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Kar-Chee #1-2
The Kar-Chee Reign / Rogue Dragon
The Kar-Chee Reign
In the far future, the Kar-Chee come to earth to exploit whatever resources we have left and to mine the planet into total destruction!
Rogue Dragon
Jon-Joras had come to Earth simply to oversee arrangements for a dragon hunt to amuse his king. These hunts were as much pageantry as sport -- the dragons, brought to Earth centuries before as pets of an alien race, were powerful but slow-witted. But suddenly the dragons had become dangerous -- quick, deceptive, a menace to the nobles who hunted them. And Jon-Joras found himself caught in the middle of an uprising that could shake the powers that ruled the star-worlds.
In the far future, the Kar-Chee come to earth to exploit whatever resources we have left and to mine the planet into total destruction!
Rogue Dragon
Jon-Joras had come to Earth simply to oversee arrangements for a dragon hunt to amuse his king. These hunts were as much pageantry as sport -- the dragons, brought to Earth centuries before as pets of an alien race, were powerful but slow-witted. But suddenly the dragons had become dangerous -- quick, deceptive, a menace to the nobles who hunted them. And Jon-Joras found himself caught in the middle of an uprising that could shake the powers that ruled the star-worlds.
377 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1979
61 people want to read
About the author
Avram Davidson
430 books94 followersAvram Davidson was an American Jewish writer of fantasy fiction, science fiction, and crime fiction, as well as the author of many stories that do not fit into a genre niche. He won a Hugo Award and three World Fantasy Awards in the science fiction and fantasy genre, a World Fantasy Life Achievement award, and a Queen's Award and an Edgar Award in the mystery genre. Davidson edited The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1962 to 1964. His last novel The Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil was completed by Grania Davis and was a Nebula Award finalist in 1998. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction says "he is perhaps sf's most explicitly literary author".
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 21, 2022
Earth is almost forgotten by a humanity that's had its head turned by the stars, leaving the old planet a perfect target for the Kar-Chee - alien miners who specialise in stripping dying worlds of the last remnants of their geological wealth. The pastoral societies that yet remain find themselves continually fleeing the uncaring advances of the Kar-Chee, until they find they can flee no farther and a stand has to be made. So much for the mildly entertaining The Kar-Chee Reign.
Rogue Dragon is somewhat less spectacular, jumping forward generations to an Earth that has been noticed once again by the far-flung human empires... if only as up-market hunting grounds for the fearsome Kar-Chee guardians, the dragons, who have thrived after their masters' eradication. The protagonist, a human off-worlder, finds himself bemused by almost everything as he is passed from one faction to another to finally discover something about the dragons and their Kar-Chee masters that... isn't really that unexpected.
Davidson's writing is actually quite quirky, possessed of a certain inherent humour that isn't really suited to the typical pulpy subject matter of TK-CR. It's more at home with the convoluted, almost Jack Vance-like societies of RD, but his plotting just doesn't really engage, and I confess to skimming the last fifty pages.
Neither book in this Ace double really worked for me.
Rogue Dragon is somewhat less spectacular, jumping forward generations to an Earth that has been noticed once again by the far-flung human empires... if only as up-market hunting grounds for the fearsome Kar-Chee guardians, the dragons, who have thrived after their masters' eradication. The protagonist, a human off-worlder, finds himself bemused by almost everything as he is passed from one faction to another to finally discover something about the dragons and their Kar-Chee masters that... isn't really that unexpected.
Davidson's writing is actually quite quirky, possessed of a certain inherent humour that isn't really suited to the typical pulpy subject matter of TK-CR. It's more at home with the convoluted, almost Jack Vance-like societies of RD, but his plotting just doesn't really engage, and I confess to skimming the last fifty pages.
Neither book in this Ace double really worked for me.
July 16, 2018
The overall book, two novels in the one volume, is not a “proper” Ace Double as it does not have two authors and the second one isn’t printed upside down - and backwards - in relation to the first as in the classic doubles. It is also curious in that according to the copyright dates, 1966 and 1965 respectively, the sequel seems to have been published before the novel it is set after. Aspects of the setting and the occasional word choice (eg huntshoon as in shoes for hunting) made me wonder if Davidson had a Scottish background or connection but I couldn’t find one that was obvious.
