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SFReader Forums > SF Fiction and Art > Right Now I'm Reading.... > James Wyatt Storm Dragon

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Edward Knight
Jack of all Trades and Master of None

Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 1034

Posted 12/27/2007 2:10 PM (GMT -4)

Spoilers below:

Christopher,

Well, there's this prophecy (typical) that refers to the "Storm Dragon" rising. There is this Bronze dragon who aspires to be the Storm Dragon that is supposed to find this one paticular shard and make a spear out of it to kill the Soul Reaver (just think about most of the "Dark Lord" type characters you ever heard of and you have him pegged). Anyway, the Bronze Dragon tries to learn as much as he can about the prohecy and then tries to make it come true. Supposedly after the Storm Dragon kills the Soul Reaver the Storm Dragon will ascend to godhood. But the dragon is missing a few lines of the prophecy that refers to the "Pretender" falling. The real Storm Dragon is a man. That was pretty obvious from about chapter two on. The dude, Gaven, is an expert on the prophecy. He suspects he is he Storm DRagon but is reluctant to play the part because he doesn't want to be a god. In the end there is this big shat of light coming out of the earth Withe the Soul Reaver floating in it. Of course there is this poorly laid out but huge battle going on all around it. The Bronze Dragon goes in after the bad guy and gets his tail whipped. Then Gaven beats the Soul Reaver but avoids becoming a god by using his magic to collapse a pile of rock into the hole where the light is coming from and seal off the path to becoming a god. Pretty lame ending.

Edward Knight
Editor
Journey Books Publishing

Order our newest anthology, Unparalleled Journeys II, now at:
http://www.journeybookspublishing.com

Christopher_Heath
Eternal Champion

Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1156

Posted 12/24/2007 1:36 PM (GMT -4)

Sounds terrible. I actually sent in a "Storm Dragon" with stats to Dragon Magazine in the '90s, but they didn't publish it. Does the story actually contain a storm dragon, or is it a reference to something else like the hero? I was just wondering because I have a storm dragon appearing in one of the Azieran novels, though it's not a major player.

Christopher M. Heath

"Azieran: Claimed by Birthright" in Return of the Sword

"Azieran: Oathbreaker's Promise" in Flashing Swords

"Azieran: The Hollow Kings" in Flashing Swords

"Azieran: The Harvester" in AlienSkin

"Azieran: Adairos" in Tower of Light Fantasy

"Azieran: Savior in a Flask" in Magic and Mechanica by Ricasso Press

"Azieran: The Travelers Four" in Black Dragon, White Dragon by Ricasso Press

"Azieran: The Breaking of Hell's Bones" in Black Sails by 1018 Press

"Azieran: Distilling the Essence" in Sails and Sorcery by Fantasist Enterprises

"Azieran: Crestfallen in Mal'kyrrik" serialized novella in Forgotten Worlds

+ others

Edward Knight
Jack of all Trades and Master of None

Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 1034

Posted 12/24/2007 12:40 PM (GMT -4)

I'm about two thirds done with Storm Dragon by James Wyatt. This book gives me hope. It gives me hope that if a book written as poorly as this one can get into hardcover with a major publisher that I still have a chance as a writer.

The first chapter or two is pretty much one big old info dump that attempts to setup this huge epic adventure. He could have left a lot of that out because he explains it again within the story later.

Now some of you know that I've talked before about the "rules" of writing. I'm all in favor of breaking "rules". But Wyatt breaks them to the point that the story is almost incoherent. I like an occasional sentence fragment. This guy weilds them like a limp noodle.

He keeps jumping from one character's head to another--sometimes in the same sentence. I can't keep up with who is thinking what. There are many places where there is no POV character and some places where we jump completely out of the POV character's head and into someone else's.

The book is very cliche', but it is a Wizards of the Coast publication and that's what they are famous for. Still, the sterotypical goblins, elfs, dwarfs, gnomes... nothing new here. Dragons are designated colors (as usual) Red Dragons, Bronze Dagons, Gold Dragons...whatever. Dragon memories ars stores in shards. Swords have names lke Maelstrom... Some places have cheesy names (Like Mournland)while others have long elven names that Gandolf couldn't pronounce.

He uses magic like a crutch. He developes this huge five nation world and then they jump all over it simply by holding hands in a circle while the big hauncho wizard does a teleportation spell (too easy). His protag goes into the desolate waste of Mournland (cheesy) carrying a magic water skin that never goes dry (again, too easy).

He does a fair job of building some interesting characters and story has a good pace once it gets past the opening few chapters. It's typical fantasy and those of you who read a lot will have that "I've read this some place before" feel throughout the book.

Its a three book series, unfortunately. Unless the last third of the book really blows me away I'll probably have to leave this story hanging for the rest of my life. I doubt I'll buy the other two.

Edward Knight
Editor
Journey Books Publishing

Order our newest anthology, Unparalleled Journeys II, now at:
http://www.journeybookspublishing.com

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