Dragon America

by Mike Resnick

The New World is rife with dragons of all kinds. The American Colonists have demanded independence from Britain and General Washington needs all the help he can get to fight the arriving British forces. Washington calls on his old friend, Daniel Boone, to gather the strangest allies the Colonists have yet encountered--a herd of fierce dragons, trained to attack on his command. Can Boone survive the encounter and succeed in his mission in time to rejoin the Colonial Army and defeat the British?

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Alternate History, Science Fiction, Dragons

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2005

About the author

Michael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.

Reviews

[Willa · Rating 1 out of 5]

An interesting premise - that the settlers of the New World found dragons here and eventually made use of them in various ways, including in fighting the Revolutionary War - but not very well handled in my opinion. The writing wasn't up to the bar I set (I openly admit to being a book snob!) and it was too short. There just wasn't enough time to give the story enough details to make it believable or to give the dragons any personality whatsoever. They were no more interesting than horses or other animals made use of by an army, and since they were the main point of the story, I expected a little more from them. And a little less from some of the other characters. Ordinary foot-soldiers who had known nothing but farming until joining the war and who'd had no or very little education sounded the same as Washington and his officers when discussing the causes of the war and what they hoped would happen after it was ended. Overall very disappointing, as I could see really fun potential in the idea.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rather obscure title compared to many of Resnick's novels from more mainstream publishers but it's well worth searching out. It's an alternate history of General George Washington leading the rebellious American colonists against Cornwallis's overwhelming British forces in a struggle for independence... fortunately, Daniel Boone has provided a secret weapon... yeah, the title gives it away. Very cooly executed story; convincing historical accuracy (well, you know... within the rules), and good characterizations. The last line suggests dragons played a big role in the further development of the country, and I'm sorry no sequels ever appeared.

[Bardi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mike is very good people. And I have enjoyed his anthologies of alternative history over the years. So it was fun to see him writing an alternative history novel of his own. Complete with George Washington, Daniel Boone, and assorted First Nation people..and dragons.

[TmWheezy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yikes, is all I have to say. It was a very interesting premise but moved on from thing thing to thing very fast and there is little detail on anything. Some parts are just unbelievable, such as a character that can fully learn a language from the ground up in two weeks. The end was ultimately unfulfilling and not what most of the book seemed to be building to. There was way too much time traveling with characters than intense conflict. Perhaps a different author would have been able to make it more satisfying.

[Jethro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mixing history and fantasy? WOW! That was something I never expected. EVER. Brilliantly done! When a friend of mine introduced this book to me and told me to check it out, I was skeptical. Dragons and the American Revolution? Really? REALLY?!?
But I was proven wrong and it turned out great. Two thumbs up and two toes up!

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read much alternate history I don't think, and this one take the alternate to an extreme! Daniel Boone on a quest to find dragons that can help in the war against the British. It was a fun adventure. Kept me turning the pages.

[Eco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alternative history with a side of dragons: Daniel Boone, George Washington, et. al. and dragons win the American Revolution.

[Dan Mumford · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had an interesting concept, but the structure was not great and the whole thing built to a final battle that lasted two pages.

[Margaret Fisk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t usually post reviews that are about what didn’t work, mainly because reading has so much opinion to it already. However, I chose to post the below quick review of Dragon America several years ago, and then decided it was one of the books that deserved a fleshed out commentary because it has lingered in my memory.

From these notes, I get the impression I didn’t get much from reading Dragon America, certainly not enough to recommend it to someone else:

This is an interesting, enjoyable story, but it also felt a bit episodic. The events were absorbing, as were the characters. However, the two didn’t seem to intersect. As a reader, it was more like reading about Paul Bunyan than actually being there. I saw the trouble they were in and could sympathize with it, but didn’t feel it. This may be in part because of the novella format where there isn’t enough word count to add in all the layers. I’ve read others of Resnick’s books and I don’t generally have this issue so I’m guessing this is the format he was given. To my mind, there was easily enough material for a full-fledged novel.

