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Dragon's Game #1
Dragon's Pawn
"Balance good with evil's stain, Lest dark wizard's powers reign. Every hap shall come aright, When Dragon's Pawn is Keeper's Knight. Let in tiny sparks of day, Free those who are wizard's prey, Web of universe shine bright, Turn the Darkness into Light." Jarl had gotten his riddle from a kindly, grandmotherly sort of which. But friendly or not, she'd told him pretty firmly he had to solve it if he was to become a hero who could fight off evil and find his way home to earth. She didn't warn him, however, that this very riddle would also lead him into the most bizzare adventures imaginable - and that he would soon find himself contending with ogres, bandits, talking trees, and the dark minions of the Shadowlord himself... DRAGON'S PAWN
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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July 13, 2025I hoped this might be an interesting read, but it really wasn't. Fafnoddle was the only thing I liked about it, until his character was ruined too. The main character is boring, as is every character in the series. The sexism in the book is also just an eye roll. I only finished the book because I was determined too, and I liked Fafnoddle. I honestly should've just DNFed it. The writing is also bad, a lot of "This happened. Then this happened. And this is what the character thought of it." I wish I could give it half a star.
March 10, 2018
According to the back copy, Dragon's Pawn is the story of a computer programmer who is thrust into a fantastical world where he must help right a great wrong. Our hero's name?
Jarl Koenig. Jarl, the Scandinavian word for a noble just shy of king, and koenig, the German word for king.
That's right, our illustrious hero is named, essentially, Noble King. Hm, I wonder where his destiny lays? Despite a sudden desire to crush Dragon's Pawn in search of whether my linguistic revelation was, in fact, a prediction, I'll never know.
Dragon's Pawn starts out at a blistering speed. There's a page-and-a-half of prologue where sages discuss an ultimate evil and task a leprechaun with travelling to Earth to find a suitable savior/hero. Then, in chapter one, our Noble King gets a solitary paragraph to himself before the leprechaun appears and wreaks havoc with his life.
The rapidity with which the narration thrusts these two together, and the aplomb with which Noble King reacts to the leprechaun's sudden appearance had me re-reading paragraphs trying to figure out if they already knew each other.
On top of this, the writing skewed towards the obtuse. At one point, Noble King 'blinks his eyes,' as if we are too stupid to understand what 'blinking' on its own means.
Still, the story had a nostalgic sort of kitsch that was appealing, and despite a normally stilted sort of writing, occasionally a beautiful line stuck out to me.
"[The shadows] across the trail grew longer, like the reaching fingers of the night they presaged."
That's beautiful and evocative, no?
Fully realizing that Dragon's Pawn would never become a favorite book, I still settled in to finish it. It seemed like there was enough to make it a fun read and, well, I was curious about Noble King's destiny. And if his computer programming knowledge came into play in his quest.
And then he stumbled across a little house in the woods, and I stopped reading.
Nothing egregious happened, and yet it painted a very clear picture that I would find the book more frustrating than enjoyable. The reasons?
Before being whisked away to this strange world, Noble King had a normal life and, with it, a cat named Minou. (Which, btw, is French for 'kitty.') Even though we spend precious little time in Noble King's world before it gets turned upside-down, it's clear his cat matters to him.
So when he enters this woman's cottage, and she sits down and a cat jumps up on her lap, I expected him to realize with a horrified start that no one was taking care of Minou.
He doesn't.
And, while he's sitting down to a meal in this cottage, the woman "retreated to the corner of the room and began to spin."
I stared at that sentence for too long, debating what sort of dance-magic this old lady possessed. Considering all the fantasy up to this point was traditional mythology--spriggans, dragons, and djinns--I was baffled by this sudden addition of something so unique.
Until, a little later, it's revealed that she's using a spinning wheel.
Considering earlier the writing explicitly clarified that Noble King was blinking his eyes (as opposed to what, his nose?), this confusing omission seemed especially egregious.
And with that, I closed the book. To a certain extent, Pawn of the Dragon felt like a children's book: the rapid pace, the happenstance of events, a main character who just rolls with the punches with no inner thoughts about what's happening to him. On the other hand, our Noble King finds a fennec fox, a unicorn, and a horse attractive.
In hindsight, the second he found the fennec fox attractive was the moment I should have closed the book.
[I read old fantasy written by women in a quest to unearth forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
Jarl Koenig. Jarl, the Scandinavian word for a noble just shy of king, and koenig, the German word for king.
