Marjorie B. Kellogg - Reviews

The Dragon Quartet

Books 1 and 2
Marjorie B. Kellogg
DAW
Fiction, Fantasy
Themes: Bonded Companions, Diversity, Dragons, Time Travel
****

Description

When the world emerged from Chaos, four dragons emerged with it: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. As soon as the world was formed, they thought to sleep until it ended, but something has awakened them. Some Purpose awaits them... but to do anything, they need to find their Dragon Guides, a human chosen by Destiny to help them.
This book was originally published as two volumes:
The Book of Earth - Erde, daughter of a minor baron in 913 Germany, sees her power-hungry father corrupted by a fanatical priest driven by visions of foul dragons and a passion for burning supposed witches. In this time of unseasonable famine, the people long for targets and scapegoats, and the priest's ravings give them plenty. Erde herself comes under his scrutiny for noticing too much. As she flees from her ancestral home, she encounters Earth, the first of the dragons to awake. He hardly knows who he is, but he does know that he and Erde are bound by greater forces than either of them understand. As the German barons revolt against the weakening King Otto, and as the priest becomes a force of fear and superstition to eclipse all titled men of the land, Erde is drawn into both the struggles for power among powerful men and the dragon's growing awareness of its Purpose.
The Book of Water - Drawn by forces he cannot explain, Earth takes Erde through time to drought- and war-torn Africa in 2013. Here, pollution and global warming have turned the world into a place quite unrecognizable to the baron's daughter. The skies are yellow with toxins, the oceans are full of diseased and dying fish, and the only safe food is whatever people grow themselves - in locked and barricaded gardens. They find Earth's sister dragon, Water, who knows little more of why the dragons were wakened than Earth. Water's guide, N'Doch, has spent his whole life simply surviving, scoffing at his grandfather's tribal lore and the oft-repeated tale of finding a dragon and saving the world. The jaded young man resists the notions of magic and Destiny, which seems to negate his long-held dreams of turning his music into vid-star fame and fortune, but forces more powerful than even the dragons control events now.

Review

Yes, I bought it because of the dragons on the cover. I like them, okay? That said, I enjoyed this story, though I thought it took a little while to get off the ground. The characters and dragons may not be the deepest or most original creations, but they're unique enough to tell apart, each a product of their own time and talent but capable of understanding the larger threats to the whole world, not just the place and time they came from. The dragons themselves nicely blend elemental magic with dragon lore. I only wish I'd bought the second volume - containing the last two books in the quartet - at the same time, though I've been burned often enough by fizzled concepts to justify caution.

The Dragon Quartet, Volume 2

Books 3 and 4
Marjorie B. Kellogg
DAW
Fiction, Fantasy
Themes: Bonded Companions, Diversity, Dragons, Time Travel
****

Description

In the beginning, the world was created by four dragons: Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. Their work done, they thought to sleep until their creation ended... but something awakened them prematurely. Now, they and their human dragon guides search through the centuries to find each other and the one who Summoned them from their slumber, the one who may explain for what Purpose they are called. First wakened was Earth, beneath the mountains in 913 Germany. With his guide Erde, a baron's daughter driven from her home by cruel circumstance and lies, they traveled to 2013 Africa. Here, they picked up Water and her initially reluctant guide N'Doch, a survival-hardened city boy. The quest to find their remaining two siblings, and understand why and where they have been Summoned, continues...
This was originally published as two books:
The Book of Fire - In a future with little land and less hope, the dragon Fire has become a self-styled God of the Apocalypse, ruling a dispirited population that struggles to pull life from a dying, polluted world. His High Priestess Paia comes to question her God's fierce, seductive command when strange visions of the green past intrude on her dreams. Fire hears the Summons as his brother Earth and sister Water do, but unlike them he refuses to obey, determined to let humanity destroy itself.
The Book of Air - After being denied victory, Fire rages off through the centuries to wreak revenge on the dragon guides' most loved places and people. Torn, the dragons and their human companions must decide whether to continue searching for the dragon Air, entrapped by Fire by unknown means in an unknown place and time, or to warn their allies in other eras. But Fire may well have a reason for his rebellious nature. He, alone of the free dragons, knows what their Purpose is, and understands its implications more fully than they would wish to.

Review

This is a fair followup to the first volume, though I'm just as glad I got these books as two rather than four. I started getting impatient with Kellogg's habit of jumping scenes and wandering for chapters and chapters between relevant, plot-advancing moments, especially her habit of having one character just about to reveal some Vital Truth - only to leave them (and the reader) hanging for several chapters while she visited some other place and time. I wonder if perhaps the four books would have been better as three, or simply four somewhat shorter volumes. That said, the story itself was nice, with a sci-fi/time-travel twist on dragon lore and mystic forces. Her increasingly bleak and lifeless futures look all too possible at this point...