Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9780765319500 ISBN: 0765319500 Label: Tor Books Manufacturer: Tor Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 320 Publication Date: January 08, 2008 Publisher: Tor Books Release Date: January 08, 2008 Sales Rank: 294918 Studio: Tor Books
A fantasy masterpiece from a five-time Hugo Award winner!
A war-dragon of Babel crashes in the idyllic fields of a post-industrialized Faerie and, dragging himself into the nearest village, declares himself king and makes young Will his lieutenant. Nightly, he crawls inside the young fey's brain to get a measure of what his subjects think. Forced out of his village, Will travels with female centaur soldiers, witnesses the violent clash of giants, and acquires a surrogate daughter, Esme, who has no knowledge of the past and may be immortal.
Evacuated to the Tower of Babel -- infinitely high, infinitely vulgar, very much like New York City -- Will meets the confidence trickster Nat Whilk. Inside the Dread Tower, Will becomes a hero to the homeless living in the tunnels under the city, rises as an underling to a politician, and meets his one true love–a high-elven woman he dare not aspire to.
You've heard of hard SF: This is hard fantasy from a master of the form.
Digital Life Reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - What's happening????
You would think the beginning of the book would hook you in and keep you there--but it doesn't. I became so sick of the book--so sick of the writing style, his distasteful sexual jokes especially concerning pre-pubescent boys, and the complete unfamiliarity of time, place and situation.
I'd give a better review, but after getting as far as I could.. I had to put it down, and it was truly freedom to be rid of this book.
It's like a book written in a different language, and then poorly translated so you're not sure if what you're reading is correct because it doesn't seem to make sense, and you just lose the plot of the book--if I ever knew there really was one. The summary on the inner flap of the book is complete BS and definitely makes the book sound more simple and entertaining than it really is.
Rating: - "A train whistle at night means the same thing in all langusges."
Swanwick is certinly one of the most original fantasists working today, and _The Iron Dragon's Daughter_ was perhaps his best (even though the evangelicals loudly denounced it). This one, while not actually a sequel, is set in the same world, which is a mish-mash of modern America and Faerie. You know you're there when the centaurs carry assault weapons, a high elf rides a Vespa, the haints play reggae, the royal palace includes rooms designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Cabinet of Curiosities displays both a stuffed capricorn and a Soyuz spacecraft. Will Le Fey is a young orphan subsisting in a rural village which is just trying to keep its collective head down while the endless war between East and West rages on. Then a war dragon (sentient, but with a half-human pilot) crashes and takes over the village for its own survival -- and appoints Will its lieutenant. When the dragon is killed (more or less), Will ... Read More
Rating: - Intriguing mix of the familiar and the strange...
This (20thC.)techno/non-Victorian steam-punk-ish fantasy has squadrons of mechanical dragons flown by half-fey/half-mortal pilots (pure fey could not stand the iron the dragons are made of) that rumble over-head fighting the aerial battles of the war plaguing the land. Young, orphaned Will becomes the servant of a wounded but still powerful dragon that happens to crash in his small village and declares himself King. What follows is a strange and picaresque adventure that goes way beyond the dragon and the small village of Will's youth and follows him through a very bizarre fairyland as he is exiled from the village, becomes a refugee from the war, meets up with Esme who is a perpetual child and Nat Whilk, a confidence man extreme. He finds his way to the great City of Babel where more adventures ensue, underground with rebel armies and above in the warrens of the city streets with its local politicians and neighborhoods ... Read More
Rating: - Uhhh.....whoah?
First off, I picked this book up having never heard of the author and knowing nothing about it. Saw it at the library, thought the cover and title were cool and left. Basically, you've got a very strange fantasy world here...it's almost like Final Fantasy Universe meets the Bible meets the Fifth Element meets....I dunno what else. It's very dark, fairly comedic and very strange. There are dragons...but they're giant machines but still seem to have personalities. Babel seems like a fascinating city reminiscent of the huge megalopoli from games like Final Fantasy 7. The characters are pretty good, but honestly the main character is unfortunately the weakest. I had to give it 4 stars because it seemed a bit too ambitious for its length and there was a bit too much sex (words like "cock" are used, etc etc). It's not that I'm offended by sex in books, its just that, well...I wasn't ready for it in a fantasy novel. I suppose ... Read More
Digital
Life Shop
Michael Swanwick items subject to availability. Some restrictions
may apply. Books
The Dragons of Babel (Tom Doherty Associates Book) presented by digi2005.com Digi2005.com is
an Amazon.com
Associate
Digital Life Music News:
Quality show ‘Privileged’ building a following - Lynchburg News and Advance
• Its attractive star, JoAnna Garcia, is talented and has a gift for comedy. • Series creator Rina Mimoun wanted the show to follow in the glib-but-heartfelt mold of “Gilmore Girls,” which arguably was the best CW series ever. “Privileged ...
more News
- What's happening????
- "A train whistle at night means the same thing in all langusges."
- Intriguing mix of the familiar and the strange...