That's right, our illustrious hero is named, essentially, Noble King. Hm, I wonder where his destiny lays? Despite a sudden desire to crush Dragon's Pawn in search of whether my linguistic revelation was, in fact, a prediction, I'll never know.
Dragon's Pawn starts out at a blistering speed. There's a page-and-a-half of prologue where sages discuss an ultimate evil and task a leprechaun with travelling to Earth to find a suitable savior/hero. Then, in chapter one, our Noble King gets a solitary paragraph to himself before the leprechaun appears and wreaks havoc with his life.
The rapidity with which the narration thrusts these two together, and the aplomb with which Noble King reacts to the leprechaun's sudden appearance had me re-reading paragraphs trying to figure out if they already knew each other.
On top of this, the writing skewed towards the obtuse. At one point, Noble King 'blinks his eyes,' as if we are too stupid to understand what 'blinking' on its own means.
Still, the story had a nostalgic sort of kitsch that was appealing, and despite a normally stilted sort of writing, occasionally a beautiful line stuck out to me.
"[The shadows] across the trail grew longer, like the reaching fingers of the night they presaged."
That's beautiful and evocative, no?
Fully realizing that Dragon's Pawn would never become a favorite book, I still settled in to finish it. It seemed like there was enough to make it a fun read and, well, I was curious about Noble King's destiny. And if his computer programming knowledge came into play in his quest.
And then he stumbled across a little house in the woods, and I stopped reading.
Nothing egregious happened, and yet it painted a very clear picture that I would find the book more frustrating than enjoyable. The reasons?
Before being whisked away to this strange world, Noble King had a normal life and, with it, a cat named Minou. (Which, btw, is French for 'kitty.') Even though we spend precious little time in Noble King's world before it gets turned upside-down, it's clear his cat matters to him.
So when he enters this woman's cottage, and she sits down and a cat jumps up on her lap, I expected him to realize with a horrified start that no one was taking care of Minou.
He doesn't.
And, while he's sitting down to a meal in this cottage, the woman "retreated to the corner of the room and began to spin."
I stared at that sentence for too long, debating what sort of dance-magic this old lady possessed. Considering all the fantasy up to this point was traditional mythology--spriggans, dragons, and djinns--I was baffled by this sudden addition of something so unique.
Until, a little later, it's revealed that she's using a spinning wheel.
Considering earlier the writing explicitly clarified that Noble King was blinking his eyes (as opposed to what, his nose?), this confusing omission seemed especially egregious.
And with that, I closed the book. To a certain extent, Pawn of the Dragon felt like a children's book: the rapid pace, the happenstance of events, a main character who just rolls with the punches with no inner thoughts about what's happening to him. On the other hand, our Noble King finds a fennec fox, a unicorn, and a horse attractive.
In hindsight, the second he found the fennec fox attractive was the moment I should have closed the book.
[I read old fantasy written by women in a quest to unearth forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
October 30, 2020
I actually read the second book in this trilogy as a teenager, and remember enjoying it a lot. So when I found the first book in the trilogy, I knew I had to give it a read. Surely it would be even better than its sequel, right? Sadly, this book was terrible enough that it retroactively spoiled the series for me, and it feels like a good premise squandered.
Jarl is a computer programmer from Earth who, after a night of drinking, finds himself whisked away to the world of Realm by a leprechaun. Realm is a world of magic, and of fantasy creatures that once existed on Earth but fled to Realm when Earth lost its magic. But Realm is being threatened by the sinister Shadowlord, and Jarl has been chosen as the unlikely hero who will save it. With the aid of a magic and sentient bracelet, a pacifist dragon, and a mischievous but beautiful shapeshifter, can a hapless man of Earth save a magical world from evil?
If the above plot summary sounds full of cliches, well... that's what you'll get if you read this book. There are some glimmers of interesting ideas in this book -- the sentient bracelet, the vegetarian dragon, the barely-utilized concept of using fictional characters from Earth as weapons -- but for the most part it's a bog-standard modern-day-human-in-fantasy-world plot, with paper-thin characterizations and a villain who's such a glaring nonentity that I couldn't bring myself to care even when he finally showed up in person. It feels like no effort went into the worldbuilding, the characters are stock and barely fleshed out, and Jarl's quest is just a series of events with very little effort expended on his part into giving him a challenge.
The writing is bad as well. No effort is made to give us writing with any sense of flow, style, or beauty, and every character sounds exactly the same when they have dialogue. Also, I was taught that a paragraph should consist of sentences that are tied together at least somewhat with a theme, but here paragraphs leap from topic to topic with each sentence and feel more like collections of words and phrases. And as stated before, the plot feels more like just a string of random events and side-quests than an overarching plot.
