The Dragon's Nine Sons

Celestial Empire

by Chris Roberson

With Imperial China and Mexica competing for control of space, a disgraced Chinese naval captain and a commando who knows too much are assigned to a suicide mission, to pilot a salvaged Mexica craft laden with explosive to Xolotl, the asteroid stronghold of their enemies, but when they discover dozens of Chinese prisoners destined as human sacrifices, their mission becomes a rescue one instead. Original.

Genres: Science Fiction, Alternate History, Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy

429 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 29, 2008

About the author

Chris Roberson is the co-creator with artist Michael Allred of iZombie, the basis of the hit CW television series, and the writer of several New York Times best-selling Cinderella miniseries set in the world of Bill Willingham’s Fables. He is also the co-creator of Edison Rex with artist Dennis Culver, and the co-writer of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D, Witchfinder, Rise of the Black Flame, and other titles set in the world of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. In addition to his numerous comics projects, Roberson has written more than a dozen novels and three dozen short stories. He lives with a teenager, two cats, and far too many books in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Flint · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Dirty Dozen, except there are only nine; and they serve imperial China, in space between Earth and Mars. The Mexica are depicted as wholly villainous, while imperial China is honorable, mostly good and sometimes ruthlessly utilitarian.

Lots of soliloquies where the protagonists tell you their life story in two pages or less. The characters lack depth. I had trouble keeping track of the characters because there was so little to really distinguish them from each other beyond "that one is a gambler, that one is a prankster, that one is big and prone to violent outbursts, that was is a coward, that is a cowboy gunslinger, that one is pious"; did I make it to nine yet?

I like the setting, but don't care so much for what the writer does with it. I like the method of an alternate history in the past being projected into the future; but some clever ideas and historical research don't seem to make up for the rather pedestrian writing. The perspective of author's view shifted wildly the entire time, and characters presented knowing information they possibly couldn't know about the inner thinking or motivation of other characters. There often wasn't much transition between character perspectives at all, except a period.

[Amiad · Rating 2 out of 5]

בעולם עתידני חלופי, סין הקיסרית נאבקת באימפריה האצטקית על השליטה במאדים.
תשעה חיילים סיניים פושעים, שהחשובים בהם הם ג'ואן הקברניט והקצין יאו, נשלחים למשימת התאבדות נגד בסיס סודי אצטקי.

מד״ב קשה עם היסטוריה חלופית מסקרנת אבל הדמויות בלתי זכירות. רוב הזמן לא זכרתי מי כל דמות ומה הסיפור שלה ובאף רגע לא היה לי אכפת מהן.

[Ella]

DNF

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Dragon’s Nine Sons
Author: Chris Roberson
Publisher: Solaris - BL Publishing
Published In: Nottingham, UK
Date: 2008
Pgs: 429

REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
A war of attrition rages around the planet named Fire Star, aka Mars. Mexica and Imperial China fight an ancient war for the future of Humankind. A suicide mission for a disgraced naval captain and a commando who knows too much goes awry when they discover that there are prisoners on the asteroid stronghold Xolotl, their target. Enough explosives to turn the asteroid into an expanding cloud of debris. A suicide mission becomes a rescue mission, but will their people allow them to return home, will they be able to escape with the prisoners. This could still be a suicide mission. But they will trade their lives dearly.

Genre:
Adventure
Alternate History
Fiction
Military
Science fiction
Space
Space opera
War

Why this book:
Guns of Navarone. The Dirty Dozen. ...in Space. Alternate history. Alternate future.
______________________________________________________________________________

Favorite Character:
Captain Zhuan Jie. He’s very much the character who makes the hero’s journey in this story.

The Feel:
It wanders occasionally.

Favorite Scene:
Captain Zhuan and Syxtun’s final scene. Powerful. Poetic. Boom.

Pacing:
The flow is mostly great. It loses its way occasionally. During training for the mission after they are freed from prison, for example.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
The bridge altar on the Mexic ship that requires blood to activate ship’s systems makes my lips twitch in a Mona Lisa half grimace. Hemoglobin sensors. Blood sacrifice as a religious rite, okay. An Aztec-ish empire that has risen to the stars, okay. I’d even accept blood sacrifice as an attempt to influence good omens on the start of a voyage or something like that. Blood sacrifice required to operate bridge stations on a starship. :/ This feels like a hole in the worldbuilding designed to make the enemy seem more bloodthirsty than they would seem anyway marching prisoners to sacrificial altars in religious ceremonies.

