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The Stargods #1
The Hidden Dragon
Acclaimed author Irene Radford returns to her beloved Dragon Nibmus universe with book one of The Stargods . Here is the tale of the first Terrans, gifted with both psi powers and technology, who discovered a world where dragons are real...and are worshiped as gods.
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Irene Radford
127 books135 followersAlso uses C.F. Bentley, Phyllis Irene Radford, Julia Verne St. John, Rachel Atwood, Phyllis Ames, P. Irene Radford and P.R. Frost.
Irene has been writing stories ever since she figured out what a pencil was for. Combining a love for Medieval history and a fascination with paranormal, Irene concentrated on fantasy writing.
In her spare time, Irene enjoys lacemaking and is a long time member of an international guild. Check out THE LONELIEST MAGICIAN, The Dragon Nimbus #3 for an exploration of her favorite obsession. A piece of magic lace is the obvious patch for a dragon wing. She has published numerous magazine articles about the history and technique of lacemaking as well as self publishing two lacemaker's fairy tales with lace patterns that can be made up to illustrate the stories. When she isn't writing or making lace she enjoys exploring the back roads and many museums of the Pacific Northwest.
For many years Irene was active in Ballet du Lac, a semi-pro ballet company. She taught ballet to youngsters in her local community school program. At the same time she led a Cub Scout pack and frequently found her home the preferred playground in the neighborhood for many more children than she thought possible.
Irene has held many full and part time jobs from Insurance underwriter to assistant curator of a museum to clerk in a fabric store. Writing is now her “day job.”
Two years ago, Irene took up fencing as research for GUARDIAN OF THE FREEDOM, Merlin’s Descendants #5. She figured one quarter would give her some vocabulary and a feel for a weapon in her hand. But that wasn’t enough to write realistic battles on the Ottoman frontier or convincing duels. So she signed up for another quarter. And another. Now she’s addicted and needs to add fencing to more of her books and let her subjects range further afield.
A native Oregonian living in Oregon, Irene is a member of an endangered species. As a service brat, she lived in a number of cities throughout the country until returning to Oregon in time to graduate from Tigard High School. She earned a B.A. in history from Lewis and Clark College, where she met her husband, Tim. Historical research has remained a lifelong passion and finally became a part of her job with the historical fantasy series Merlin’s Descendants.
Irene and her husband currently make their home in Welches, Oregon where they share their back yard with deer, coyotes, bear (check the pictures), raccoons and too many bird species to mention.
Irene has been writing stories ever since she figured out what a pencil was for. Combining a love for Medieval history and a fascination with paranormal, Irene concentrated on fantasy writing.
In her spare time, Irene enjoys lacemaking and is a long time member of an international guild. Check out THE LONELIEST MAGICIAN, The Dragon Nimbus #3 for an exploration of her favorite obsession. A piece of magic lace is the obvious patch for a dragon wing. She has published numerous magazine articles about the history and technique of lacemaking as well as self publishing two lacemaker's fairy tales with lace patterns that can be made up to illustrate the stories. When she isn't writing or making lace she enjoys exploring the back roads and many museums of the Pacific Northwest.
For many years Irene was active in Ballet du Lac, a semi-pro ballet company. She taught ballet to youngsters in her local community school program. At the same time she led a Cub Scout pack and frequently found her home the preferred playground in the neighborhood for many more children than she thought possible.
Irene has held many full and part time jobs from Insurance underwriter to assistant curator of a museum to clerk in a fabric store. Writing is now her “day job.”
Two years ago, Irene took up fencing as research for GUARDIAN OF THE FREEDOM, Merlin’s Descendants #5. She figured one quarter would give her some vocabulary and a feel for a weapon in her hand. But that wasn’t enough to write realistic battles on the Ottoman frontier or convincing duels. So she signed up for another quarter. And another. Now she’s addicted and needs to add fencing to more of her books and let her subjects range further afield.
A native Oregonian living in Oregon, Irene is a member of an endangered species. As a service brat, she lived in a number of cities throughout the country until returning to Oregon in time to graduate from Tigard High School. She earned a B.A. in history from Lewis and Clark College, where she met her husband, Tim. Historical research has remained a lifelong passion and finally became a part of her job with the historical fantasy series Merlin’s Descendants.
Irene and her husband currently make their home in Welches, Oregon where they share their back yard with deer, coyotes, bear (check the pictures), raccoons and too many bird species to mention.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 21, 2020
5/10
The annoying bits, especially in the first half of the book, kept my rating down. The author seems compelled to enumerate each character’s particular obsession/passion every single time his/her POV is featured. Every single time, in almost the same words. She seems to think we all have short term memory loss. I don’t recall it being this annoying in the first series (the Dragon Nimbus), but it was somewhat more annoying in the next (Dragon Nimbus History), and definitely worse in this series (Stargods).
