Storm of Wings (Dragonmaster) [Paperback]

In Dragonmaster: Storm of Wings, Chris Bunch moves up a notch from being a competent fantasy storyteller to adding something new to the stock assumptions of his genre. What he adds to a fairly conventional story of a young man making his way in the wars of fantasy kingdoms is some real thoughtfulness about the cliché of dragons as weapons of war. Hal Kailas always wanted to fly and works for a travelling dragon show as dogsbody and ticket seller to get some limited training in the art; warfare breaks down a stratified social system enough to give him the chance to make something of himself if he survives long enough. What Bunch has done--and it would be an obvious enough idea had anyone developed it this thoroughly before--is map, quite precisely, his knowledge of WW1 fighter aces over a fantasyland context; Hal is instrumental in the shift from using flight as a way of scouting for infantry to flight being a field of combat in its own right, with both sides doing their best to achieve command of the sky and pilots acquiring their own quite special rivalries and esprit de corps. This is not a deeply subtle novel of character, but it is nonetheless thoughtful about war and the experience of war.-- Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'A banquet of blood and thunder' SFX ** 'Rich and convincing.will leave you eagerly awaiting the next installment'. - SFX

The land between the volatile kingdoms of Deraine, Sagene and Roche is ruled by the sword and by the outlaw. But the schemes of men and nations hold scant interest for Hal Kailas. For him the only true power in the world as that of the dragons . As a child he loved to climb the high cliffs around his village and watch the dragons nesting there - huge, savage beasts with wings that blackened the sun. His only dream was to grow wings - or learn to ride a dragon. But when the uneasy peace of the kingdoms is threatened by war, Hal's dream becomes reality. For this is a conflict such as the world has never seen. For the first time, the fearsome wild dragons have become living weapons, ridden by men of cold daring and ruthless ambition. And the greatest of them is Hal Kailas. Dragonmaster.

Chris Bunch is a Vietnam veteran and served as a patrol commander and combat correspondent for Stars and Stripes. He has written for the underground press, outlaw motorcycle magazines and Rolling Stone.