Tornado of Sparks
by James Maxey
I originally became aware of James Maxey through his novel, Bitterwood. I haven’t read the novel, but it has dragons and, well… dragon’s are pretty neat. If they’re handled correctly. And that’s where both the strength and the weaknesses of Maxey’s curiously named short story, Tornado of Sparks lie.
Maxey takes a novel approach to his ponderously named dragons; instead of mindless beasts, we encounter intelligent, sophisticated creatures with very human characteristics. These human characteristics lead to a terrifically well drawn protagonist and an interesting supporting cast, as well. I’m curious to know what happens to Jandra and whether she does/will show up in any of Maxey’s other works.
Unfortunately this anthropomorphism of the dragons also made it a little difficult for me to totally suspend my belief while reading. It was difficult for me to visualize several large, dangerous dragons standing around, speaking to one another and gesticulating in the way humans do.
The short story set the scene and has me interested in learning more about Maxey’s longer fiction and the world he’s created where dragons dominate and humans are hunted for sport. Dragons are a dime a dozen in Fantasy, but it appears that Maxey has taken great care to make sure that his stand out from the crowd.
I’m such a fan of Bitterwood, that I’m glad he went back and told this story.. lots of fun!
I managed to get halfway through Bitterwood before I put it aside. The story and characters completely failed to interest me, the way the dragons behaved and acted was like something from a kid’s story book and I found some of the dialogue clunky and juvenile. Jandra does appear in Bitterwood, but I certainly couldn’t care less what happens to her.
Great blog by the way, Aidan, keep it up!
I’m glad to know that Jandra does show up in Bitterwood. I figured while reading the story that he was probably telling a story alluded to in his novel.
J.G. Thomas, I’m not surprised to hear you felt irked about the way his dragons behaved. That was the one thing that really kept me from really buying into the story.
Glad you’re enjoying the blog!
I read this one today. I really enjoyed it and wanted to know more about the characters, I guess that’s one problem with reading short stories; they are short.
I did have trouble in the beginning of the story, as you said:
“It was difficult for me to visualize several large, dangerous dragons standing around, speaking to one another and gesticulating in the way humans do. ”
I found it difficult to imagine 4 huge dragons sitting in a throne room conversing, as it was not revealed to us until half way through the story that the dragons are only slightly larger than the humans.
A good read.