Reviews

The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford

tonyleachsf's review against another edition

2.0

Equal-ish parts post-Arthurian fantasy, murder mystery, vampire thriller, alt-historical fiction, and court intrigue. The strengths of the book’s characters don’t make up for the whiplash I felt as a reader in style, genre, and plot.

cebesancon3's review against another edition

5.0

It shouldn’t work - magic, vampires, guns, Richard III, and a thriving Eastern Roman Empire in the late 15th century - but it does. It doesn’t just work, it is awesome.

yodisborg's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

cyberhavok's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

bzedan's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I couldn’t remember why I’d put this book on hold but then I realised, ah Richard III. I’m so glad to have read this, what a marvellous and twisting alternate history, filled with such shining and complex characters.

murphyc1's review against another edition

3.0

I had a hard time getting through this one.

hagbard_celine's review against another edition

4.0

Dreamlike. Glad to see it returning to print.

rbreade's review against another edition

The story of how this award-winning novel fell out of print and after twenty years finally returned to bookshelves--Isaac Butler's " "The Disappearance of John M. Ford", in Slate, is worth its own read.

Ford's wonderful "what if?" premise goes like this: What if the Emperor Julian followed through with his resolve not to have a favored religion for the Byzantine Empire, reversing Constantine's support for Christianity, so that instead of monotheism, the existing pagan religions continued to flourish alongside Christianity, and what if magic of a spooky, dangerous sort existed, as well as vampires, of a sort, and finally what if a group of people--a Welsh wizard, a Florentine doctor, a Byzantine mercenary, and a German vampire/artillerist--banded together to thwart a literal Byzantine plot to establish its puppet on the throne of England, pushing the claim instead of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the historical Richard III?

Ford has the writing chops to pull this off in literary style, writing as tight and as crackling a sentence as anyone in any genre. And when he says, in that Butler story, that he "has a horror of being obvious," he's not kidding around: if you blink or nod, you'll find yourself lost. Even if you're reading closely, you might need to flip back and reread sections: Ford isn't going to serve his reader pre-chewed plot points and inferences!

nedhayes's review against another edition

4.0

Fascinating historical fiction by a grandmaster of fantasy I've never read before. Interesting premise... but an odd approach to the plot momentum. One is never quite sure what is happening or why. Nevertheless, enthralling.

condorsalfin's review against another edition

4.0

This was a clever twist on some Medieval European history with well-blended fantasy elements. I thought it was quite interesting to see this age of the world without the influence of Christianity but instead with paganism as the main belief system.