In The Kar-Chee Reign Earth’s resources have been depleted almost to zero, mainly due to its human inhabitants stripping it to make their voyages to the stars. All but forgotten by the diaspora, it has fallen to the Kar-chee – accompanied by their “dragons” – a species which specialises in extracting the last drop of resource from apparently worked out sources. They instigated violent earth movements, disrupting the land’s surface, changing the geography.
A small group in the new Britland - comprised from the new landmass connecting the former Western Isles, part of Ireland and the Isle of Man – survives without much contact with the aliens. But one day the aliens come and a few humans attack and kill them. This brings the dragons down on the settlement and the survivors flee on a raft. After exhausting most of the food they had brought on board they are rescued by a set of religious zealots who believe the Kar-chee are God’s revenge on humans for loose-living. Despite the strictures of their rescuers a few of them venture into a vast set of caverns and there do battle with the Kar-chee.
I must say this was better written than I had been expecting (I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by Davidson before.) While plot is more or less everything in this type of tale (with a nod to setting) Davidson doesn’t neglect to give us character to sit alongside. While the chief zealot – and his wife – are pretty one-dimensional (then again, religious zealots tend to be so) others are complex enough to be getting on with.
Rogue Dragon: Since the reign of the Kar-chee ended the diaspora has rediscovered Earth – as a resort for dragon hunting. This takes place under the control of the Gentlemen of the Hunt Company. Jon-Joras is an emissary from his home planet. When an impromptu dragon hunt goes wrong he is thrown into a set of adventures which leads him to discover that not everything on the “Prime World” is as it seems. He falls into the hands of a group of so-called “doghunters” who resent the Gentlemen and who train dragons to resist the distractions (and therefore become rogue) as a means of resistance and seem to think Kar-chee and dragons are the same species. Thereafter his travels take him into a forbidden region called The Bosky where the dragons are said to be more dangerous than the more or less domesticated ones kept for the hunts.
Overall I would say that this is fairly typical of mid 60s SF.
In The Kar-Chee Reign Earth’s resources have been depleted almost to zero, mainly due to its human inhabitants stripping it to make their voyages to the stars. All but forgotten by the diaspora, it has fallen to the Kar-chee – accompanied by their “dragons” – a species which specialises in extracting the last drop of resource from apparently worked out sources. They instigated violent earth movements, disrupting the land’s surface, changing the geography.
A small group in the new Britland - comprised from the new landmass connecting the former Western Isles, part of Ireland and the Isle of Man – survives without much contact with the aliens. But one day the aliens come and a few humans attack and kill them. This brings the dragons down on the settlement and the survivors flee on a raft. After exhausting most of the food they had brought on board they are rescued by a set of religious zealots who believe the Kar-chee are God’s revenge on humans for loose-living. Despite the strictures of their rescuers a few of them venture into a vast set of caverns and there do battle with the Kar-chee.
I must say this was better written than I had been expecting (I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by Davidson before.) While plot is more or less everything in this type of tale (with a nod to setting) Davidson doesn’t neglect to give us character to sit alongside. While the chief zealot – and his wife – are pretty one-dimensional (then again, religious zealots tend to be so) others are complex enough to be getting on with.
Rogue Dragon: Since the reign of the Kar-chee ended the diaspora has rediscovered Earth – as a resort for dragon hunting. This takes place under the control of the Gentlemen of the Hunt Company. Jon-Joras is an emissary from his home planet. When an impromptu dragon hunt goes wrong he is thrown into a set of adventures which leads him to discover that not everything on the “Prime World” is as it seems. He falls into the hands of a group of so-called “doghunters” who resent the Gentlemen and who train dragons to resist the distractions (and therefore become rogue) as a means of resistance and seem to think Kar-chee and dragons are the same species. Thereafter his travels take him into a forbidden region called The Bosky where the dragons are said to be more dangerous than the more or less domesticated ones kept for the hunts.
Overall I would say that this is fairly typical of mid 60s SF.
July 11, 2024
Unique take on what happens to the earth after (most) humans leave it. Definitely a slow read at first, but it was written over 60 years ago.
