Dragon Precinct

Rating:
Summary: Not Up To His Usual Standards
Review: Hey, I like Keith R.A. DeCandido's genre work elsewhere. He's done some great stuff in the Trek universe, particularly with Klingons in the IKS Gorkon series. But here, in his first novel with original characters, he doesn't quite measure up to his previous efforts.

We are introduced to Danthres and Torin, two lieutenants in the City Guard of Cliff's End. She's a human/elf hybrid, and none too happy about that fact. He's from a family of civilized deep thinkers but wanted to see the world and bust some heads. Together, they make up...well, a couple of world-weary seen-it-all cops in a fairly generic fantasy setting.

On their current case, they're investigating the murder of a famous hero from a band of epic adventuring types. Said hero was minding his own business when he dropped dead in his room at an inn, his neck broken. The wizard detached to civic service says that there are no traces of magical involvement, so evidently the big galoot just...uh...had a bad neck. Or something. Needless to say, the investigators are a bit dubious about the "naturally spontaneously snapping neck" theory and they press on to find answers. And to collect overtime pay.

Meanwhile, we also follow several other cases, which are being pursued by the colleagues of Danthres and Torin. Their comrades include Old Grizzled Vet, Obnoxious Incompetent Newbie, Snarling One-Eyed Captain, Faux Rastafarian, and Generic Guy. Various leads are checked out and witnesses interrogated. And papers are filed and the brass downtown keeps getting in the way of hard-working guards.

So, yeah, it's pretty much a police procedural with a fantasy twist. Is it successful? Well...blandly so. The investigations and their resolutions aren't altogether compelling and the setting isn't really too well-drawn. Efforts at conveying street talk are mainly just embarrassing. And many characters frankly just seem like buffoons or legends in their own mind (although one of the leads gets to reveal the Dark Secret that has made them who they are). Largely, the book serves as the launchpad for a series that the author clearly hopes will follow, where we can see both the protagonists and their environment developed in greater detail.

It's not a bad foray into this type of thing. It's just not that great. I prefer Martin Scott's Thraxas series, but your mileage may vary. At any rate, at less than 300 pages, this novel at least won't suck up a lot of your precious time, so you make the call.

Rating:
Summary: Police procedural in the land of heroic fantasy
Review: Imagine you lived in the world of generic light fantasy -- the world of arrogant wizards, smelly but fearless barbarian heroes, lightfingered halflings, that world. If you've ever played a game of Dungeons and Dragons, you've seen it. Now, imagine that you lived in that world but you were one of the *other* people in it -- the tavernkeeper who has to clean up after the inevitable barfight, the urchin who made the mistake of picking a wizard's pocket, somebody like that. How would you feel about those heroes?

Dragon Precinct does a wonderful job evoking that feeling. When Detective Danthres is informed that two halflings, a barbarian, a priest, and three warrior types took a room at an inn together, she mutters "Lord and Lady, not another heroic quest". This is a world where heroes really are heroes, and ordinary people get shoved to the side, and know it.

Dragon Precinct goes over the same ground as Terry Pratchett's Night Watch series, but while there is plenty of humor, DeCandido's world is more gritty and serious. The universe itself is rather generic (especially in comparison to Discworld!) but that actually helps to highlight the broader issues of heroism, justice, and meaning. Not that this is a heavy psychological work -- it is light fantasy, and should appeal to most fans of Terry Pratchett or Joel Rosenberg.

On the whole, an enjoyable story in what I hope will be a continuing series. The world could use some fleshing out, but that can be saved for future books in the series. Danthres and Torin are made all the more interesting because they are mere protagonists in a land of heroes, and DeCandido clearly knows how to keep a plot moving.


Rating:
Summary: It's a fantasy! It's a police procedural! It's both!
Review: Life is short and time to read is shorter, so here's some good news: the next time you're trying to decide whether to read that new fantasy or the new mystery, you can combine both of your favorite genres by getting "Dragon Precinct." I don't know if an official name exists for this imaginative hybrid, but let's call it a fantasy-police procedural for this review.

DeCandido hits a home run with a hard-boiled detective story set in a fantasy city-state where precincts have names like Dragon, Unicorn, Mermaid and Goblin. Lieutenants Danthres Tresyllione (female--half elf, half human) and Torin ban Wyvald (male--human) are partners who work together like a well-oiled machine while trading in the clever, sardonic humor readers so appreciate. World-weary and realistic, yet committed to justice, they make the perfect partners.

They operate in a world where Sam Spade, Gimli, Emma Peel, V.I. Warshawski, Aragorn and even Voldemort would feel right at home. The novel is steeped in reverence for "The Lord of the Rings" while remaining highly irreverent. But you don't need to understand the references or to be knowledgeable about J.R.R. Tolkien to enjoy every word. I won't spoil the story by giving away the plot, but let me just say it involves a Brotherhood of Wizards, a fellowship of unlikely adventurers allied in a noble cause, and serious crimes that need Danthres' and Torin's masterly detective skills to resolve.

I hope "Dragon Precinct" becomes a series. I can hardly wait for the next installment.