occasionally exhibited intelligent behavior. The plot was threadbare at best and completely disconnected at worst. I am still at a loss to explain the title, as even the coldrakes don't make much of an appearance until past the halfway point, and as for the dragons... maybe the last fifth or so of the book mentions their fate. Too bad. The coldrakes and dragons represented some of the best parts of this overlong tale. This edition (at least - as I said, I don't know about the original 1979 publication) is illustrated by Joseph Zucker, but I don't know why. His illustrations are often pointless and almost invariably dippy. They also often take up two full pages (unnecessarily), interrupting the narrative in mid-sentence. It was tough enough keeping track of things without the story being broken up by these intrusive illustrations, which as often as not depicted nothing of pivotal interest. There were a few interesting ideas and neat settings described, but none were developed or significant enough to save this story. The sad thing is, according to the cover, this was once a #1 Fantasy Bestseller. All I can say is that the year Dragonworld ranked top must have been a very, very sad year for the genre.
You might also enjoy:
Dragons Wild (Robert Asprin, Fiction - A slacker college grad learns that he and his sister are dragons, about to develop powerful and unpredictable "secondary traits")
The Last Dragonlord (Joanne Bertin, Fiction - The near-immortal dragonlords, shapeshifting fusions of human and dragon souls, inspire awe, envy, fear... and hatred)
Finder (Emma Bull, YA Fiction - In Bordertown, between the human world and faerie realm, a boy sets out in search of a killer and finds something much, much worse)
The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme series (Elizabeth Haydon, YA Fiction - In a well-realized fantasy world, a boy with a relentless thirst for adventure finds more than he bargained for)
The Halfblood Chronicles (Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton, Fiction - Shapeshifting dragons amuse themselves by stirring up trouble for tyrannical elven lords and the enslaved human population)
The Song of Ice and Fire series (George R. R. Martin, Fiction - The sweeping epic of a world on the brink of a many-year winter, a time of darkness when forgotten dangers wait to strike the divided world of Men)
Bitterwood (James Maxey, Fiction - In a world where dragons have enslaved humanity, a dragonslayer's geurilla resistance inspires the people, but might only make matters worse)
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (Patricia McKillip, Fiction - Raised in isolation among larger-than-life creatures of legend, a sorceress is drawn into the world and the wars of men)
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