Things got way more interesting about 70% of the way through, to where I didn’t want to put it down.
For this reason, and the uniqueness, I give 4 stars 🙂
Things got way more interesting about 70% of the way through, to where I didn’t want to put it down.
For this reason, and the uniqueness, I give 4 stars 🙂
April 13, 2023
KCR: A-/A
RD: B+/A-
https://youtu.be/fuM7f-fxLww - my video review of KCR
https://youtu.be/3APLDkgjd60 - video review of Rogue Dragon
Review for KCR
I really enjoyed the Kar-Chee Reign. I had trouble putting it down. It is epic in scope and in general. Liam (the main character, more or less) occupies this odd wild-eyed messianic figure seemingly borne not of the future, but from our primordial past. The Knowers are great as secondary villains. The aliens are not terribly fleshed out but they seem to be worthy and interesting adversaries. There is a lot of exposition in this book but it is all poetic and well-done. The ending is foreshadowed nicely and feels earned in a way that other books I’ve read recently couldn’t pull off. The book is easy to follow and visualize while still featuring beautiful writing, some depth, and heady action set pieces.
This book reminded me of Wolfe’s BOTNS a good amount: both are dying earth stories featuring aliens exploiting the remains of Earth and humanity scattering themselves to the stars and forgetting where they came from (although that is more the subject of Wolfe’s Long Sun and Short Sun sequences).
The quote from Davidson, “There can be no right action without right knowledge” reminded me so much of Ascian Correct Thought from Wolfe’s New Sun that I cracked open Citadel of the Autarch right after finishing Kar-Chee to check and see if Wolfe outright stole it. He did not, I was wrong, but whatever, I could definitely see Kar-Chee being at least a slight influence on New Sun.
This book would make a great action packed movie and the book’s ending, if used in the movie, would set up a seemingly endless number of sequels featuring Liam as some kind of Conan type reconquering the world.
This book, while solidly science fiction, does have some weird fiction and climate fiction aspects.
I only recently became aware of Davidson but I am already a massive fan.
Review for RD
I also very much enjoyed Rogue Dragon, although just a bit less than I enjoyed KCR. The book is set a few hundred years after the events of KCR, but I think the book was published before KCR (although I could be wrong about that).
Like with KCR, I raced through this book in around 2 days. I found the action and plot to be compelling and some of the twists and turns truly surprised me. It did occur to me that it’s quite possible that Davidson wrote this book without outline or planning first, as it reads like the narrator is figuring out what is happening and about to happen at the same time as a reader would.
The plot does repeat itself some. Also, the villains of the book (the feudal lords) are a bit too evil to be believable. The Kar Chee being so amenable and nice to humans was a strange turn that I’m not 100% sure made sense. This could be a possible plot hole.
The fact that there are so many experimental elements included in the book, such as stylized dialogue and there being no romance at all, was one of my favorite things about my reading experience. Overall the book is definitely an enjoyable read and well worth the short time it takes to read it.
RD: B+/A-
https://youtu.be/fuM7f-fxLww - my video review of KCR
https://youtu.be/3APLDkgjd60 - video review of Rogue Dragon
Review for KCR
I really enjoyed the Kar-Chee Reign. I had trouble putting it down. It is epic in scope and in general. Liam (the main character, more or less) occupies this odd wild-eyed messianic figure seemingly borne not of the future, but from our primordial past. The Knowers are great as secondary villains. The aliens are not terribly fleshed out but they seem to be worthy and interesting adversaries. There is a lot of exposition in this book but it is all poetic and well-done. The ending is foreshadowed nicely and feels earned in a way that other books I’ve read recently couldn’t pull off. The book is easy to follow and visualize while still featuring beautiful writing, some depth, and heady action set pieces.
This book reminded me of Wolfe’s BOTNS a good amount: both are dying earth stories featuring aliens exploiting the remains of Earth and humanity scattering themselves to the stars and forgetting where they came from (although that is more the subject of Wolfe’s Long Sun and Short Sun sequences).