Hmm Moments:
The worldbuilding here is awesome, but it does have its overboard exaggerations. See above and below.

I thought the altar was overblown, overwhelming, over the top...then I read about the cages and it brought the book crashing back to earth in horrifying detail. The cages at the back of the bridge of the Mexic ship and the thought of being trapped there, watching your fellows be drug out as blood sacrifices to satiate the ship’s controls. Wow! Mixing blood sacrifice ritual with sci fi spaceship controls...just wow. Your enemies would all fight to the death and your crew would worry about what happens when those cages get empty on a long voyage. And the rust brown stains all over from when the controls are being satisfied in zero gravity...wow!
______________________________________________________________________________

Last Page Sound:
That’s alright.

Author Assessment:
I might look at something else by this author

Editorial Assessment:
Could have used a bit more editorial guidance to keep the plot from wandering and filling pages in a few spots, ie: the training sequence.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
it’s alright

Disposition of Book:
Moore Memorial Public Library
Texas City, TX

Dewey Decimal or Other ID System:
SF
ROBERSON

Would recommend to:
friends, family, kids, colleagues, everyone, genre fans, no one
______________________________________________________________________________

[David Agranoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dragon’s Nine Sons by Chris Roberson

Solaris Books, 432 pages

It is rare that I go into a book or movie blind. I often know a great deal of the plot or stuff about the author and while we like to tell ourselves that doesn’t effect how we read the book, the reality is it effects how we judge the book. In this day in age it’s also likely for me to have met or hung around the author at a convention or on a message board. I try to build my TBR pile based on principles of brief recommendations and respect for the author. In the case of John Shirley’s Wetbones (my favorite modern horror novel) a lack of pre-knowledge was crucial in my enjoyment.

So it was strange that The Dragons Nine Sons found it on my TBR. Complete chance that I was at the library looking for HellBlazer comics and stopped to look at the Sci-Fi new arrivals. The book looked so new and the lay-out sleek, so I picked it up. So I started to read the back and discovered that it took place on mars during an epic battle between the Chinese and Aztec empires sometime in the future.

Yep, you read that right. As a Kungfu movie and Science fiction geek this alternate timeline novel seemed perfect for me. In the detailed and researched back history of this novel Europe was beaten to global travel and China had only one other superpower to deal with Mexica. You get a interesting timeline as a bonus feature in the back of the book, that alone is a interesting read.

I’m not sure this novel is for everyone, but I would have to give it a big thumbs up. I found myself deeply involved as the plot unfolded, it became clear to me that Roberson was paying loving tribute by re-casting the dirty dozen (or Eastern condors) in his universe. The novel could be simply dismissed as Dirty Dozen in space, but this is not fair. That could be said about battle beyond the stars and Seven Samurai and still I think that is a perfectly respectable way to re-tell the new myths.

Roberson keeps the action moving, and the pages fly by. It has a really cinematic feel which is funny because Hollywood would never touch something like this. The characters area dynamic mix of good and bad you would expect from this story. The best testament I can give this novel was as they reached the objective of the suicide Mission I found myself wishing the characters to get out of danger, you see I wanted them back for sequels.

Was it flawless? No. Some of the flashbacks transitioned so clunky that it reminded me of 80’s sitcoms when the actors stare up and rub their chins as the image squiggled into a past episode. Those flashbacks gave me a little eye rolling but I suppose an argument could be made that it added to the cinematic nature of the piece.

This was a fantastic work of epic science fiction with an original setting that could be mined for many novels, at this point I intended to follow them. If I were Roberson’s agent I would be mailing copies of these books to Chinese publishers and production companies. I could see this as movie directed by Ringo Lam staring Andy Lau, and Simon Yam. Damn I want to see that movie. I hope some day it happens.

For a list of tales in this universe check out this page:


http://www.chrisroberson.net/2007/10/...

[FicusFan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover grabbed me, and the title intrigued me. When I flipped to read the synopsis I was hooked: Chinese and Aztecs in space. I am a sucker for books with historical trappings and spam in a can (space opera).

Unfortunately the book was slow, boring, and didn't really use much of the Aztec or Chinese essence. It could have been set anywhere, and the characters could have been from any culture. The story was told completely from the Chinese POV, with the Aztecs being the cartoon bad guys. There was a bit of cultural window dressing, but nothing with any depth.

