The Dragon Waiting is a historical fantasy novel set in the late 15th century (early Renaissance) in an alternate universe in which the Byzantine empire has become more and more powerful instead of decaying during the middle ages.
The plot revolves around the War of the Roses (a civil war that took place in England during the second half of the 15th century) and it's quite hard to follow, especially during the second half of the book. This is partially because a lot of the English nobles have the same names (Richard, Edward, etc) but also because the author calls them by both their names and surnames from time to time. The action also jumps from character to character and from scene to scene , which further messes up the action. I would personally recommend taking some notes on a couple of the recurring characters just to be able to know which side everyone's on and who's backstabbing who. Personally, I prefer my plots to be a bit more straightforward and not spending the last fifth of the book asking myself who this character is or how those characters met. On the other hand, I would expect such complexities offer a lot in the sense of rereading value, which I'll definitely do in the future as I really enjoyed it.
The historical part of the novel was interesting enough but given it's not an era of history I'm well-versed in (especially the British stuff) I wasn't as interested in some of the historical cameos. That said, I would have liked to get a bit more of the Byzantine’s side, as I’m very much a classical culture sort of person.
Ford’s prose was another aspect I really appreciated, especially since most of what I read this year was modern sci-fi/fantasy, which tends to lag behind when compared to most classics. If you want to get a taste of his style of prose, I’d recommend reading his short poem “Winter Solstice, Camelot Station”, which won a World Fantasy Award. You can click the following link or just type the tittle on any web searcher.
Character is probably the best part of the novel (as it's been for several of the things I've read as of late). The four main characters are surprisingly complex and layered, especially for a novel dating back before mental illness and really deep characters were a thing (which I guess would be when WoT and Sanderson rose in popularity). I don’t want to get much into it because of spoilers but I liked all four main characters, which isn’t a common thing for me, as I tend to just focus on one (usually the protagonist).
The magical elements were not at the forefront and were much softer tan the typical modern hard-magic systems. The rules were never explained and it never felt like a science or something you could control or predict. There are also vampires, and not the modern sexy ones but the classic blood-sucking and blood-addicted kind. These were another surprise hit, as I’m not one to enjoy classic monsters (vampires, zombies…) or even most fantasy races; I don´t like elves or dwarves or trolls (sue me).
Overall, this was one of my favorite reads of last year, mainly because of the characters, but also due to his beautiful prose and a plot which would take turns at any given moment, given the story a sense of unpredictability.
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