The Dragon's Nine Sons

Chris Roberson’s Celestial Empire stories are distinctive and compelling in a crowded marketplace. Set in a reality where China’s 15th century treasure fleets weren’t dismantled, but instead expanded Imperial Chinese power across the globe, the resulting stories have a decidedly solid foundation that come off as otherworldly rather than contrived. Roberson has exploited this milieu exceptionally well, setting his various short stories and novels in different eras to keep the narrative and cast of character fresh.

In The Dragon’s Nine Sons, Roberson produces a full-blown science fictional adventure dependent on none of the traditional sleight-of-hand that sometimes mars lesser alternate history. And indeed, this isn’t alternate show more history at all, but rather an alternate future set in a time equivalent to our year 2052. China has expanded to become a world-spanning super power, challenged only by the vicious Mexic Dominion, a powerful Central American nation descended from the Aztec Empire. Both powers have pushed their rivalry beyond the boundaries of Earth. China has made the colonization and terraforming of Mars--known as Fire Star--a priority, while the Mexic fight a bloody war of attrition with warships striking from a secret asteroid base with an orbit that closely tracks the planet’s.

Enter the titular nine sons. In a classic Dirty Dozen setup, each former member of the Chinese military has been sentenced to death for some mortal infraction or other. Such sins will be forgiven and death sentences rescinded, however, if they accept a mission that is certain suicide--to fly a captured warship into the heavily-defended Mexic base and detonate a nuclear warhead at the heart of the asteroid.

Roberson’s world building is excellent. His writing is tight and focused, the various characters’ back stories deftly intertwined with that of each other and the larger plot in general. The biggest complaint is that Roberson repeatedly deflates the escalating tension of infiltration or combat by interrupting the narrative for extended flashbacks explaining how a particular character reached this particular point. show less

Imagine The Dirty Dozen set in a future where China's early experiments with rockets led to a space program and an empire that never lost power.

Now imagine this future China locked in a second World War with the other major superpower of the age: an Aztec Nation that has carried its bloody gods and rituals into the space age.

There's action aplenty, but (as in all Roberson books) the characters are the true standouts. For me, no one melds actual, nuts-and-bolts science quite as seamlessly into a thoroughly enjoyable story.

Oh, my, goodness. That was bad, bad writing. Cardboard characters and a plot predictable from the first scene. Moreover it takes place in a ghastly universe of a strong Chinese hierarchical government fighting a blood thirsty Aztec government. Unfortunately neither of them seem any brighter than room temperature or any more motivated than shooting first and asking questions later. I suppose some lover of military SF might find the magnesium fire lances interesting, but overall there has to be better military SF than this.

I love alternate history.

One of my favorite sub-genres within the lands of Fantasy and Science Fiction, I've alternate history from Lest Darkness Fall and Guns of the South, and through newer authors like Charles Stross, Naomi Novik and S.M. Stirling.

Another favored sub-genre of mine is space opera and adventure. From Planet of Adventure and Vance's novels in the Gaean Reach, through Vorkosigan's adventures, Alistair Reynolds, and others.

Chris Roberson (whose Paragaea was one of my favorite reads last year) has married these two genres in a novel set in his Celestial Empire alternate history, The Dragons Nine Sons. (TDNS). I also, thanks to his kind graces, had an opportunity to first read a prequel story, "The Line of Dichotomy"

It's show more the dirty dozen in space...in an alternate history space war between the Chinese and the Aztecs.

That's the flippant way to describe the novel.

Set in an Alternate History where the 21st century is a conflict between a world-spanning Chinese Empire and their only significant rival, the Mexica (Aztecs), TDNS is a story of several disgraced Chinese soldiers and officers, brought together for a one-way suicide mission on a stolen Mexica ship. The conflict between these two powers has heated up around Mars, and the Chinese have discovered that the Mexica have a secret asteroid base. Take out that base, and the Mexica's space efforts would be severely crippled. However, such a mission is not likely to result in any survivors.

Thus, we meet Captain Zhuan Jie and Bannerman Yao, the two disgraced head officers picked for the mission. While the former's reason for being included is made clearly early, we only later learn the full depth of Yao's story (and this is gone in more detail in the story I read along with it). We also meet the rest of the crew, and at various points during the trip, get the classic device of them telling their tale of how they came to be on the mission.

