Swanwick - The Dragons of Babel review

This is an interesting tale of Will le Fey. He's half-mortal and lives in a small village in Fäerie. One day, during the great war, a dragon crashes just outside of the village. The dragon crawls into the village, without its pilot, and declares himself to be the king. He makes Will his lieutenant when he realizes that Will is half-mortal and will be able to survive the dragon's radiation.

Later, Will destroys the dragon and frees the village. Though, not before earning the hatred of everyone there. The village council exiles him. So, Will goes off on his own and ends up falling in with Ichabod the Fool, a confidence trickster. Ichabod, who goes by the name Nat Whilk most of the time, has a great plan to steal some great stuff from the Palace in Babel.

This really is a fun novel. The world is one of the most unique I've encountered. It's a complete fäerie world, with the full assortment of modern technology - TVs, cell phones, BMWs. Even the dragons are some sort of hybrid creature/jet fighter. The characters are rich, and though somewhat archetypical at times, stand out as truly unique. There's some fun adventure, plenty of humor, and interesting insights into the nature of government and society.


/ [Viking]

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