The Iron Dragon's Daughter | |||||
Michael Swanwick | |||||
Gollancz, 456 pages | |||||
A review by James Seidman
Then, by chance, she finds something that will change her life: a
grimoire describing the technical specifications for a dragon. After
she spends some time furtively studying this book, she starts hearing
a persuasive voice telling her she can escape. The voice belongs to
Dragon 7332, who has his own hidden agenda for wanting Jane's help.
Jane and 7332 escape together, but 7332's injuries render him all but
inoperable, leaving Jane to face the world alone. From going to school
to shoplifting what she needs from the mall, she must be totally
self-reliant. As she works to carve out a life for herself in this
foreign world, she must also worry about 7332's secret plans and
about the authorities searching for her.
The Iron Dragon's Daughter is a very gritty tale. The
residents, from the decadent aristocratic elves to the depraved
goblins, are like caricatures of human shortcomings. Swanwick's
style is one that may seem gratuitous to some: he fills the book
with gratuitous sex, gratuitous violence, and gratuitous profanity
that add little to the story. While this material slightly
emphasizes the baseness of the world, it does so at the cost of
being distracting and offensive. In addition, the book has some
sections where slow reading is necessary to figure out exactly
what's happening in the confusing narrative.
Despite these shortcomings in writing style, The Iron
Dragon's Daughter is a very original story, quite unlike
any other story I have read. It has a dynamic, unpredictable
writing style that succeeds in providing fairly consistent
entertainment.
Copyright © 1997 James Seidman
James Seidman is co-founder and president of a small start-up company,
which means that getting review copies of books is the only way he can
afford to indulge his craving for science fiction. He lives with his
wife, daughter, two dogs, and twenty-seven fish in Naperville, Illinois. |
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