Book Thoughts

I purchased James Maxey’s Dragonforge purely on a whim.  At first, I thought the title was Dragonforce, like the band or skill in numerous Final Fantasy games.  Despite being wrong about the title, I was glad I bought the book.  Normally, I’m hesitant about starting in the middle of a series, but this book wasn’t too difficult to get into.  After the first couple of chapters, I felt sufficiently caught up and never gave it a second thought.

We are introduced to a world in turmoil.  The brutal dragon king Albekizan has been slain by the legendary Bitterwood.  Albekizan’s throne is is claimed by his heir Shandrazel.  He hopes to be “a king to end the reign of kings.”  So far, this is appearing to be a little standard except dragons are in the role of the nobility rather than humans.  In this world, humans are slaves, pets, and sometimes prey.  Everything is dominated by dragons.

Maxey makes a radical departure from this fantasy setting and delves into science fiction.  It is hinted throughout the narrative that long ago humans were the dominant species.  Also, things like nanites and nanobots make the reader’s hackles raise just a little bit.  We wonder what is going on.  When the truth is revealed, it finally makes sense.  Even though the setting appears to be your standard “Middle Ages Fantasy era” it turns out this is really just Earth’s future.  With the lost city of Atlantis and genetic engineering playing a role, humanity’s dominance of the planet was stripped away and given to the dragons (created by humans in labrotories).

The plot twist came as a little shocking and a little strange.  The abilities of Atlantean technology come across a little bit like deus ex machina.  But still it was refreshing to see a twist on a tired and true dragon story.

As far as the overall plot goes, it is clear that this book is a “middle book.”  Events happen.  Big events even.  But nothing is truly resolved.  The whole point of this plot was to set up further books.  I could have done without the long subplot with Jazz, the Goddess.  It felt stretched out to take up space.  Normally, I’m a fan of science fiction but to tell the truth, I was more interested in the “fantasy” elements of this story rather than the technological aspects.  I want to know more about the human rebellion against the dragons.  The whole Atlantis thing can be left on the back-burner for a while.  Still, it will be interesting to see how the storylines of peasant rebellion and high technology collide in the next book.

For a whimsical purchase, I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t truly wowed either.  Here’s hoping for the next one.

Score: 3 /5

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