But, setting that aside, the basic story is interesting, especially in the second half of the book when the action picks up and the characters are more connected to each other and the world. I love the flywhacket and the dragon and the way the planet is amplifying and enhancing the inborn psi talents of the three O’Hara brothers.
The annoying bits, especially in the first half of the book, kept my rating down. The author seems compelled to enumerate each character’s particular obsession/passion every single time his/her POV is featured. Every single time, in almost the same words. She seems to think we all have short term memory loss. I don’t recall it being this annoying in the first series (the Dragon Nimbus), but it was somewhat more annoying in the next (Dragon Nimbus History), and definitely worse in this series (Stargods).
But, setting that aside, the basic story is interesting, especially in the second half of the book when the action picks up and the characters are more connected to each other and the world. I love the flywhacket and the dragon and the way the planet is amplifying and enhancing the inborn psi talents of the three O’Hara brothers.
August 17, 2020
I read the glass dragon trilogy a long time ago and don’t remember the plot or characters at all but I remember enjoying it. Maybe if I remembered the details of that series better, I might have appreciated this book more. Instead, I found this book quite a slog with confusing characterization and a surprising amount of casual misogyny. (Am I becoming too sensitive to misogynistic ideals? Maybe if there were such a thing.)
I don’t tend to enjoy books with drawn out descriptions of establishing societies. If you do, you might enjoy this more.
I will be reading the rest of the trilogy because I have it in the omnibus edition but I hope it picks up a bit more in the next book.
I don’t tend to enjoy books with drawn out descriptions of establishing societies. If you do, you might enjoy this more.
I will be reading the rest of the trilogy because I have it in the omnibus edition but I hope it picks up a bit more in the next book.
August 12, 2015
I admit it took me a bit to really get into this book. 3 brothers are smugglers and being chased by the Imperial Military Police. They make a blind jump and end up near an Earth-like planet and find a lost colony of Earth. They have reverted to hunters and are being ruled by a man who demands human sacrifices. He is not what he seems. There are dragons on the planet. The brothers end up being considered Stargods. I have already started the second one.
July 14, 2017
Not my thing. Very stereotypical characters, sexist/misogynistic portrayal of women, and the priest was just annoying and dumb. I enjoyed the relationship of the brothers and was interested to learn more about the manifestation of their powers, but it just wasn't written very well. Didn't finish.
November 29, 2021
An average story. There was a lot of mention about the brother's Mom but we never actually meet her or get any sort of resolution to that plot line it this book. I'm assuming this will be covered in later books of this series but I'm not sure I need to continue the story.
February 18, 2019
I really liked the premise of this book and got the trilogy omnibus out of the library. Spaceships, dragons and world building! What could go wrong?
Unfortunately the writing is terrible and needs some serious editing. The main characters are too similar to differentiate and just about every page has them either thinking about their mum, son, left behind girlfriend / wife, secret cargo. Take out all the cheap filler (I would have got the point if it was mentioned once, every page was too much to cope with) and give the characters some more umph and it would have been at least passable.
I gave up after book one - I couldn’t force myself to read any more drivel.
Unfortunately the writing is terrible and needs some serious editing. The main characters are too similar to differentiate and just about every page has them either thinking about their mum, son, left behind girlfriend / wife, secret cargo. Take out all the cheap filler (I would have got the point if it was mentioned once, every page was too much to cope with) and give the characters some more umph and it would have been at least passable.
I gave up after book one - I couldn’t force myself to read any more drivel.
May 2, 2025
It only took me a bit to read as I was busy with work and no energy left. The stargods are discovering their power with dragons on a planet that was forgotten about! This was a little slow at times but a good book as it did keep me wanting to read!
February 10, 2023
I only finished because I wanted to know how the book ended.
January 3, 2018
Irene Radford's The Hidden Dragon is the first novel in The Stargods trilogy. The series opens with the O'Hara brothers smuggling operation going south and the brothers crash landing on an unknown planet. There, they discover a world of dragons and magic and together they try to unravel the mysteries of the planet they are marooned on.
While the plot is decent, the details of it make the book seem extremely silly at times, in my opinion. The three brothers' names are Kim, Konner and Loki (Really? How is that someone's nickname?). On the planet, the villagers are enslaved by a tyrannical cult leader Hanassa . The native people don't let their women wear clothes until they marry (thank goodness we have male protagonists, and covering a woman means you marry them, which by happenstance marries all three brothers to one very happy woman almost immediately). The main characters spend the entire book dealing with one crisis after another, trying to get back into space to make their mother happy . They each also develop magical powers that they might have naturally had anyhow, and overall it just feels absurd.
I think the one aspect that this book does decently is marrying fantasy to science fiction. The main characters crash land on a world colonized long ago, but the colonies have failedt and people are living in small warring tribes now. Slowly, the book reveals the origins of the planet (well, slow until the last couple of chapters). Still, I just felt like the choice of a antagonist, Hanassa,
Overall, I'm torn about this book. It has a lot of things I like, such as dragons and a mixing of genres, but at the same time has some strange world building and a mediocre protagonist. I've rated it with a 3 stars for now, but I might come back and revisit that rating.
