Dragonworld
Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves
ibooks
Fiction, Fantasy
Themes: Classics, Dragons
**
Description
The diminutive citizens of Fandora live in peaceful isolation, viewing anything foreign with fearful superstition. As far as they're concerned,
the likes of the strange Southlanders and 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.