The story is basically an Asian Dirty Dozen in space. Nine solders/sailors who are about to be executed for crimes, not following orders, or knowing dangerous secrets, are given a chance to survive by going on a suicide mission.

The Chinese and Aztecs are at war in space and the Aztecs are attacking Mars and the Chinese colonists there. They have a secret asteroid base and the Chinese high command has a captured ship, and has cracked their codes.

The nine are sent off to plant a big bomb and blow up the Aztec base. Of course none of the men like each other, or care about the outcome, they just want to stay alive. During the trip the nine all tell the stories of their lives, and what got them condemned. Very much like a poor man's Hyperion. They also fight and feud, but the whole thing is boring, and predictable.

The story picks up towards the end, but it was a slog to read, and took me forever to finish it.

The writing is clear, but the author lacks storytelling skill. Very much in a quick survey style, with no chance to develop the characters. I am a great fan of C.J. Cherryh, and of the Chinese SF saga, Chung Kuo. I was hoping for a cross between the two, and it was not even close.

[Reed · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read about this book, it pushed all the right buttons at the time, as I was in a fantasy-reading rut and needed a break: military sf based on an alternate history where China and Mexico took over the world, and are now at war on Earth and in space. 9 men, who have gotten into all sorts of problems, are given the chance to go on a suicide mission against the Mexica, instead of facing the executioner.

Sadly, while I enjoyed the premise, the book itself is not shaping up to be what I expected. One major problem--in a 400 page novel, why does it take 300 pages for the characters to reach their mission's destination? This sucker is going nowhere fast.

Sure, we need time to introduce the characters, but this seems a bit excessive, particularly when the characters are relatively stereotypical and not all that original.

Hmmph. I'll finish the book as I have merely 100 pages left, but I'm sad it didn't live up to my expectations.

[later]

Well, I was hoping for a glorious finish, but it was not to be. It's not that The Dragon's Nine Sons is a bad novel, just . . . pedestrian. It felt like the plot of a WWII movie filled with misfits, tranlated into a sf novel.

[Kyle Johnson]

Not much to say about this one, to be honest. I made it about half-way through and stopped. The book is now sitting in a box ready to take to Half-Price books.

Too much of the book was formulaic. A chapter or two centered one one of the two main characters. Some sort of conflict amongst the supporting characters. A chapter or two of biography on the source of the conflict. Rinse and repeat. By the time I was reading the third bio, I got sick of it.

They say "never judge a book by its cover", and these last two books helped prove that idea to me. "Rosetta Codex" has a very bland cover, and was much more entertaining than "The Dragon's Nine Sons", whose cover looked cool, in part because it reminded me of a cool space sim I played years ago, Darkspace.

[Jemmuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dragon's Nine Sons is a futuristic tale set in an alternate universe, where it is imperialist versus savagery.

This book emboldens its nine main characters as outlaws and rulebreakers, those who did not obey, and those who didn't belong, and sends them on a suicidal mission to destroy one of their rivals' strongholds. What ensues is a story of strong comraderie, self-confidence, and the loss of selfishness and evil.

A great read, but a little mature for less aged readers. I recommend this for any avid sci-fi readers.

[Kenn Denk II · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one, meh. Interesting alternate world idea, Imperial China as a world power, poised against the Aztec-Mexicans. However, it was done more interestingly in Crystal Rain, by John Brunner. And much more involved and compelling by swapping Japan for China and making the Aztec-inspired civilization the main superpower, sans the gratuitous bloodshed, in Thomas Harlan's House of Reeds.

[Chris Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long buildup, very short climax. Interesting ideas.

[Ayala Sela · Rating 3 out of 5]

בגדול זה חמוד,אבל לא נפלתי.
הסיפור הקצר שצירפו לגרסה העברית מיותר ומשעמם.

[Tomer Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

הרעיון של העולם ממש מוצלח, הביצוע פחות ציון 3.5
מתוך 5

[Jayme Blaschke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chris Roberson’s Celestial Empire stories are distinctive and compelling in a crowded marketplace. Set in a reality where China’s 15th century treasure fleets weren’t dismantled, but instead expanded Imperial Chinese power across the globe, the resulting stories have a decidedly solid foundation that come off as otherworldly rather than contrived. Roberson has exploited this milieu exceptionally well, setting his various short stories and novels in different eras to keep the narrative and cast of character fresh.

