Late November/early December book report

Blood of Kings



A Warmachine novel that is supposed to encompass events before the tabletop version of MKIII.

This focuses on Vinter Raelthorn the usurped king of Cygnar coming back to nab the throne. It also focuses on Vinter’s bastard son who is trying to get on the throne with help from Magnus “the traitor.” Then there is a third bit with the current king Leto who is currently on said throne. Oh yeah and throw in the Cygnar warcaster Caine who is hunting for the bastard son of Vinter to kill him for the Cygnar version of the C.I.A.

Warmachine Game o’ Thrones?

That is sort of what this novel felt like.

A long winded bit of better than typical fan fiction. There is a lot of talking and exposition. Intermixed is some action with steam robots and various game characters.

It wasn’t terrible. I found it similar to the mid-ground 40K novels. A descent read for those who like to play Cygnar or Mercenaries.

If there was a take away from this novel, it was the possibility for changes to the tabletop and certain characters/ potential theme lists.

 

Dragon Fall



I found this in a local book store and nabbed it. I had read this in my youth and I had memories of reading it. However, I couldn’t remember if they we good or bad memories.

Gabe is the atypical teenage kid. We get read about his day to day stuff and learn about his life. His thing is that he designs and makes stuffed animals for a toy company in his downtime. He is like a freelance toy maker? His last creations were a trio of dragons that were not quite anamorphic  but close enough.

Through the story little happenings keep occurring to Gabe  throughout the house. Eventually this culminates in the dragons he created attacking him. Why? Well because…….science? These dragons are also trying to create another one of their kind, but a girl. Yeah these are all boys and need a lady dragon toy to pass around? Ewwww.

Yeah I know why I liked it as a kid. It was Gremlins, but not Gremlins!

After reading it again (many years later) It felt like a lesser Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode. There is no explanation to why/how the dragons become alive. There is a pointless filler “love” story with Gabe and some rando girl he met at a concert. There is an attempt to flesh out Gabe with his family as well. You know the whole get to know the character so we can care about him bit. I just wanted to get to the monsters attacking him. That is what I really remembered.

The ending is rushed and left open for you to draw your own conclusion about the what and why of the events of the last chapter.

Yeah, like everything else I should have stayed away and just remembered this as the dragon toy attack book. This is a lot of filler until the dragon toy attack.

 

 

Dragon’s Blood

I had grabbed this the same time I nabbed Dragon Fall. Why? Well because it was another book I had remembered liking as child. Why not buzz through it again? Right?
Welcome to Austar IV a planet that was once a prison colony and a world full of dragons. Well jump ahead and the world is now broken into masters and slaves. The dragons have been whittled down and are now bred and used for food and gladiatorial combat. This is where the planet makes its money.


Yeah I know pretty stupid sounding.


Now we meet Jakkin a teenage slave who has aspirations of training a dragon and buying his freedom in the dragon fighting pits. How is he going to do this? Well he is going to nab a dragon egg and raise it from hatchling to adult, train it to fight and make money off it in said fights.


Sounds plausible. Right?


Along the way he meets a girl named Akki who befriends Jakkin and is not not a love interest. She is here to help Jakkin and not not be his girlfriend.
Blerg!


Oh yeah then there is Heart’s Blood the dragon Jakkin raises and trains. Ummm….it is a dragon and doesn’t contribute much beyond being basically a big dog for Jakkin.

Oh yeah! Then there is the over the head beating about slavery that you get while reading. The every chapter reminders are so tedious. We get it there are masters and slaves. Yes slavery is bad. I remember that from before. What I didn’t catch was the drug use and prostitution that is brought up as well. I totally missed it as a kid, and found it interesting that it was tossed around in kids book so readily. Well this was written in the 80’s. Different times I guess.

Now the drugs and prostitution bits are not sexy, cool, titillating, or all afterschool special, so they won’t warp or influence a child’s fragile weak developing mind into thinking drugs and sex are super cool. 

Well another fond childhood novel memory tarnished. I really liked this book because it was boy and his dog story, but the dog was a dragon. How cool is that? Very! Sadly it does not hold up after a few decades.

This book isn’t stellar. I would easily let a pre-teen read it, if they like a bit of dragon stuff with minimal everything else, as a bit of sci-fantasy to pass the time