The Waking Fire / Anthony Ryan

The Waking Fire

(Draconis Memoria 1)

by Anthony Ryan

fantasy

copyright 2016

read in November 2016

rated 8/10: really quite good

First, a point which has nothing whatever to do with this book: The latest update of gmail (this post is sent from gmail to the blog) has a new feature. Cut-and-paste maintains the source format. So I cut-and-paste the "really quite good" of my rating. And the font is ... different. So those three words stand out as ... different. Which is ... not good. Annoying. I could "remove formatting". It was quicker to delete then retype. Enough said.

Waking Fire is a lot of fun. Quite complex and almost clever: several plot threads which run in parallel then join -- seamlessly -- when required. Though a couple of joins do seem to have missed the correct timing.

There are likeable characters, many of whom survive. The characters have some depth, they can have doubts and second thoughts. All good. There are nasty characters and stupid characters, they play their roles without making me wish that I had read a different book.

And then there are the dragons. A variety of dragons, with a variety of powers. (I'm not sure why the sea-based, whale-eating, blue dragons ever developed fire breathing capability.) The dragons may be monsters -- but they also have a history. This book introduces that history, I'm looking forward to reading more.

There are also thousands of humans, near-humans and dragons who are, well, purely cannon fodder. The dead bodies pile up. They -- both good and bad -- keep on coming. Like lambs to the slaughter. Like particularly vicious lambs.

The various plots twist and turn. New developments may be unexpected but they are a logical progression. There are no deus ex machina jumps into the ridiculous. On the other hand, a couple of surprise twists were, to me, not surprising at all. They were, however, satisfying.

This is a really enjoyable book -- though with extreme violence. Cartoon-level violence. It's there because it's that sort of world. Not just to make the reader feel sick. Blood and guts rather that gore-porn.

And then... The story ends satisfactorily, with a lot more still to come.

The book is clearly labelled, Book One. The end leaves a lot not yet done. Yet we knew to expect that the story will continue. The cover says so! A clear, Thank you, to the author and publishers: for the "Book One" on the cover. And for a story which leaves me wanting more. Yet which is a complete story by itself.

I enjoyed this book. I look forward to Book Two.

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13sep19:

I reread this book. Picked it up, didn't realise I had already read it, started reading -- and immediately was happy to keep reading. I've just now (having finished the rereading) reread my original review. And I agree entirely with what I then wrote. Plus: I gained a fraction more enjoyment simply because I was better able to understand some of the more complicated ... things that were happening :-)

For example, I believe that there is a to-be-revealed backstory to the broader world. This second reading I notice a short paragraph which supports my earlier vague impression. Plus, of course, I get to know and appreciate -- earlier in the book -- the various characters.

So, all good. And still looking forward to reading Book Two.

A quick web check: Aha! good: Book Two has been written. It's "due to be published on June 27th." I hope that means this or last year and not the next...

28jul20:

I picked it up and didn't recognise the title. It took me two paragraphs to recognise... By then I was hooked. Again.

This time, I took some time to remember characters. So I noticed that there were more relationships than I had recognised the first two times... Interesting -- and clever.

I also had an even stronger feeling of, To be continued. Yet it doesn't matter -- the end of the book provides a very satisfying conclusion. It's just that there is so much still to be done. Really, I must try to get hold of the next two in the series.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Omne ignotum pro magnifico est" … Tacitus: Agricola