In The Dragon’s Nine Sons, Roberson produces a full-blown science fictional adventure dependent on none of the traditional sleight-of-hand that sometimes mars lesser alternate history. And indeed, this isn’t alternate history at all, but rather an alternate future set in a time equivalent to our year 2052. China has expanded to become a world-spanning super power, challenged only by the vicious Mexic Dominion, a powerful Central American nation descended from the Aztec Empire. Both powers have pushed their rivalry beyond the boundaries of Earth. China has made the colonization and terraforming of Mars--known as Fire Star--a priority, while the Mexic fight a bloody war of attrition with warships striking from a secret asteroid base with an orbit that closely tracks the planet’s.

Enter the titular nine sons. In a classic Dirty Dozen setup, each former member of the Chinese military has been sentenced to death for some mortal infraction or other. Such sins will be forgiven and death sentences rescinded, however, if they accept a mission that is certain suicide--to fly a captured warship into the heavily-defended Mexic base and detonate a nuclear warhead at the heart of the asteroid.

Roberson’s world building is excellent. His writing is tight and focused, the various characters’ back stories deftly intertwined with that of each other and the larger plot in general. The biggest complaint is that Roberson repeatedly deflates the escalating tension of infiltration or combat by interrupting the narrative for extended flashbacks explaining how a particular character reached this particular point.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this alternate history, China and the Aztec Nation have become the predominant countries. They have been fighting on Earth for a long time and now they have taken this war to the Fire Star (aka, Mars). Here in space around the semi populated planet, where nine Chinese military criminals destined for death are brought together for a suicide mission to a secret hidden Aztec asteroid base.

The two main characters are Yao and Zhaun, a bannerman soldier and a captain of the naval fleet. Each betrayed direct orders which have landed them in this current predicament. The other seven are a motley crew of murders and petty thieves - the "red shirts" if one is to reference Star Trek. The mission is simple: to destroy the asteroid by sneaking in a very large bomb on a stolen Aztec ship while pretending to be Aztecs.

I sadly found this book lacking. The premise of the alternate reality was promising but it fell short from the beginning. It was little things that kept jarring me out of the story; here we have two terraforming, space adapted nationalities, but yet in a briefing the agent used a telescoping pointer. The Aztecs are still a blood-thirsty race that use human sacrifices to start their space ships. They had alters on the bridge with hemoglobin sensors. Both races still used cudgels, truncheons and swords in combat, along with your standard projectile weapons.

The plot also seemed to trudge along; once the mission was spaceborne, each of the nine slowly (and I do mean slowly) revealed why they were on this suicide mission. Two disobeyed direct orders. Three were in for murder. One in for petty theft. One was a dope smuggler and I forget what the last two were incarcerated for. I found Robeson's foreshadowing glarining obvious and that also detracted from the over all story.

I was looking forward to reading this one as it's come to the bookgroup table more than once but never made it through our convoluted voting process, and it was a disappointment.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alternate history SF. The Chinese were the great explorers in this universe, and went into space slightly before the Russian/Sputnik era. Their great rivals is Mexica--which is still run by the Aztecs on rivers of blood. I found both these premises highly improbable, because Chinese culture wasn't generally expansive in nature, unlike the individualistic, missionary-minded European Christians. (Christianity doesn't seem to exist in this universe, though Muslims do.) And because the Mayan culture, which was slightly less blood-thirsty, probably collapsed under the weight of its own bloodthirstiness. They just couldn't keep up with the need for captives to sacrifice. But never mind that.

The story is about a Chinese suicide mission carried out by screw-ups condemned to death by the military for various crimes. It's a motley bunch with the usual suspects--a coward, an honorable man whose honor gets him crosswise with the higher ups, a cheat, a simple minded big man--you know the assortment. We hear everyone's story. We go through training with them, and then on the journey on a captured Mexic ship to blow up a secret asteroid fortress with a nuke. It's a decent story, but it was written for guys who want gadgets and gore. The emotional content was spare, and stereotypical with place-holder female characters. We got way too much detail (for me) on how the space suits worked, and how they figured out how to make projectile weapons work in weightlessness and stuff. It was okay, but could have been a Whole lot better.

[R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know when the last time that I read a book with so much potential that completely failed to live up to it was. I loved the world that this guy built and the way that he blended science fiction and alternate history but the story line itself was . . . well . . . blah.

