I had no idea what to expect coming into this book. The
dragon on the cover indicated fantasy, but playing poker?
What the heck? And by the author of Phule's Company?
Comedy? Farce? I wasn't sure when I cracked it open, with
some hesitation, I must admit. After a few chapters, I
found myself in a light romp of a fantasy story. With
dragons. Playing poker.
Starting with the now familiar device of "there are secret
supernatural beings that control the world" trope at the
heart of more stories than I care to think about, Asprin
takes it in new direction with the supernatural beings being
dragons. Our main character discovers early on that he is
in fact a dragon, and one at the center of quite a bit of
political machination, and flees for the hills, or rather,
New Orleans, to become the head of an illegal gambling
syndicate. Like you do. Shenanigans, and that really is
the best word for it, follow.
Asprin's writing is a little clumsy at times, but he
otherwise keeps the action moving along at a brisk pace and
planted firmly in the realm of a "yarn" rather than a
"novel." The only real complaint I have is that he seems to
fall into the trap that so many other New Orleans writers
fall into, which is to lapse rhapsodic about the city at
great length for no real purpose. There are times when the
book reads like a Fodor's Guide on the French Quarter.
Judging from the cover -- yes, yes, you aren't supposed to do
that -- DRAGONS WILD is the first in a new series, and that
introduces of the biggest problems into the book. Namely,
there isn't much of a plot. There is plenty of plotting, to
be sure, but precious little that can be described as a
story arc. Threads keep getting added into the mix with no
sign of resolution, or much in the way of development. The
series could be great, but as of the end of book one I have
no way of saying. I can't even be overly sure of what sort
of metaplot there is, if any.
Which isn't to say that DRAGONS WILD is bad. In truth, I
rather enjoyed the way new elements kept getting added as I
could never be sure what was going to show up next (voodoo?
vampires? witches? marmosets?). I'm going to have to
read book two, if only to figure out whether book one is as
good as I think it might be.
First in a brand new series from the New York
Times bestselling creator of the Myth and Phule
novels.
A low-stakes con artist and killer
poker player, Griffen "Grifter" McCandles graduated college
fully expecting his wealthy family to have a job waiting for
him. Instead, his mysterious uncle reveals a strange family
secret: Griffen and his sister, Valerie, are actually
dragons.
Unwilling to let Uncle Mal take him
under his wing, so to speak, Griffen heads to New Orleans
with Valerie to make a living the only way he knows how. And
even the criminal underworld of the French Quarter will heat
up when Griffen lands in town.
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