On a side note, for being written by a woman, this book is awfully misogynistic. The main female character, Mirza, is only ever seen as a "trophy" by the main character, an object to be lusted after and rescued from the villain. It's bothersome, and gets disturbing when she's described as "erotic" even when in animal form. Likewise, the female dragon gets no characterization and pretty much exists to get paired up with the male dragon character. I know this book was written in the '80s, but come on, even in the '80s we were getting good female characters who weren't just written to be romantic conquests...
I thought this book would reintroduce me to a favorite series, but all it did was make me swear not to revisit the second book, for fear it won't be as good as I remember. Even by the standards of pulp paperback fantasy, this is an awful read. Avoid -- it adds nothing new to the genre, and the few good ideas it has are squandered.
Jarl is a computer programmer from Earth who, after a night of drinking, finds himself whisked away to the world of Realm by a leprechaun. Realm is a world of magic, and of fantasy creatures that once existed on Earth but fled to Realm when Earth lost its magic. But Realm is being threatened by the sinister Shadowlord, and Jarl has been chosen as the unlikely hero who will save it. With the aid of a magic and sentient bracelet, a pacifist dragon, and a mischievous but beautiful shapeshifter, can a hapless man of Earth save a magical world from evil?
If the above plot summary sounds full of cliches, well... that's what you'll get if you read this book. There are some glimmers of interesting ideas in this book -- the sentient bracelet, the vegetarian dragon, the barely-utilized concept of using fictional characters from Earth as weapons -- but for the most part it's a bog-standard modern-day-human-in-fantasy-world plot, with paper-thin characterizations and a villain who's such a glaring nonentity that I couldn't bring myself to care even when he finally showed up in person. It feels like no effort went into the worldbuilding, the characters are stock and barely fleshed out, and Jarl's quest is just a series of events with very little effort expended on his part into giving him a challenge.
The writing is bad as well. No effort is made to give us writing with any sense of flow, style, or beauty, and every character sounds exactly the same when they have dialogue. Also, I was taught that a paragraph should consist of sentences that are tied together at least somewhat with a theme, but here paragraphs leap from topic to topic with each sentence and feel more like collections of words and phrases. And as stated before, the plot feels more like just a string of random events and side-quests than an overarching plot.
On a side note, for being written by a woman, this book is awfully misogynistic. The main female character, Mirza, is only ever seen as a "trophy" by the main character, an object to be lusted after and rescued from the villain. It's bothersome, and gets disturbing when she's described as "erotic" even when in animal form. Likewise, the female dragon gets no characterization and pretty much exists to get paired up with the male dragon character. I know this book was written in the '80s, but come on, even in the '80s we were getting good female characters who weren't just written to be romantic conquests...
I thought this book would reintroduce me to a favorite series, but all it did was make me swear not to revisit the second book, for fear it won't be as good as I remember. Even by the standards of pulp paperback fantasy, this is an awful read. Avoid -- it adds nothing new to the genre, and the few good ideas it has are squandered.
November 13, 2024
DNF at @23% I refuse to read misogyny from a woman, especially when it's stupid trivial misogyny, like women are meant to make beds not men, I expect this kind of nonsense from a man.
The writing is not great either, there is absolutely no flow from one scene to another they tend to change right in the middle of a paragraph. You spend like .5 seconds with other characters. The idea behind the dragon bracelet is actually really interesting and in the hands of a writer who knows what they are doing it could have been so amazing. But having boring mundane everyday choices turn the scales gold to slowly unlock it, is so very.....lame, so much wasted potential.
Also its super weird how Jarl keeps lusting after animals, because they are "soooo feminine" like I'm 99% sure I know who the "animals" are but its still weird.
And the last bit goes to the first chapter with the overt racist stereotyping of an Irish person, specifically a Leprechaun. That's exactly what I want to be met with at the start of the story (this is sarcasm if you struggle to catch what I'm saying). I should have known it wasn't going to get any better after that.
One final bit, stop saying this is a good choice for kids, because absolutely it is not, stop insulting children's minds please I beg, they deserve to read so much better.
The writing is not great either, there is absolutely no flow from one scene to another they tend to change right in the middle of a paragraph. You spend like .5 seconds with other characters. The idea behind the dragon bracelet is actually really interesting and in the hands of a writer who knows what they are doing it could have been so amazing. But having boring mundane everyday choices turn the scales gold to slowly unlock it, is so very.....lame, so much wasted potential.
