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Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure. The Wars of the Roses have put Edward IV on the throne of England, Lorenzo de' Medici's court shines brilliantly, and Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza plots in Milan. But this medieval world is dominated by the undiminished Byzantine Empire. In a snowbound inn high in the Alps, four people meet who will alter fate: A noble Byzantine mercenary; a female Florentine physician; an ageless Welsh wizard; and Sforza, the uncanny Duke. Together they will wage an intrigue-filled campaign against the might of Byzantium, striving to secure the English throne for Richard, Duke of Gloucester--and make him Richard III. Available for the first time in over two decades, The Dragon Waiting begins Tor's program to reissue the work of the late John M. Ford, an award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet, whose work was held in high regard by peers ranging from Neil Gaiman to Robert Jordan to Jo Walton to Roger Zelazny, alongside innumerable others. With a new introduction by Scott Lynch, New York Times-bestselling author of The Lies of Locke Lamora.… (more)
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The story is set in the late Medieval period, during the Wars of the Roses. A Welsh magician, a disinherited Byzantine scion turned soldier of fortune, a female Medici with medical skills and a Bavarian vampire ordnance engineer are brought together to play a part in ultimately putting Richard III on the throne of England and thwarting the advance of Byzantium. The world-building is exceptionally well-detailed and the scene painting is particularly vivid.
The action of the book is a little episodic, and the continual shifts in point of view characters does mean that not all the events of the book happen on-stage. Add to that the fact that, especially in the last third of the book when the action moves to the British Isles, characters may be identified by their proper names or by their titles, (plus disguises, costumed and/or magical) and the whole thing does get a little hard to follow without a family tree or two to hand. So just like real Plantagenet history, then.
The four main protagonists are well-drawn, though having all four active in the plot at the same time does perhaps leave that characterisation a bit thin in a 350-page novel rather than a 800-page doorstop blockbuster. Still, less is more. And Ford's research is good, with very few lapses caused by a transatlantic perspective - about the only example I tripped over were the murderers of the Duke of Clarence (of 'butt of malmsey' fame), whose accents mainly seem inspired by Lady Penelope's butler Parker in the 1960s 'Thunderbirds' tv series. The text is allusion-rich, some of these being buried quite deep. There was one Tolkein allusion that made me laugh out loud.
Overall, then, a fantasy novel that reads like an alternate history, is well-written, more historically accurate than most, and above all intelligent whilst still retaining all the suspense and excitement of big bangs and derring-do. A palpable hit.
I tend to mentally divide alternate history into science fiction (could have happened if things had turned out differently), and fantasy (stories including magic, fairies, dragons, psychic powers, etc.). I much prefer those that I classify as science fiction, so I was disappointed to realise that this book included magic and vampires, even though magic was hard to do and slow to achieve its aims and vampires were seen as people suffering from a disease rather than supernatural beings.
I was also irritated by the characters, who seemed to react and over-react in the most unlikely ways, and although no-one expressed any surprise about Cynthia Ricci was a doctor, I found it it jarring that she was the only woman with an anachronistic (for our world) career, apart from a brief mention of a Valkyrie regiment of women soldiers at the end of the book.
Also, from the time the protagonists got together I found it very hard to follow exactly what was going on, and more importantly why. The politics were impenetrable, as were the doings of the magicians, and the characters were always hinting things to each other and letting their sentences trail off, leaving me very confused. It would have been helpful to have had some idea why Cynthia and Peredur spent two years wandering around Wales and to have understood the point of the Robin Hood references, and I'm still unclear as to whether Peredur considered betraying Richard at the Battle of Bosworth.
It's not that I expect everything to be laid on a plate for me, but this book was so much of a struggle that I could hardly be bothered to finish it. It won the World Fantasy Award and I was expecting to enjoy it, so it was a big disappointment.
I find it interesting that this book was written well before some current trends - strong female leads, LGBTQ characters both appear to be well represented in the Dr. Ricci and Dimi characters. This book can be said to have been well ahead of its time- perhaps even timeless in the classic sense.
This book is going onto my re-read shelf.
Instead of Julian the Apostate, who only briefly interrupted the spread of Christianity in Europe, in this alternate history there was Julian the Wise, who lived long enough to prevent any faith from being
In other ways, this Europe is very familiar. Edward IV is King of England, Lorenzo de' Medici is a powerful banker and de facto ruler of Florence. Galeazzo Sforza is Duke of Milan, though in this world he's in the pay of Byzantium, and also a vampire.
We follow a wizard, Hywel Peredur, nephew of Owain Glyn Dwr; a mercenary named Dimitrios Ducas; a young woman doctor from Florence, Cynthia Ricci; and Gregory von Bayern, natural scientist, engineer, and vampire. Vampirism is a disease, and it can be spread, and that turns out to matter, quite a lot.
The story revolves around people with very different original goals, coming together to achieve something perhaps none of them had originally intended. We travel through the beliefs and the ritual and cultural practices that didn't get suppressed by the rise of Christianity, but Christianity is also here, in several different flavors.
This is a rich, lived-in world, and has special riches to offer to those interested in Renaissance Italy, the Wars of the Roses in England, and other absorbing bits of 15th century Europe.
And it's really difficult to say more than that, because this is such a rich, layered world and story.
Highly recommended.
I bought this book.
He would lead you right up to some happening; a knife is approaching the character and then, pphhmmmff, you are somewhere else with some other character who is having lunch. A couple chapters later the character who was being approached with a knife shows up with a bandage on. Nobody really discusses what happened. A character is fleeing through the forest, a shot rings out, zip, you're at the lake with a different character. Later the forest guy shows up with a limp. A character has a secret. Three chapters later everyone knows the secret. How? I dunno.
A couple times I actually checked the pagination to see if maybe there were some pages missing or I'd had some sort of memory lapse. So I found that odd and a little irritating. Kind of like when you were a kid and the grown ups wouldn't tell you what was going on so you had to guess based on observation.
Addendum: This is not hyperbole; this book is a ... dark thing to be
Don't read this book. Don't leave it on your TBR shelf to be picked up again later; or worse, by an innocent! Like any trauma, I find myself drawn back to this nightmare again and again and again; I cannot escape its grasp and time only make things worse. Don't be like me; escape. Burn it, douse the fire with holy water, and then give the ashes to a priest to bury in sacred ground. God have mercy on your soul. And may He save mine--the benign, progressive, agnostic New Testament God, not Shai-Hulud or Cthulhu. As I said, this book will mess you up. Some things are better left undisturbed. Leave this book alone, pass it by, and concern yourself with more innocent tomes (The Necronomicon, for example). Stop reading; run, you fools.
It took a while to bring the disparate gang of characters together and build the world, but was worth the time and attention. The ending is abrupt and (to me) felt a little unresolved.
What if magic and more existed during the time of Richard III? How would he come to power?
The setting is exciting. John Ford keeps putting new twists on history and what could have happened. The overall plot however is a little bland and at the end I was left
It also feels like the kind of thing that in a lesser, or at least different, author would turn into a series.
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