The quote from Davidson, “There can be no right action without right knowledge” reminded me so much of Ascian Correct Thought from Wolfe’s New Sun that I cracked open Citadel of the Autarch right after finishing Kar-Chee to check and see if Wolfe outright stole it. He did not, I was wrong, but whatever, I could definitely see Kar-Chee being at least a slight influence on New Sun.
This book would make a great action packed movie and the book’s ending, if used in the movie, would set up a seemingly endless number of sequels featuring Liam as some kind of Conan type reconquering the world.
This book, while solidly science fiction, does have some weird fiction and climate fiction aspects.
I only recently became aware of Davidson but I am already a massive fan.
Review for RD
I also very much enjoyed Rogue Dragon, although just a bit less than I enjoyed KCR. The book is set a few hundred years after the events of KCR, but I think the book was published before KCR (although I could be wrong about that).
Like with KCR, I raced through this book in around 2 days. I found the action and plot to be compelling and some of the twists and turns truly surprised me. It did occur to me that it’s quite possible that Davidson wrote this book without outline or planning first, as it reads like the narrator is figuring out what is happening and about to happen at the same time as a reader would.
The plot does repeat itself some. Also, the villains of the book (the feudal lords) are a bit too evil to be believable. The Kar Chee being so amenable and nice to humans was a strange turn that I’m not 100% sure made sense. This could be a possible plot hole.
The fact that there are so many experimental elements included in the book, such as stylized dialogue and there being no romance at all, was one of my favorite things about my reading experience. Overall the book is definitely an enjoyable read and well worth the short time it takes to read it.
August 18, 2025
The Kar-Chee Reign
This was an interesting read. Dystopian Sci-fi about an age after man has harvested the planet to completion and taken off in search of other worlds to colonize. However, not all of the humans could afford to leave, so a few sects have remained on the planet to eke out an existence.
But they didn't consider the Kar-Chee; a mantis-like race that descends on the carcass of a planet and "cracks the bones to suck out the marrow". The Kar-Chee sink land masses and raise others from the seabed to extract the trace minerals left by the previous generation of man. They also brought their "dragons" to contend with what is left of the human population. These dragons resemble those of human tales but have insect-like segmented eyes (McCaffrey Pern inspiration?)
We follow a couple of groups of humans as the contend with the new Kar-Chee population and attempt to reclaim the planet.
Rogue Dragon
We now see the original humans that left Earth to explore the rest of the galaxy returning to sport hunt the Dragons that were brought to the planet by the Kar-Chee.
There are some rebellious types that were always on Earth that don't like these fancy off-worlders coming back and vacationing on the planet they abandoned. So they start to train the Dragons to fight back.
That's the real sum of it. Idk, I liked it, but not that much. I don't understand the Nebula Award.
This was an interesting read. Dystopian Sci-fi about an age after man has harvested the planet to completion and taken off in search of other worlds to colonize. However, not all of the humans could afford to leave, so a few sects have remained on the planet to eke out an existence.
But they didn't consider the Kar-Chee; a mantis-like race that descends on the carcass of a planet and "cracks the bones to suck out the marrow". The Kar-Chee sink land masses and raise others from the seabed to extract the trace minerals left by the previous generation of man. They also brought their "dragons" to contend with what is left of the human population. These dragons resemble those of human tales but have insect-like segmented eyes (McCaffrey Pern inspiration?)
We follow a couple of groups of humans as the contend with the new Kar-Chee population and attempt to reclaim the planet.
Rogue Dragon
We now see the original humans that left Earth to explore the rest of the galaxy returning to sport hunt the Dragons that were brought to the planet by the Kar-Chee.
There are some rebellious types that were always on Earth that don't like these fancy off-worlders coming back and vacationing on the planet they abandoned. So they start to train the Dragons to fight back.
That's the real sum of it. Idk, I liked it, but not that much. I don't understand the Nebula Award.
July 3, 2008
Sigh. I had such high expectations, since I'm such a fan of Avram Davidson's Adventures in Unhistory. Maybe I just need to stop reading 1960's science fiction. These two novels (it was an Ace Double) are set in a far-far future when the earth has been stripped of all resources and is thus prey to interstellar scavengers (the Kar-Chee). But despite its far flung premise, the characters all felt very "dress-up", especially in Rogue Dragon.
October 6, 2014
It was fine.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews