The Hidden Dragon (Stargods, 1)

Rating:
Summary: Generally weak, but vaguely entertaining
Review: "The Hidden Dragon" (Volume 1 of The Stargods) is a mixture of science fiction and fantasy and somewhat fails in both genres.

Three brothers with latent psychic abilities are attacked in their spaceship by the authorities. They manage to escape and limp to the nearest planet with an acceptable atmosphere, hoping to find the resources they need to repair their ship. When they arrive, they find a primitive society, apparently the descendants of a lost colony.

To their amazement, the O'Hara brothers find that the planet supports dragons, a mystical race of powerful beings who have, for the most part, remained aloof from the humans. Until now. In the past, one of their own acquired the taste for human flesh and had to be destroyed. Another outcast wants to control the human race.

Although the O'Hara brothers just want to collect the elements they need and leave, they become caught up in the fate of this world.

The characterization is rather weak. The three brothers are almost indistinguishable from one other and all have similar names which just adds to the confusion. Radford doesn't supply any firm motivations for their actions; this became irritating at times. The motivation of the villain is particularly flat. Why does he want to kill everyone? He seems to be interested in acquiring and using power; if he kills everyone, who is left to worship him? The few potentially interesting individuals (the fiery Hestiia and the mysterious flywacket Gentian) are discarded or muted about halfway through the book.

Also, Radford doesn't pretend to be subtle in her storytelling. She continually "hints" at things until you want to scream "Ok, Ok, I get it now!!"

But, for those of us who enjoy a bit of diverting adventure, the book does fulfill that requirement.

Readers of Radford's other series, "The Dragon Nimbus" and "The Dragon Nimbus History" will thrill to find familiar names and places: Simurgh, Hanassa, Yaakke, the Stargods, and the genesis of the nation of Coronnin.

Expect a cliffhanger...after all it is only volume one.

Rating:
Summary: I have to agree with MitchDennis
Review: Although the imagery was colorful, the writing was weak. It grew so tiresome to read on about their struggles to almost kill their nemesis. Every time they could have finished the job, there were objections about how wrong it is to kill any living thing (even those bent on your own destruction). And the mentions of how the most civilized of us have eschewed meat as a source of food. Over and over again these themes were vocalized as major plot points and character values. I for one get sick of being bludgeoned with someone's personal opinions when I'm trying to read a book for fun. I don't think I'll be continuing with this series.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but...
Review: I found a good many grammatical errors, most of which were in punctuation (i.e. periods where question marks should be, etc). There were a few other errors, as well, but the book as a whole was pretty good. Not quite as high quality as her other two Dragon Nimbus series, however. It seemed to lack something. Nevertheless, it was a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but...
Review: I found a good many grammatical errors, most of which were in punctuation (i.e. periods where question marks should be, etc). There were a few other errors, as well, but the book as a whole was pretty good. Not quite as high quality as her other two Dragon Nimbus series, however. It seemed to lack something. Nevertheless, it was a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Great for Fantasy lovers...
Review: This was the first of Irene Radford's books I had read. It kept me glued to the pages until I had finished the book. I enjoyed it enough to immediately purchase all 4 of the books in The Dragon Nimbus series.

SIDE NOTE: For anyone who is looking for another good fantasy series, try the books by David Eddings. I recommend starting with the series The Belgariad (book 1 is entitled Pawn of Prophesy). The story is Tolkien-esq but with an easier-to-read style. I own 16 of his books, and they've all been read until the covers are falling off!

Rating:
Summary: Great for Fantasy lovers...
Review: This was the first of Irene Radford's books I had read. It kept me glued to the pages until I had finished the book. I enjoyed it enough to immediately purchase all 4 of the books in The Dragon Nimbus series.

SIDE NOTE: For anyone who is looking for another good fantasy series, try the books by David Eddings. I recommend starting with the series The Belgariad (book 1 is entitled Pawn of Prophesy). The story is Tolkien-esq but with an easier-to-read style. I own 16 of his books, and they've all been read until the covers are falling off!

Rating:
Summary: exciting futuristic tale
Review: When the O'Hara clan resisted the Galactic Terran Empire planetary governor's takeover, he declared them outlaws and claimed the family shipping business. When the O'Hara home exploded, the oldest sister Katie disappeared. The family matriarch became determined that the family would regain their citizenship rights so that they could have access to the databases and thus find out what happened to Kate.

The three O'Hara boys (Kim, Konner and Loki), take to smuggling so that they can bribe a corrupt official into returning their citizenship. On their latest run carrying valuable pearls, they are almost caught and have to make a FTL jump into unknown space to avoid getting captured. The ship is damaged and the O'Hara brothers are forced to land on a planet inhabited earlier by earlier GTE colonists who have sunk into a hunting and gathering type society. In a battle with a corrupt tribal official, the brothers liberate the slaves, build their own nation where the inhabitants regard them as the STARGODS. Their adventures become the stuff that legends are made of.

Irene Radford has begun a new series that is very different in tone and style than her previous Merlin's Descendants. The story line is sophisticated yet the interactions between the brothers is both witty and slapstick. There is enough action in THE HIDDEN DRAGON to keep readers turning the pages until they reach the end of the book. It will be very hard to wait for book two in the series so we can revisit those darling O'Hara men.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: exciting futuristic tale
Review: When the O'Hara clan resisted the Galactic Terran Empire planetary governor's takeover, he declared them outlaws and claimed the family shipping business. When the O'Hara home exploded, the oldest sister Katie disappeared. The family matriarch became determined that the family would regain their citizenship rights so that they could have access to the databases and thus find out what happened to Kate.

The three O'Hara boys (Kim, Konner and Loki), take to smuggling so that they can bribe a corrupt official into returning their citizenship. On their latest run carrying valuable pearls, they are almost caught and have to make a FTL jump into unknown space to avoid getting captured. The ship is damaged and the O'Hara brothers are forced to land on a planet inhabited earlier by earlier GTE colonists who have sunk into a hunting and gathering type society. In a battle with a corrupt tribal official, the brothers liberate the slaves, build their own nation where the inhabitants regard them as the STARGODS. Their adventures become the stuff that legends are made of.

Irene Radford has begun a new series that is very different in tone and style than her previous Merlin's Descendants. The story line is sophisticated yet the interactions between the brothers is both witty and slapstick. There is enough action in THE HIDDEN DRAGON to keep readers turning the pages until they reach the end of the book. It will be very hard to wait for book two in the series so we can revisit those darling O'Hara men.

Harriet Klausner