1/3/2018 edit - Since I can confidently name this as the most bizarre/worst thing I read in 2017, I'm docking it and making it a two start rating. Sorry :/
While the plot is decent, the details of it make the book seem extremely silly at times, in my opinion. The three brothers' names are Kim, Konner and Loki (Really? How is that someone's nickname?). On the planet, the villagers are enslaved by a tyrannical cult leader Hanassa . The native people don't let their women wear clothes until they marry (thank goodness we have male protagonists, and covering a woman means you marry them, which by happenstance marries all three brothers to one very happy woman almost immediately). The main characters spend the entire book dealing with one crisis after another, trying to get back into space to make their mother happy . They each also develop magical powers that they might have naturally had anyhow, and overall it just feels absurd.
I think the one aspect that this book does decently is marrying fantasy to science fiction. The main characters crash land on a world colonized long ago, but the colonies have failedt and people are living in small warring tribes now. Slowly, the book reveals the origins of the planet (well, slow until the last couple of chapters). Still, I just felt like the choice of a antagonist, Hanassa,
Overall, I'm torn about this book. It has a lot of things I like, such as dragons and a mixing of genres, but at the same time has some strange world building and a mediocre protagonist. I've rated it with a 3 stars for now, but I might come back and revisit that rating.
1/3/2018 edit - Since I can confidently name this as the most bizarre/worst thing I read in 2017, I'm docking it and making it a two start rating. Sorry :/
November 4, 2013
I initially grabbed this book because of the lovely cover art, the interesting description of "insubstantial" dragons, and yes, just the fact that it contained dragons.
The story was okay. It didn't really grab at me like some other books I've read, and there were parts of the back story that felt unexplained to me. Perhaps these are things that fans of the series would be more familiar with, but I felt a little lost. There were definitely a few interesting concepts in it, such as creatures that were clearly visible and had a physical presence, yet could not be detected by a sophisticated ship's computer. There were also things that I didn't care so much for, honestly, such as all of the sleeping around that was going on.
If you like dragons, give it a try, but over all this wasn't quite in line with my tastes - which is okay.
The story was okay. It didn't really grab at me like some other books I've read, and there were parts of the back story that felt unexplained to me. Perhaps these are things that fans of the series would be more familiar with, but I felt a little lost. There were definitely a few interesting concepts in it, such as creatures that were clearly visible and had a physical presence, yet could not be detected by a sophisticated ship's computer. There were also things that I didn't care so much for, honestly, such as all of the sleeping around that was going on.
If you like dragons, give it a try, but over all this wasn't quite in line with my tastes - which is okay.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2016
Ironically, I picked this book up because I am trying to honor, if not strictly adhere, to The Tempest Challenge http://tempest.fluidartist.com/non-fi...
It challenges readers to make an effort to read books by women and minority authors.
While the universe in these books seemed like an interesting idea, the rampant misogyny, paternalism, and racism was nauseating. I didn't think anyone wrote books like this anymore, certainly not in the sci-fi genre.
One of the things I love about sci-fi is its questioning of the status quo, the widening of perspective and this author seems oblivious to all the faults in her worldview -seems to be holding them up as a shining example of beauty. Unexamined life indeed!
If this is anyone's vision of the future, count me out!
It challenges readers to make an effort to read books by women and minority authors.
While the universe in these books seemed like an interesting idea, the rampant misogyny, paternalism, and racism was nauseating. I didn't think anyone wrote books like this anymore, certainly not in the sci-fi genre.
One of the things I love about sci-fi is its questioning of the status quo, the widening of perspective and this author seems oblivious to all the faults in her worldview -seems to be holding them up as a shining example of beauty. Unexamined life indeed!
If this is anyone's vision of the future, count me out!
September 19, 2015
I like fantasy. I enjoy science fiction. Dragons are my favorite reptiles,
I am giving up on this book after 175 pages. The characters are incredibly simplistic. The males are all male chauvinist pigs. The women are mostly timid. The villain is a creepy alien that people are afraid to challenge when he does awful things, because he evidently has some type of mind control. The only character I like is the winged cat thing. I am not finishing the book.
I am giving up on this book after 175 pages. The characters are incredibly simplistic. The males are all male chauvinist pigs. The women are mostly timid. The villain is a creepy alien that people are afraid to challenge when he does awful things, because he evidently has some type of mind control. The only character I like is the winged cat thing. I am not finishing the book.
April 1, 2012
I enjoyed the book. It was a nice combination of space and technology along with fantasy and dragons. It was a light easy read that was just fun. I am looking foward to the next two. They kinda remind me of some young adult fluff that is a quick and easy read. I think more books should mix the science fiction and the fantasy elements.
June 9, 2010
This was one of those books where I didn't really care for any of the characters. Consequently, the drama is much less dramatic.
May 21, 2021
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews