Synopsis
There are good dragons and bad dragons. And then there are mad dragons …
The Raoke Gang goes on a wild dragon chase. A horde of dragons crushes the Raoke Gang’s plans to rob a space cruise liner. In the heat of the battle between humans and dragons, the Raoke Gang vouches for the losing side: the dragons. They end up crashing on a desertic planet ruled by a dragon lord named Ezemiel. In their attempt to escape the planet, the Raoke Gang soon finds out that an army of wizards has chained Ezemiel, and are using its blood to craft incredible spells. With the dragon under their control, the wizards are pillaging and destroying every town in sight.
The Raoke Gang has one last dragon to save before they can leave this planet.
Review
Genre collecting author Alex Valdiers adds another genre to the Roake Gang series with Death of a Mad Dragon. Where previous instalments of the series have largely focused on individual stories, DoaMD instead features a number of the gang members for the first time.
There’s a notable tonal shift from Valdier’s previous Raoke novel from space western to space weird-western fantasy. From the off Valdiers pivots from taking us on a space cruiser liner heist to the rapid introduction of space dragons. There’s no explanation as to why or where or how, just space tourists leaping into turrets and gunning the beasts down. It’s an electric escapade and a hell of a way to open a novel.
Not quite knowing where the book is going at this point or how space dragons came about, we’re on the same level as the equally-bemused Roake gang. But, sympathetic to the dragons’ plight, the gang are soon transported to a desert world where the titular Mad Dragon is soon found. Here the stakes dip a little.
Now I’m a real stickler for the original Star Wars trilogy, particularly the Tattoine scenes in A New Hope. This meant I liked the setting of DoaMD a lot. And, you know, there were dragons involved here too. This means we’re getting space, fantasy, western, giant killer sand snakes … the list goes on. So, while I liked the ambition of space dragons meets the space western genre Valdiers is championing, this really fell into a book with two major acts.
The first act is a real slow burner overall and I would have preferred the plot to have happened more quickly. It has its epic moments for sure and yes there are scenes exploring the gang’s motivations and each member’s particular raison d’être, but there were too many characters to get through in such a short space of time.
It didn’t help me that Malvius and Ren, two central characters in the previously-released novella and novel, are also present here and therefore they stole my attention. It’s a bit like when you’re at a party where you don’t know anyone very well, so you stick very closely to your friends. Don’t get me wrong, each character is interesting and has their own unique arcs in the story but, like the previous two Roake instalments, this book would have massively benefitted from exploring one central focused character rather than multiple.
Everything in Act 2 was fantastic. The tension and the unease in this part of the book were compelling. I loved how this story just evolved into a delightfully eerie space weird-western midway through.
The book builds to its climax as the gang’s search for the Mad Dragon Ezemiel takes them to a desolate town. Here we meet Jane Mass. We get to some welcome tropes like stuck-in-a-looping-nightmare sequences, and tragic horror that cuts through to the bone but Mass still steals the show from everything else. Such a great and mysterious character. The instant she shows up the vibe becomes so unnervingly creepy.
In a way, I would’ve preferred Act 2 to come first, partly because it was so enjoyable, but also so we could instead find out more about the Roake gang around the campfire sooner.
This still remains a solid story and works well as a standalone in the series. All in all this book delivered a strong sci-fi showing despite a slightly slower start. The Roake gang continue to shoot and stumble their way through the surreal of space. Bring on whatever is next!
Leave a Reply