The Dragon Factory
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'...everything a good techno thriller should be - clever, imaginative and above all thrilling.' (BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY )
Book Description
Special forces expert Joe Ledger is back in another brilliant horror thriller.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having found Jonathan Maberry's Patient Zero surprisingly enjoyable I was looking forward to this follow-up adventure of Joe Ledger and the DMS.
I can only say that it failed to live up to my expectations. Whilst Patient Zero was a tightly plotted, focused exercise in high octane excitement, by contrast The Dragon Factory is a rambling tale that lacks focus, is poorly paced and goes on far too long for too little reward.
The action in the book remains very well written, with some of the set-pieces easily up to the standard of anything in Patient Zero. To get to them however, you have to wade through some horribly self-indulgent and overblown writing. Bits of this crept into Patient Zero, with Ledger's inner monologues that were full of cod-psychology and purple-prose, but such episodes were thankfully kept to a minimum. In The Dragon Factory they're front and centre from the word go and quite frankly they irritated the hell out of me. Much more introspective self-analysis about 'the inner warrior' and I might have given up on the book entirely.
Worse than that however, was the central plot of the book itself. Surprisingly, though Patient Zero dealt with zombies as bio-weapons its plot felt far more plausible than anything on offer in The Dragon Factory. From the identical, twisted blonde twins to the genetically engineered creations Ledger and co encounter none of it felt remotely plausible. The true identities of the primary bad guys were both utterly predictable and laughable, and by the time events lead all the protagonists to an artificial forest populated by various mythical creatures I was really struggling to suspend my disbelief. The problem is that Maberry takes a relatively simple idea, a threat to world stability and security from genocidal madmen armed with genetically engineered weapons, and makes it far too complicated and OTT.
The same goes for the book's narrative, which contains numerous flashbacks that are ostensibly there to provide background but often feel redudant. We don't need to know how various minor characters die or to spend time with the IT geeks at the CDC. The information these episodes contain could be conveyed by far more efficient methods that don't slow down the narrative. At times it feels like Maberry has watched one too many episodes of LOST on TV and decided that flashbacks were cool.
All I can hope is that Maberry's next book is handled by a stricter editor who reigns in some of the authors excesses. He remains a great writer of action and characters such as Mr Church and concepts like the DMS are still great. He just needs to drop the psycho-babble and keep his plots more streamlined (and less predictable too. I could see the ending of TDF coming mile away and one character's eventual fate was obvious hundreds of pages before they actually met it). Books like this don't need to be full of stylistic tricks or heavy handed emotional beats. Three stars, but only just!
I can only say that it failed to live up to my expectations. Whilst Patient Zero was a tightly plotted, focused exercise in high octane excitement, by contrast The Dragon Factory is a rambling tale that lacks focus, is poorly paced and goes on far too long for too little reward.
The action in the book remains very well written, with some of the set-pieces easily up to the standard of anything in Patient Zero. To get to them however, you have to wade through some horribly self-indulgent and overblown writing. Bits of this crept into Patient Zero, with Ledger's inner monologues that were full of cod-psychology and purple-prose, but such episodes were thankfully kept to a minimum. In The Dragon Factory they're front and centre from the word go and quite frankly they irritated the hell out of me. Much more introspective self-analysis about 'the inner warrior' and I might have given up on the book entirely.
Worse than that however, was the central plot of the book itself. Surprisingly, though Patient Zero dealt with zombies as bio-weapons its plot felt far more plausible than anything on offer in The Dragon Factory. From the identical, twisted blonde twins to the genetically engineered creations Ledger and co encounter none of it felt remotely plausible. The true identities of the primary bad guys were both utterly predictable and laughable, and by the time events lead all the protagonists to an artificial forest populated by various mythical creatures I was really struggling to suspend my disbelief. The problem is that Maberry takes a relatively simple idea, a threat to world stability and security from genocidal madmen armed with genetically engineered weapons, and makes it far too complicated and OTT.
The same goes for the book's narrative, which contains numerous flashbacks that are ostensibly there to provide background but often feel redudant. We don't need to know how various minor characters die or to spend time with the IT geeks at the CDC. The information these episodes contain could be conveyed by far more efficient methods that don't slow down the narrative. At times it feels like Maberry has watched one too many episodes of LOST on TV and decided that flashbacks were cool.
All I can hope is that Maberry's next book is handled by a stricter editor who reigns in some of the authors excesses. He remains a great writer of action and characters such as Mr Church and concepts like the DMS are still great. He just needs to drop the psycho-babble and keep his plots more streamlined (and less predictable too. I could see the ending of TDF coming mile away and one character's eventual fate was obvious hundreds of pages before they actually met it). Books like this don't need to be full of stylistic tricks or heavy handed emotional beats. Three stars, but only just!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having really enjoyed Jonathan's original offering I really wanted this title to deliver more high octane thrills as the principle protagonist slaughters his way to his mission goal. I wanted more twists, I wanted more shades of grey villains and I wanted a character who could be bent by circumstance to be just as twisted as the bad guys .
