Review - Sparrowind: The Dragon Who Lived As A Knight, (c) 2014 by R. K. Modena

[jordan179]

"Review:

Sparrowind:  The Dragon Who Lived As A Knight

© 2014

by R. K. Modena"

© 2014

by Jordan S. Bassior

Available for $1.01 on Lulu and as an iBook for $0.99.This 11,000-word novelette is the coming of age story of Sparrowind, a young Dragon.  Sparrowind is small -- about the size of a rhino ("two draft horses" is his self-description)

Comments

[tlknighton]

I haven't had a chance to read it yet (HUGE backlog of reading material at the moment, though it's on it), but it's an interesting theme regarding how Sparrowind could have opted to be a predator, but chose to be a protector while another made the opposite decision. Very reminiscent of the Sheep/Wolf/Sheepdog thing that's popular in personal defense circles.

[cutelildrow]

Different ideals and different ambitions (as well as methods of approach to achieve goals) drive the characters. I had lots of fun writing how they did this, especially Sparrowind's approach in problem-solving. I was giggling a lot while imagining how he was doing things.

I'm hoping to do more of it as I expand it to a series of novels.

[cutelildrow]

Thank you, Jordan, for the very neatly done review - it's analytical without giving away spoilers, which I applaud because that's difficult to do!

I'm really glad you enjoyed my first offering!

[jordan179]

Oh good, I'm glad you liked the way I wrote that. :)

[anonymous]

Yay, generic fantasyland!
Geomancer, on the other hand, sets itself apart from generic fantasylands within the first page.

Why is human capitalized? And what do dragons hunt that requires them to be the size of a mammoth? Terror birds?

[jordan179]

Yay, generic fantasyland!

Somewhat, in this little section of it. But there are hints in the story of deeper things. This is just one novelette about a whole world.

Geomancer, on the other hand, sets itself apart from generic fantasylands within the first page.

So does this, in that it's plainly about a sympathetic dragon.

Why is human capitalized?

Proper noun in this case, because there are multiple sapient races on the planet.

And what do dragons hunt that requires them to be the size of a mammoth?

Apparently, medium to large-sized ungulates.

Terror birds?

No, and why would you assume that "terror birds" were absurdly massive by prey standards? They were tall, but numerous real animals which were around for the Sixth Mass Extinction were far more massive.

[anonymous]

Wolves can take down a medium sized ungulate. As can great cats. And bears.

In fact, a sapient animal shouldn't have any trouble with prey much larger than itself.

A friendly dragon who is unique amongst unfriendly dragons because he doesn't fit into their society. Yay. Still a generic fantasyland.

It's not capitalized in the Three Worlds Cycle or

Dunno, they're just the first big thing I thought of, other than mammoth. Replace with paraceratheria or triceratops if you desire.

[jordan179]

I have no idea from the glimpse of this world shown in the novelette whether or not there are super-sized herbivores on which the Dragons prey. There might very well be. There is no actual evolutionary requirement that carnivores be smaller than their prey; some carnivores prey on large numbers of smaller prey (extreme examples, anteaters and baleen whales), or can go into torpor between meals and thus conserve energy. Smart carnivores may well have wiped out their original prey species and gone into other lines of predation.

There is a mention of sheep. Dragons, being airmobile, could prey on herds of much smaller and stupider ungulates by flying over, killing one, devouring it, then repeating until satiated. They could do so so effectively that the real ecological question would become what checks them from wiping out their prey species. I suspect that Dragons have very large territories.

[banner]

I'm waiting for this to hit Amazon, or one of the other ebook vendors I shop at so I can buy a copy. I don't like iTunes, but I've never used Lulu, so if it doesn't make Amazon soon I'll probably give that a shot.

I really am interested in buying a copy.

[banner]

Just tried to buy it on lulu. Wow, they're stupid. I discovered I do have an old lulu account, but I forgot the password. Guess what? You have to enter your password in order to get them to send you your password.
*sigh*
I'll wait for Amazon.

[cutelildrow]

We'll try to work on a fix for folks who can't buy via Lulu as soon as we can.

[cutelildrow]

I just updated the devart blogpost so it's available on Nook as well.