Author: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Cover Artist: Michael Komarck
Publisher: Tor
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: January 6, 2009
Skylan Ivorson is a sea-raider of the Vindras and eventually becomes the Chief of Chiefs of all Vindras clans, an honor he truly feels he deserves as one who has been blessed by Torval, the god of war. Torval and the other ancient gods are under siege from a new generation of gods who are challenging them for the power of creation… and the only way to stop these brash interlopers lies within the mysterious and hidden Five Bones of the Vektan Dragons It will be up to the Vindras, the dragon-goddess’s champions… (taken from parts of the synopsis)
This is my first book in a while scribed by Weis and Hickman, and as such it was something that I was looking forward to. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman put together a good story here, with enjoyable characters, a fleshed out clan based Norsemen setting, gods that interact with mortals, and raw magic. There were a few sticking points to the story that I will talk about in this review, but overall a book I had a good time reading. One of the reasons that Weis and Hickman are the bestselling fantasy co-authors has as much to do with their world-building and storytelling as it does with their style of writing. They have a very fluid style of writing that does not get bogged down in too much verbiage, or go overboard with description that is superfluous - you get world building, story, characters all put together in a nice package. Bones of the Dragon adhered to all those Weis and Hickman rules with a few minor exceptions.
The Torgun Clan of the Vindrasi are quite similar to Norsemen in their society, but touched up with the fact that their ships have a dragonbone that allows the priestess of the clan to summon a dragon in times of dire need. I want to make note that as Margaret Weis pointed out to me, the term viking started out as a verb “vike” meaning “pillage”, so let us keep them based on Norsemen for the time being. Right from the beginning of the story we are shown that this is a high magic world, with ogres and fae introduced into the story rather quickly. Always a plus with me, as a high magic world is what I enjoy. Gods interacting with mortals makes for an interesting story and the authors seem to be able to produce gods in their stories that feel like complete characters, especially Vindras, the dragon-goddess. The clan worship of Vindras, weaves well to create the story. We are really only introduced to a small part of the world in this book, but what we did see was rich and spirited.
The Skylan Ivorson character is young, he is self-centered, and he is realistically written to be the son of a Chief of the Torgun, with the trapping you would think to find with such a warrior. There is something about Skylan as he is written with his inexperience of youth that makes you cheer him on even as he fails and fails again. He is trapped between youth and adulthood and responsibility is not a kind master. This is where Weis and Hickman shine in their ability to allow you to connect to their characters, and Skylan is a prime example, as I contemplated my youth at the same time. While Skylan is the main character who we follow, the strong supporting cast that is put together around him works for the story. The characters do not overtake the story, nor do they get lost within the story either. The authors also do not write a story of invincible characters, and no one is safe from the pen. Another testament to their writing is the readers ability to detest a character as well (rather then feeling nothing) and there are a few characters on the table that illicit that feeling.
There are a few potholes in the lawn, though minor. While Bones of the Dragon does bring us some more mature scenes and themes than one might find in some of their other work, some of the scenes seemed a bit overdone from the aspect of coming out and telling the reader, rather then letting the reader imagine the scene. Thank goodness they are few and far in between, but I wanted to point out one for clarity sake. Skylan has just tried to have his way with Aylaen, and the fae have seen this and we are told of their imitation of Skylan.
The satry did an imitation of Skylan, swaggering about on his hairy goat legs, shouting his love for the giggling dryads, shaking his bulging penis at them, and boasting of his prowess.
It seems a bit unnecessary to me personally, and I think that the writing of the passage could have been toned down. There are a few of these places where it seemed like Weis and Hickman turned it up a notch just to show this was an adult book, and I think it was unnecessary. The other minor issue was with the story pacing. The story cruises along until we meet Wulfe for the first time with the druids. The machine that is the fluid writing leaks a bit and for a few pages around chapter 12 of the last third of this book, we stall. For whatever reason the introduction of Wulfe is such a break in the action and story that it actually causes us to pause. Wulfe is an important character and it seems he will end up playing an even larger role in the next book, so it is not the character per se but I think the introduction only. Really minor quips in a hefty story. I also had a very vague thoughts of Homer’s Odyssey while reading the book, but I think that is a good thing, not a bad thing.
We have just started to touch the beginning of the story and I am eager for more, it was a book I actually brought with me to read, rather then wait till I had time. Sometimes a good story is just a good story, it does not need to be all dressed up with bells and whistles, it does not need to have a hidden compartment to confuse everyone, it does not have to be so huge and overwhelming that you get lost in in and forget who is who. I would even go so far to say that a good story does not even have to turn the genre on its head. Sometimes a good story is a good story, and Bones of the Dragon is a good story. Period.
