James Maxey's Dragonseed Reviewed
The Final Volume of The Dragon Age Trilogy, From Solaris Books
Jul 9, 2009
James Maxey's Dragonseed (Solaris July 2009, ISBN 978-1844167548, 416pp ) is the conclusion to his epic Dragon Age trilogy, which began with Bitterwood (Solaris June 2007, ISBN 978-1844164875, 496pp ) and continued with Dragonforge (Solaris June 2008, ISBN 978-1844165810, 544pp ) .
BitterwoodMankind is ruled over by dragons, who keep humans as either slaves or pets. Bant Bitterwood is a preacher whose family is killed by dragon king Albekezan's armies. For twenty years Bitterwood wages guerilla war on dragons, especially Albekezan's family, but when Bitterwood kills Albekezan's son Bodiel, the dragon king retaliates by ordering humanity's extermination. As humans rise up against the dragon-kind, Bitterwood takes his revenge by slaying Albekezan.
Dragonforge
Bitterwood and the sorceress Jandra encounter the Goddess, who claims to be a thousand years old, and to be both the dragons' creator and the reason human civilization collapsed. When the Goodess tries to transfer her memories into Jandra, Bitterwood kills the Goddess - without harming Jandra.
Meanwhile, Ragnar is a fantaical human prophet who recruits a human army to capture the vast citadel of Dragon Forge, where foundries churn out the dragon armies' armor and weapons. Ragnar's allies include Burke the Machinist, a mechanical genius who knows many secrets from the long forgotten Human Age.
When Jandra travels to Dragon Forge she finds her loyalties divided; raised by dragons Jandra believes mankind should be free, but opposes the rebel's violent methods. When her friend the dragon Hex steals the genie that is key to her magic, she reluctantly joins the human rebels -- and Jandra knows the long lost secret of gunpowder....
Dragonseed
Dragonseed opens with Shay and two other runaway slaves dragging their weary bodies toward the rebel enclave at Dragon Forge. When they are caught by slave-catcher dragons, two of the slaves are killed, but Shay is saved by a lone archer lurking in the shadows -- Bitterwood. Shay's rescure takes the runaway into Dragon Forge, where hemeets Burke and shows him his 'treasure,' a set of ancient books. Shay is one of the few humans who can read, and is horrified when Ragnar hurls the books on the fire. Ragnar and Burke's uneasy alliance is already starting to show signs of strain.
Ragnar tolerates Burke because the Machinist is able to make guns, but has no interest in printed words. Worse, both Jandra and Shay have alienated Ragnar, so to safeguard them, Burke sends them on a mission, to retrieve some documents at his home.
But unknown to Burke, the dragons are already planning their counter-attack on Dragon Forge, and there are other forces gathering, who also have an interest in the besieged town...
James Maxey
Fantasy is full of dragons, from Le Guin to Lewis and McCaffrey to Pratchett. Usually they're cunning, devious or wise. One of the outstanding aspects of Maxey's work is that he is able to make them as earthy, flawed and as well-rounded as the humans they hunt. Together with his sly humour --one of the characters is a pig that can fly-- Maxey brings several nice touches that elevate what is effectively a stealth SF novel to well above the norm.
It's clear from page 23 onward when Burke is described as a "member of an ancient race known as the Cherokee," that this is our Earth, and that Dragonseed is set in the distant future. Another of the delights of Dragonseed is the efficient, economic way that Maxey rationalizes fantasy tropes --from dragons to genies to hexes-- with a wholly convincing Science Fiction rationale.
It's a big, epic story, with a huge cast of characters. With the exception of Ragnar, who is a little sketchy and whose 'religion' is equally gossamer-thin and Blasphet, whose sudden character changes at crucial moments don't quite hold up, the huge panoply of characters are for the most part well drawn and appropriately sympathetic or Machiavellian.
Dragonseed may the conclusion to the Dragon Age trilogy, but readers can approach it as a stand-alone novel, and it's enormously enjoyable. Hopefully there will be a new novel from James Maxey before too long, in a new universe. It'll be worth waiting for.
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