The Dragon Knight

20th-century mathematician turned 14th-century baron Jim Eckert struggles with uncontrollable, involuntary transformations between human and dragon form. As the Dragon Knight, he must learn to control these magical abilities to defeat dark forces, rescue a prince from a sorcerer, and protect England.

Jim wakes up transforming between man and dragon randomly, forcing him to seek help from the wizard Carolinus to manage this new ability. He joins a mission to France to stop an evil magician named Malvinne, who is manipulating the French into attacking England.

While I thought Jim had grown a pair by the end of the previous book, this book gives lie to that idea.

Jim is the wussiest over 6ft person imaginable[and he is not a stringbean]. He is athletic, smart and he HAS MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I still have to hear him be concerned because someone calls him Lord James instead of plain ol' Jim.

Fun story, just not as good as it could have been with a hero who had a backbone.

This is the sequel to the excellent 'The Dragon and the George'. Once again, Sir James the dragon must fend off the plots of Evil. James and some of his companions from the first book, including Aargh the English Wolf (a very sarcastic character) are off on adventures again.
The first book is a fantasy classic, and this is almost as good, though a bit long.

Substance: The continued saga of James, Angie, and Carolinus, with supporting and bit players from the first book (Aargh, Gorbash). The primary plot involves the rescue of the kidnapped English Prince Edward (III) in France, although the historical-parallel was muddled, to say the least. The story is aimed at juveniles as a way of introducing them to medieval life and world-view, and functions at about a 6th or 7th grade level in that regard.
Regarding the magic / fantasy, I am afraid that Dickson does not set out the "rules" at the beginning, but appears to make them up as he goes along; however, without the mad abandon of Anthony's Xanth, it just looks sloppy and opportunistic. In particular, the mix of European and Egyptian magic show more realms is not motivated satisfactorily.

NOTE: this is set in just about the worst type-face ever for reading: the print is too small and too light and was extremely difficult to decipher, especially under a low-light environment. I would put the name here as a warning, but it is not identified in the book.
Style: Reasonably straight-forward, and does an okay job of weaving in the prior (first) story of the series. Characters are one-dimensional but satisfactory. show less