This was set about 40 years in our future but in a world where the timeline had diverged from ours around the 1400s I believe. The two dominant cultures are the Chinese who control about 90 percent of Earth, and the Mexica who control the other 10 percent and are essentially a modern day society descended from the Aztecs.

I even like the plot that the writer came up with as far as it being a suicide mission filled out with military misfits from death row, the story just didn't deliver. It wasn't there. I've read far worse books than this, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone as long as there are really, really good books out there.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in the mood for space opera. This delivered exceptionally well. I tried to explain the appeal of this book to my mother, relating how Roberson created an Earth in which the dominant culture was an empire that began in China and controlled the entire world with the exception of the Mexica Empire based upon Mayan culture and covering modern day Central America and Mexico. All of the action in the book takes place on mars and ini the space between the orbits of Earth & Mars. It's like the "Dirty Dozen" crossed with the "Seven Samurai" with mostly Chinese characters in space. This book ROCKS!

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Dragon's Nine Sons" is an alternate history novel set against a conflict on Mars between the Aztec and Chinese empires. Told entirely from the Chinese perspective this book details the life stories and motivations of a group of ethnically and culturally diverse Imperial Chinese military prisoners sent on what amounts to a suicide mission in exchange for a chance at freedom. For the most part the alternate history portrayed in this novel holds together and the story itself is tense with action and has a few good twists and developments. The storytelling itself is a bit uneven but real fans of the genre are likely to forgive this.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine The Dirty Dozen set in a future where China's early experiments with rockets led to a space program and an empire that never lost power.

Now imagine this future China locked in a second World War with the other major superpower of the age: an Aztec Nation that has carried its bloody gods and rituals into the space age.

There's action aplenty, but (as in all Roberson books) the characters are the true standouts. For me, no one melds actual, nuts-and-bolts science quite as seamlessly into a thoroughly enjoyable story.

[Vince Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up one night while browsing a local bookstore after dinner. The synopsis on the back cover caught my attention, a future where the Chinese empire and the Aztec empire are fighting for control of the plant Mars. I've always been a sci fi reader so I pick it up. A very well written story. The author's prose style was very refeshing and added a lot to my enjoyment of the book. I enjoyed the way that just enough background history was worked into the story so I felt I knew why these two empires were here at this place and time.

[Jonathan Harbour · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd forgotten about this novel and it's sequel by Chris Roberson. Really fascinating alternate history where China rules Europe and Asia and Aztecs rule the entire New World, NA and SA. It bears another read as I recall it was a fun page turner that played out like a video game with a pretty linear, clear goal and just not very complicated. Sometimes I'm really in the mood for single-threaded military scifi. That's not a bad thing, this is a very enjoyable novel, and an easy read which is refreshing when I'm not in the mood for complex plotting.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. It's basically Chinese Dirty Dozen in space, but the characters aren't memorable, and the final action scene is totally flat. I'm supposed to care when these guys finally get all heroic and sacrifice themselves, but they're killed off so unemotionally that their deaths have no impact.

In addition, the book description gives away the big plot twist that happens three quarters of the way through the book. That pretty much ruined it.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

a re-imagining of the Dirty Dozen and the Canterbury Tales (thanks Kevin Smith), in other words they're a bunch of misfit soldiers on a no hope mission and the narrative pauses to let each misfit tell their sad story. The most intriguing thing is the universe: space-faring China vs. the blood-sacrificing Mayas.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I sort hoping for so much more from this book. I really like sci-fi with a message, something that makes me think and imagine. The only thing I kept thinking was "how soon with this be over." It's a "space war" book, and we've all had enough of war in real life. I don't want to read that the future will be more of the same.

[Itamar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently part of a "world" populated by a lot of different books, this hard sci-fi thriller set in an alternate future where the Chinese and Aztec empires never declined did not grip me or make me care for its characters for some reason.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting premises, rather ordinarily fleshed out. Once the introduction is over the book becomes unfortunately predictable.

[Mike Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good story by the author. And typical of his other novels, is ultimately a pretty simple story laid on top of a complicated world/backstory. Still a fun but not deep read.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually like 'military sci-fi' but this was an exception. Very imaginative setting that held my attention throughout. Perfect novel for a long flight.

[Tomer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept for an alternate history. Definitely has a lot of potential for additional stories in the created realm. The current story itself is well organized and researched, though a bit too convenient at times. Nevertheless my first instinct was to check whether a sequel already existed or not