DRAGONFORGE - JAMES MAXEY

[drosdelnoch]

The second novel in the Dragon Age series has won him a large number of fans who discovered the original Bitterwood on its release. However what do you think about the book and James work?

[Aliette de Bodard]

The dragons make this work, I think--there's a whole society of clever and frightening beings with instincts and impulses that are completely different from humans. Hex in particular is amazing--the philosopher-anarchist dragon is just so much fun to have around. I loved the different characters and how they each had a different arc and were at odds with each other.
Also, I loved the fact that because it's SF disguised as fantasy, it raises a number of pertinent questions about dominant races and who (if anyone) has the right to rule a planet, and whether technology is a good thing or not. It's the sort of thing you don't see often in fantasy, and that's very neat.
The characters do have a tendency to preach to each other, which sometimes got a little annoying, and I was a little disappointed not to see enough of Bitterwood (though Hex and Graxen made up for that). Also, clearly not a standalone by any measure; it doesn't make any sense if you haven't read Bitterwood first.

[James Maxey]

Hi Aliette! Sorry I didn't check the board earlier. Thanks for your comments on the book. I'm glad you liked Hex. He's one of my favorite characters to write. You're right that some of the characters can be a bit preachy--one of them (Ragnar) is an actual preacher after all--but I think Hex takes the edge of his anarchist philosophies by at least possessing a sense of humor.

Aliette de Bodard said:

The dragons make this work, I think--there's a whole society of clever and frightening beings with instincts and impulses that are completely different from humans. Hex in particular is amazing--the philosopher-anarchist dragon is just so much fun to have around. I loved the different characters and how they each had a different arc and were at odds with each other.
Also, I loved the fact that because it's SF disguised as fantasy, it raises a number of pertinent questions about dominant races and who (if anyone) has the right to rule a planet, and whether technology is a good thing or not. It's the sort of thing you don't see often in fantasy, and that's very neat.
The characters do have a tendency to preach to each other, which sometimes got a little annoying, and I was a little disappointed not to see enough of Bitterwood (though Hex and Graxen made up for that). Also, clearly not a standalone by any measure; it doesn't make any sense if you haven't read Bitterwood first.

[Masami]

Great read. I'm going through it a second time and trying to get all the little bits I missed from devouring it quickly the first. My schedule can be described as totally random and I still find that this book has great pick-up-ability - even if I miss a few days I can hop right back in to the thick of things without mentally losing track of too much.

I really like Graxen. His personality does a good job of exemplifying how these dragons can embody good charactertistics as much as they can bad, and he makes up for the relatively few examples of "good" dragons in the first book (Vendevorex was a sympathetic character for me admittedly but I couldn't argue that his actions were truly good or bad, since he mostly acted in self interest.)

Poor Shandrazel. I'm two for two on favorite characters and dashed hopes ... talk about no justice!

At any rate, I've been reccomending this series along with EE Knight's excellent books to some of my other dragon loving friends. Aside from one squeamish rejection (no stomach for tongue soup I suppose) it's been getting me a lot of 'thanks for telling me about it,' so I'll just turn those thanks right over to the author for writing such a neat series.

[James Maxey]

Thanks, Masami! Sorry I keep leading your favorite characters to ill fates. For what it's worth, in Dragonseed, some characters who seem like they're kaput return for further adventures. It's my comic book roots in action. Just because there's been a funeral doesn't mean a character is really, really dead....

Masami said:

Great read. I'm going through it a second time and trying to get all the little bits I missed from devouring it quickly the first. My schedule can be described as totally random and I still find that this book has great pick-up-ability - even if I miss a few days I can hop right back in to the thick of things without mentally losing track of too much.

I really like Graxen. His personality does a good job of exemplifying how these dragons can embody good charactertistics as much as they can bad, and he makes up for the relatively few examples of "good" dragons in the first book (Vendevorex was a sympathetic character for me admittedly but I couldn't argue that his actions were truly good or bad, since he mostly acted in self interest.)

Poor Shandrazel. I'm two for two on favorite characters and dashed hopes ... talk about no justice!

At any rate, I've been reccomending this series along with EE Knight's excellent books to some of my other dragon loving friends. Aside from one squeamish rejection (no stomach for tongue soup I suppose) it's been getting me a lot of 'thanks for telling me about it,' so I'll just turn those thanks right over to the author for writing such a neat series.

[Masami]

Haha, it's okay. I tend to gravitate towards the characters that authors intend the reader to dislike so I'm pretty used to shaking my fist as they bite the dust by now. But thanks, that's encouraging.