Also its super weird how Jarl keeps lusting after animals, because they are "soooo feminine" like I'm 99% sure I know who the "animals" are but its still weird.
And the last bit goes to the first chapter with the overt racist stereotyping of an Irish person, specifically a Leprechaun. That's exactly what I want to be met with at the start of the story (this is sarcasm if you struggle to catch what I'm saying). I should have known it wasn't going to get any better after that.
One final bit, stop saying this is a good choice for kids, because absolutely it is not, stop insulting children's minds please I beg, they deserve to read so much better.
October 11, 2023
Oi….
The book was copyrighted 1987 so maybe written 1985? I would have thought we were well on our way out of generally accepted misogyny mindset. This book, in third person narrative, makes many “just like a woman to…” references, and not from a character point of view. It seems to be from the author’s point of view. The author, Carol L Dennis, was born 1938 so had her formative years in the 50s. Maybe some leeway can be afforded there. Perhaps the story she imagined germinated in the 50s, a more misogynistic time.
The characters are very Very underdeveloped. According to the book cover, Jarl is a computer programmer. That plays no part in the story. Fafnoddel, the dragon, is a pacifist vegetarian, which is also unimportant to the story. Fafnoddel does his fair share of toasting the enemy.
Jarl pretty much has all of his answers and needs thrown at him. Mirza, the female lead is a magic user and has the potential to kick butt. Instead she drapes herself all over Jarl. To be fair she has her venturesome moments.
It’s a quick bubblegum popcorn read. I did finish it, so that’s something. If your looking for some “no think” reading, sure. It’s the first book of a series. I’ll stop with this one.
The book was copyrighted 1987 so maybe written 1985? I would have thought we were well on our way out of generally accepted misogyny mindset. This book, in third person narrative, makes many “just like a woman to…” references, and not from a character point of view. It seems to be from the author’s point of view. The author, Carol L Dennis, was born 1938 so had her formative years in the 50s. Maybe some leeway can be afforded there. Perhaps the story she imagined germinated in the 50s, a more misogynistic time.
The characters are very Very underdeveloped. According to the book cover, Jarl is a computer programmer. That plays no part in the story. Fafnoddel, the dragon, is a pacifist vegetarian, which is also unimportant to the story. Fafnoddel does his fair share of toasting the enemy.
Jarl pretty much has all of his answers and needs thrown at him. Mirza, the female lead is a magic user and has the potential to kick butt. Instead she drapes herself all over Jarl. To be fair she has her venturesome moments.
It’s a quick bubblegum popcorn read. I did finish it, so that’s something. If your looking for some “no think” reading, sure. It’s the first book of a series. I’ll stop with this one.
December 17, 2019
I think I was expecting something a little more well written. It’s very much a product of its time, so casual misogyny and essentialist feminism, while not the focus of the book, are definitely present. Also it seemed weird that Jarl was attracted to Mirza before he knew she was a human. Basically, I was disappointed because “earthly computer programmer”, “scholarly vegetarian dragon”, and “enchanted place to defend against the evil Shadowlord” sounds like they would make a better story than I got. All that being said, it wasn’t terrible. Faf’s cave was cool, and Wyrd was an interesting creature.
February 5, 2014
this is my very favourite book! i've read it at least twelve times and yet every time it still has another scene i didn't seem to notice before. to me, thatis the hallmark pf a good story! By the way, SPOILERS!
Jarl goes through all these mini adventures as he goes along that it's like reading a seried of short stories. he gets sebt to an unfamiliar world and soon after defeats a spriggan, he befriends a unicorn, slays an ogre, befriends a dragon... the list goes on!
When the whole adventure was done i wasnted MORE! What happens? is he needed again? does he go back? is another villain going to show up?
If you like a good adventure, check it out. i know i loved it!
Jarl goes through all these mini adventures as he goes along that it's like reading a seried of short stories. he gets sebt to an unfamiliar world and soon after defeats a spriggan, he befriends a unicorn, slays an ogre, befriends a dragon... the list goes on!
When the whole adventure was done i wasnted MORE! What happens? is he needed again? does he go back? is another villain going to show up?
If you like a good adventure, check it out. i know i loved it!
May 8, 2010
Enjoyable little read. Not very deep...just a quick action fantasy/scifi. I enjoyed the pacifist vegetarian dragon. He added a nice twist to the ordinary-man-turned-hero-in-an-alternate-world yarn.
December 13, 2010
One of my first book reports was of this book. Still love it. Just a fun read for kids and adults alike.
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