This Jonathan delivers in spades and it's an adventure that does what it says on the tin. Its well written, the story arc has plenty of twists and its almost like the old fashioned Saturday Morning Matinee's with its cliff hangers at the end of numerous chapters. It's ideal material for those who want that something special with great action sequences in an action thriller that should be made into a film.
This Jonathan delivers in spades and it's an adventure that does what it says on the tin. Its well written, the story arc has plenty of twists and its almost like the old fashioned Saturday Morning Matinee's with its cliff hangers at the end of numerous chapters. It's ideal material for those who want that something special with great action sequences in an action thriller that should be made into a film.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
SPOILERS FOR PATIENT ZERO - NO SPOILERS FOR DRAGON FACTORY!
After reading (and thoroughly enjoying) the first novel in the Joe Ledger series "Patient Zero" I definitely wanted to give this sequel a go. So for those of you familiar with the series, Joe has just done his bit in saving the world from a plague of zombies working for the DMS - a specialised, and very secret, government agency. This next installment sees Joe up against some new villains and their handiwork. The surprise is pretty fantastic - let's just say, it makes zombies look appealing.
The first novel had quite a bit of scientific information regarding pathogens, disease and infection.The dragon factory still holds onto the science element but in a little more detail. Some of these sections I found really interesting actually and they especially helped me to understand some of the key elements within the novel. I did find the science element a little far-fetched sometimes so if you're picky about accuracy then you might find that irritating.
I did find one thing a little annoying, not enough to ruin my opinion of the book though, Maberry was a tad over the top with some of the British characters dialogue in that they sounded VERY British. But again, this took nothing at all away from the book.
Did I think this was any good? Did it match up to Patient Zero? Absolutely! If you were already a fan then this next installment won't disappoint you. I sometimes think that the second books in a series can be more of a filler than a great addition but that's certainly not the case this time - Joe Ledger is as enjoyable and hilarious as ever. If you liked the previous characters on Joe's team then you'll be pleased to know some of them are back to help him out.
Was there anything you should know before you buy? Be prepared to be desperate to get hold of "The King of Theives" - Joe Ledger 3.
After reading (and thoroughly enjoying) the first novel in the Joe Ledger series "Patient Zero" I definitely wanted to give this sequel a go. So for those of you familiar with the series, Joe has just done his bit in saving the world from a plague of zombies working for the DMS - a specialised, and very secret, government agency. This next installment sees Joe up against some new villains and their handiwork. The surprise is pretty fantastic - let's just say, it makes zombies look appealing.
The first novel had quite a bit of scientific information regarding pathogens, disease and infection.The dragon factory still holds onto the science element but in a little more detail. Some of these sections I found really interesting actually and they especially helped me to understand some of the key elements within the novel. I did find the science element a little far-fetched sometimes so if you're picky about accuracy then you might find that irritating.
I did find one thing a little annoying, not enough to ruin my opinion of the book though, Maberry was a tad over the top with some of the British characters dialogue in that they sounded VERY British. But again, this took nothing at all away from the book.
Did I think this was any good? Did it match up to Patient Zero? Absolutely! If you were already a fan then this next installment won't disappoint you. I sometimes think that the second books in a series can be more of a filler than a great addition but that's certainly not the case this time - Joe Ledger is as enjoyable and hilarious as ever. If you liked the previous characters on Joe's team then you'll be pleased to know some of them are back to help him out.
Was there anything you should know before you buy? Be prepared to be desperate to get hold of "The King of Theives" - Joe Ledger 3.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Comic book nonsense
I enjoyed the first outing from the author, Patient Zero. It was nonsense, but well delivered nonsense and did what it promised on the cover. Read more
Published 10 months ago by N. Brett
Action packed techno-thrills
Although best read after Patient Zero, this is a novel which could easily be read standalone. A new drama for the Special Forces-alike team unfolds as they become embroiled in a... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. G. Battle
Semper Fidelis...
I definitely prefer Mayberry's first DMS title Patient Zero, perhaps because it's a fresher idea (not totally new by any means) and it avoids many of the cliches Dragon Factory... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ironspider
better than the first story
Patient Zero was excellent , this is better!!Gives us a bit of an insight into the hero's background.Action throughout. Cannot recommend this enough.You will not be disappointed!!
Published 19 months ago by Dave. Baldry
A grown up Matthew Reilly
Just finished this book this morning and WOW! It is amazing how fast the action is, only Matthew Reilly in my opinion has created anything as fast paced and so easy to engage with. Read more
Published 20 months ago by P. G. Tite
Good writing - silly premise - excellent book
This is the second in a series by Jonathan Mayberry, the first being Patient Zero.
They're daft, and over the top, but you'd have to throw in 'gritty', and 'gripping'. Read more
They're daft, and over the top, but you'd have to throw in 'gritty', and 'gripping'. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. Steve Williams
Science Fiction in its truest sense.
Joe Ledger and Echo Team make a welcome return after their first outing in 'Patient Zero'. This time, the focus of the Dept. Read more
Published on 25 April 2010 by D. Lloyd
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