Stranger Souls

Shadowrun Legends

by Jak Koke

When Dunkelzahn the Dragon, the newly elected president of the United Canadian American States, is assassinated, throwing the Shadowrun universe into chaos, it falls to Ryan Mercury--Dunkelzahn's most trusted special agent--to save the universe. Original.

Genres: Cyberpunk, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Dystopia, Role Playing Games

284 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1997

About the author

Jak Koke writes and edits from Seattle, where he lives with his partner, Karawynn Long. Jak has authored seven published novels and many short stories under his own name. He has also ghost-written novels and edited manuscripts by other authors. He is currently the Managing Editor of an award-winning small press — Per Aspera Press.

Reviews

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Früher habe ich regelmäßiger Shadowrun-Romane gelesen, aber die Drachenherz-Saga lag jetzt schon länger auf dem SuB.
Worum geht es?
Der Drache Dunkelzahn wird zum Präsidenten gewählt, doch kurz nach seiner Amtseinführung wird er durch ein Attentat getötet und das während sein bester Agent Ryan Mercury in Atzlan in Gefangenschaft gerät. Bei Experimenten dort, verliert Ryan sein Gedächtnis. Ein schlechter Zeitpunkt, denn Dunkelzahn hat ihm einen Auftrag hinterlassen, der für die Zukunft der Welt entscheidend sein könnte.
Als ich noch aktiv Shadowrun als Pen&Paper-Rollenspiel gespielt habe, war ich deutlich tiefer in der Geschichte drin als heute, trotzdem war der Roman kurzweilig zu lesen, aber auch kein besonderes Highlight. Von mir gibt es 3 ⭐.

[Malcolm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pros: The setting Shadowrun provides is a wonderful mix of fantasy and cyberpunk. Koke does an excellent job of making sure the lore mentioned is well explained and newcomers to the setting won't be thrown off too much. The novel does a good job of as an introductory piece for the next 2 books in the series. It reads fast and the action scenes are pretty good. The plot is really interesting. Ryan Mercury finds himself on a quest after the assassination of Dunkelzahn, the Great Dragon and president of the United States. It involves the breadth of the Shadowrun universe with Aztlan, the elven Tirs, references to the insect spirits. It's got a bit of everything for a Shadowrun buff.

Middle ground: Unlike most pieces of this sort, the dialogue is surprisingly ok for the most part. Dunkelzahn, the great dragon, is actually pretty well written when he speaks. The problem is when serious emotion comes into play. The dialogue becomes shit. Maybe it'd work in a movie or something, but on the page it's just awful.

Cons: It's bad. There is no subtext. Every character motivation will receive a full paragraph of explanation from our omniscient narrator. The main character has his memories overwritten by a rich mogul and suffers through this conflict in the most hamfisted way imaginable. The sex scenes are pretty mechanical.

The worst is the lost opportunity with the character Burnout. Burnout is a cyberzombie. That is, someone who has had so much of their body replaced with cybernetic enhancements that they don't qualify as human anymore. His point-of-view chapters don't quite feel right. Especially when he conveniently waxes philosophic about his backstory for the benefit of the reader. Being inside Burnout's head should be a lot creepier than it is.

So, the book is not unbearable but it does continue the tradition for RPG tie-in books of being depressingly mediocre at their best. I'll probably eventually read books 2 and 3 in the trilogy to see how the plot ends. Eventually.

[Chompa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I like to just have a bit of brain candy. This was a mostly random pick because I'd been thinking about the Shadowrun RPG, which I've always enjoyed.

The story and writing were good. I enjoyed most of the characters and am even tempted to pick up the next in the series.

[E J · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are better SR novels. Much better ones.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review here:

https://jamesgenrebooks.blogspot.com/...

It's engaging, but it's messy.

[Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2056, the Shadowrun world sees the oddest special election ever. With six political parties, with one frontrunner being a great dragon, the UCAS is in for a Super Tuesday like none other. When the great dragon Dunkelzahn is elected, it changes everything, and it gets much more chaotic when on the night of his inauguration, the Big D (as Dunkelzahn is known by the media) is assassinated in a fiery explosion in front of the Watergate Hotel.

The assassination of a great dragon is no small thing, and where the explosion erupted becomes a spiritual no-fly zone as an astral rift appears at ground zero. From there, the presidential entourage finds out that Dunkelzahn may have had a plan all along as in the wake of his death they find his will - a will that has far reaching consequences for the Shadowrun world.

It's a great start and it covers a lot of the world shaking events of the 2056 election and the year to come in their meta plot. Good stuff.

[Nikolis Asimakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. Has a lot of memorable characters like Nadja, the runners, Jane, Burnout etc and a very good story for the first book of a trilogy. The only thing I disliked is the presentation of new characters like Lethe, that were out of the blue and you only understood what you read after several chapters.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty well written (for the series); it definitely has a very large plot (i.e. world-defining). I am interested to see where the Saga takes it.

[Marco Baier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I read this series about three times. The series is one of my favorite in the Shadowrun Universe and it has one of my most favorite villains in it. :)Go Burnout!

[Ryan Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

One of my favorite books from the 90s and early 2000s paved the way for Johnny Mnemonic and later The Matrix