Dragons are not creatures who would seem to make fair rulers, especially if their subjects are humans. But hold down any person, or group of people long enough, and those “subjects” may very well rise against unfair rulers, even if they are dragons. Of course, when a person who is more headstrong than head-smart stumbles into a mercenary duo, taking down the dragons makes for more than a fleeting hope for a handful of fools.
A brand new adventure fantasy: imagine Guardians of the Galaxy planning a heist on Smaug’s gold, for fans looking for something with a modern twist and some humor.
Guardians of the Galaxy meets The Hobbit in this rollicking fantasy adventure.
It’s not easy to live in a world ruled by dragons. The taxes are high and their control is complete. But for one group of bold misfits, it’s time to band together and steal back some of that wealth.
No one said they were smart.
Our protagonist is Will Fallow, the aforementioned headstrong young man who is beaten down and sick of the Dragon’s rule. In tow, to Will’s chagrin, is Firkin, something between a town crier and a town drunk. The mercenary duo is Lette and her partner Balur, a lizard-man barbarian of tall stature (he stands over 8 feet tall). Rounding out the group is Quirk, a woman who plies her trade as a scholar specializing in dragon anatomy and biology and Firkin, a drunken less than sane friend of Will’s who acts as the group’s herald. Hollins sets the story in a relatively familiar fantasy landscape that echoes medieval level technology and creatures out of fantasy. The characters; however … the characters are where this novel comes alive, in large part. The other large part is the rollicking heist plot. Well, rather, multiple heist plots that combine into an over-arching heist plot.
Right, multiple heists. The series title is The Dragon Lords so it only makes sense for there to be multiple dragons in the novel. All of humanity is under the clawed heels of the Consortium of Dragons. The first dragon they encounter and attempt to rob, Mattrax the Dragon Lord of the Kondorra Valley, is the one causing the most problems for Will and his “friend” Firkin. They realize Mattrax has an enormous horde of gold and plans begin to form. As you might expect, the heist does not go according to plan. What’s even more entertaining than how sideways the plan went is how the characters deal with the fallout. Like I said, the series title is The Dragon Lords and Mattrax is just the first of the dragons in the book and series.
There is a great deal of humor in the novel and it largely comes through the character interactions. Hollins sets chapters from each of the character’s points of view, even going so far as to utilize the characters speech pattern for the omniscient point of view. It was a jarring thing initially, but that lasted only a very short time and soon became a strong and enjoyable element of the novel as a whole. Hollins has a great hand for character in most of those facets – believability, empathy, and especially in how these characters interact with each other and react to the situations in which they find themselves. His plotting is entertaining and makes for a page-turning adventure. What Hollins does in The Dragon Lords: Fools Gold is flat out fun and entertaining.
A slight spoiler at this point. While this is the first novel by “Jon Hollins” it isn’t the author’s first novel. “Jon Hollins” is a pseudonym for Jonathan Wood, author of a series of books which began with No Hero. The Dragon Lords: Fools Gold is a title that seemed to have flown under the radar over the past year since it was published in July 2016. Do yourself a favor, pick it up or download it to your kindle and before you know it, you’ll likely have ordered the second novel, False Idols.
Recommended
© 2017 Rob H. Bedford
Orbit, July 2016
Trade Paperback, 544 Pages
The Dragon Lords #1
Excerpt: https://www.orbitbooks.net/excerpt/the-dragon-lords-fools-gold/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher, Orbit Books
