{"id":84,"date":"2007-11-15T23:26:38","date_gmt":"2007-11-16T07:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/?p=84"},"modified":"2007-11-16T23:40:23","modified_gmt":"2007-11-17T07:40:23","slug":"mini-review-tornado-of-sparks-by-james-maxey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2007\/11\/reviews\/mini-review-tornado-of-sparks-by-james-maxey\/","title":{"rendered":"Mini-review | Tornado of Sparks by James Maxey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheTornado of Sparks<\/strong>
\nby James Maxey<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

I originally became aware of James Maxey through his novel, Bitterwood<\/strong>. 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<\/strong> lie.
\n
\nMaxey 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.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n