However, that’s far from the truth. I have recommended this book a number of times. In fact, it came up recently. Someone on one of my writing groups was looking for historical fantasy that wasn’t medieval. The first book to cross my mind was none other than Dragon America.

I don’t believe my above comments are wrong per se, and considering how much of an impression it made on me, I think a full length work was warranted, but one measure of a book’s success is its staying power. Though a novella, and so shorter than I prefer, the basic story and world building stuck with me all these years. It may, in fact, be one of those rare books I make the time to reread, in part to figure out how much my impression was based on my current mood or the book itself. I asked my son, and his comment besides the “that was Mike Resnick? No wonder it was so good” was that it read as a series of short stories. Now we both want to reread it to figure this out.

Ultimately, my son relates it to Temerare, and I can definitely see the similarities in style. It’s worth reading despite the issues I had. Focus on the “This is an interesting, enjoyable story” and consider the rest exploring a weakness that wasn’t enough to hinder Dragon America’s efforts to find a home in the list of books I’ve enjoyed and continue to remember fondly.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I expected more out of the author of Santiago. As intriguing as the original idea was, this was actually a very poorly done novel. While the change in point of view was a challenge, there just wasn't enough story to go around. Way too many things skipped over or just plain left out - many of the answers to the various challenges were accomplished off-scene. With a bit more work this could have turned out to be a pretty decent story. The ending implies the possibility of a sequel ... let us hope not. My recommendation - pass on this one.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Zane Gray-style Western, set in the Revolutionary War, with dinosaur-like dragons. I liked it better than it deserves, I think, just for the novelty of reading hackneyed, cowboy-style dialogue in a novel with dragons and George Washington.

[Bryan Thomas Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A work for hire written in a week and it shows. This is minor Resnick though entertaining with interesting dragons and ideas.

[Nesie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://greenmanreview.com/book/book_r...

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too dialogue heavy but an interesting alternate history with Daniel Boone charged with finding reinforcements for Gen. Washington's army. What he winds up with **SPOILER ALERT** are dragons!

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fairly good historical accuracy and a very engaging twist on the Revolutionary War...hey, dragons make everything better!

[Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing. Interesting concept - but boring execution.

[Evianrei · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a time of War, and George Washington knows that it is getting dangerously close to defeat. His men have been traveling and fighting with little-to-no aide or supply shipments. Knowing he only has a few options left, he writes his old war friend Daniel Boone and asks for help.

Daniel, typically wanting nothing to do with war, sets off, only because he is good friends with George. But what can one man hope to bring back? And how will it help the Americans win the war?

My husband recommended this book to me, because he said he greatly enjoyed it. After reading it, I thoroughly enjoyed the book as well! It was exciting to follow Daniel Boone along with his traveling companions, in search of a dangerous beast that could wipe out the invading British forces, but also wouldn't wipe the Americans out in the process! I do have some things to say about it though, that I think could be improved.

The variety of dragons was slim, maybe this was due to the new-found Americans not exploring the whole continent yet, but for a book titled Dragon America I was hoping for more dragons. Most of the dragons encountered in the book are used by humans similar to horses or cattle. Then there are your few carnivorous dragon species, though they aren't very big. My favorite dragon species in the book were the Thunderflames or the Cavedancers.

The book was also incredibly short. It was just Daniel Boone going on a search for a certain dragon, and then returning with it. I would be fine with that, if this book was the first in a series of books, but it sort of just ended flat. It would be nicer if this book was followed by another where either more dragon species were discovered, or the current ones were more tamed by the Americans.

That being said, I really liked this book. My favorite character to read about was Pompey, he seemed pretty sensible and witty. He was the most interesting character to read about. If I had to pick a second, it would be Ephram Eakin due to his kind nature and interest in training the dragons.

You Might Like This Book If...
-You like reading about history
-You enjoy fantasy takes on actual history
-You are a fan of reading about war

You Might Not Like This Book If...
-You dislike books with death / fighting
-If you find war tactics and long-travel stories to be boring