{"id":428,"date":"2008-11-11T04:09:09","date_gmt":"2008-11-11T04:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/zombielapdance\/2008\/11\/11\/last-dragon-the-fantasy-novel\/"},"modified":"2012-08-17T05:24:14","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T05:24:14","slug":"last-dragon-the-fantasy-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/zombielapdance\/2008\/11\/11\/last-dragon-the-fantasy-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Dragon (the fantasy novel)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThe advertising for J.M. McDermott’s debut novel Last Dragon<\/span><\/a> has the following plug from Jeff Vandermeer: <\/p>\n

"Relentless, dark, and dangerous … A rare kind of clarity inhabits McDermott’s prose … the entire novel is a breath of fresh air."<\/p>\n

Before I read the book I thought it was a bit heavy-handed to have such a long quote from Vandermeer. Now that I have read it, I’m disappointed that Vandermeer didn’t give Last Dragon<\/span> the full credit it deserves. <\/p>\n

But I shall do what I can to correct that deficiency. <\/p>\n

This book is a masterful first novel. All the more impressive considering all the experimentation and stylistic risks, and yet there are no missteps. Last Dragon<\/span> manages to be both highly readable and also humbling in its (shall I say it?) postmodern rigor.<\/p>\n

But first to explain what the book is. <\/p>\n

Last Dragon<\/span> is an epistolary novel, a series of recollections, that tell the story of a warrior woman from a remote northern village who must go on a quest to revenge the murder of her family. One doesn’t normally think of barbarians as being big on written correspondence, but this proves to be a beguiling take on the high fantasy genre. Each section is a memory, recorded by the heroine from the end of a long life. Sometimes the memory is several pages long, and sometimes it is only a few sentences. And with the perfectly replicated tempo of memories hastily scratched out before they are forgotten, they follow a rambling chronology, linked by associations and personal prejudice. Events are sometimes told several times, with different emphasis. And they are rarely told in standard narrative order.<\/p>\n

It’s a curious chimera of a novel. On the one hand it is a deeply personal and subjective work with all the high-falutin trappings of great literature, including recurring symbols (ants and spiders, in case you’re wondering). On the other hand it has all the elements of a fantasy epic, which let’s face it, is the lowest literature in the world. There’s warrior women, dragons, mercenary armies, zombies, and a ragtag band of adventurers.<\/p>\n

Again, I am deeply impressed that McDermott was able to juggle these competing elements, and write such an engaging and technically perfect book.<\/p>\n

So basically, Last Dragon<\/span> is aimed at people who are both discerning consumers of literature, and fans of exciting sword-opera. I’m not sure if that’s likely to expand the fanbase, or contract it to just me and you, the discerning reader of this blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The advertising for J.M. McDermott’s debut novel Last Dragon has the following plug from Jeff Vandermeer: "Relentless, dark, and dangerous … A rare kind of clarity inhabits McDermott’s prose … the entire novel is a breath of fresh air." Before … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLast Dragon (the fantasy novel) - Zombie Lapdance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/zombielapdance\/2008\/11\/11\/last-dragon-the-fantasy-novel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Last Dragon (the fantasy novel) - Zombie Lapdance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The advertising for J.M. McDermott’s debut novel Last Dragon has the following plug from Jeff Vandermeer: "Relentless, dark, and dangerous … A rare kind of clarity inhabits McDermott’s prose … the entire novel is a breath of fresh air." 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