After training and preparation and the long trip to the asteroid, the real mission begins. A twist, shamefully spoiled on the back blurb, changes the mission parameters dramatically, and the crew has an additional objective to simply destroying the asteroid base...

The weakest part of the novel, in my opinion, is the execution of the mission itself. I felt that the Mexica were a bit too faceless, as personalities and antagonists. Oh, we get very lovely detail on the surface about their strange technology and culture and how it compares to the Chinese. Particularly gruesome was the use of blood sacrifice as a sensor to activating controls on the ship (and presumably elsewhere). And the city within the asteroid base is well detailed.

However, the Mexica don't work as individual opponents. While the Line of Dichotomy does portray one of the Jaguar knights as an individual, in TDNS, they are relatively faceless enemies, adversaries to be killed and nothing more. I was a bit disappointed in this. My favorite WWII action movie, Where Eagles Dare, takes great pains to make the Nazis in the Castle individuals as well as adversaries. I didn't get that same sense in this book, and I think it could have made the latter portion of book as strong as the first parts.

I also got the feeling that the mission as described was too much for the Dragon's Nine Sons, especially given the secondary mission that the crew undertakes and just how fraught with peril the asteroid is. Roberson pulls his punches a little, I think, in making an impossible mission within the realm of possibility.

The stronger, earlier portions of the novel give us a sense of the strange alternate nature of this world. I ate up the rich details of life in a Chinese dominated Mars and space navy. Details large and small fill and develop very nicely. And Roberson feels no need to actually discuss the point of divergence, a weakness many novels in the genre have. The world is simply presented as it is for us to enjoy. And I did.

In addition, Roberson does a great job showing the natures of our protagonists, both in their personalities and in their backstories. The gambler/thief, the prankster, the murderers (although we come to understand why they killed), the pacifist...yes, they are clearly archetypes that you have seen before, but they are well drawn, with a good amount of tension between such very different characters. And these character traits pay off throughout the novel. Roberson understands Chekhov's Law very well.

Overall, I am quite happy with the read and enjoyed it. There are a number of other stories set in the Celestial Empire (one or two of which I have read already). Given my taste for Alternate History, I intend to seek the others out and read them, too.

I do challenge Chris, though, to write a story set in this universe strictly from the point of view of the Mexica. Perhaps getting fully in the mind of the sacrifice-loving Mexica will make them rise from the level of mooks to full fledged adversaries worthy of being the antagonists of the mighty Celestial Empire.

If, like me, you like both the sub-genres of Alternate History and Space Opera/Adventure, then The Dragons Nine Sons is most definitely worth sampling. show less

This was an interesting variation on the 'Dirty Dozen' theme, set in an alternate history universe. In this universe, the Chinese empire did not turn internal, which changed history quite a bit. Their only opposition is the descendants of the Aztec empire. This was fairly well done for a variation on a common theme, but not in same class as John Scalzi's recent novels, for example.

The Dragon’s Nine Sons
Author: Chris Roberson
Publisher: Solaris - BL Publishing
Published In: Nottingham, UK
Date: 2008
Pgs: 429

REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
A war of attrition rages around the planet named Fire Star, aka Mars. Mexica and Imperial China fight an ancient war for the future of Humankind. A suicide mission for a disgraced naval captain and a commando who knows too much goes awry when they discover that there are prisoners on the asteroid stronghold Xolotl, their target. Enough explosives to turn the asteroid into an expanding cloud of debris. A suicide mission becomes a rescue mission, but will their people allow them to return home, will they be able to escape with the prisoners. This could still be a suicide mission. show more But they will trade their lives dearly.

Genre:
Adventure
Alternate History
Fiction
Military
Science fiction
Space
Space opera
War

Why this book:
Guns of Navarone. The Dirty Dozen. ...in Space. Alternate history. Alternate future.
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Favorite Character:
Captain Zhuan Jie. He’s very much the character who makes the hero’s journey in this story.

The Feel:
It wanders occasionally.

Favorite Scene:
Captain Zhuan and Syxtun’s final scene. Powerful. Poetic. Boom.

Pacing:
The flow is mostly great. It loses its way occasionally. During training for the mission after they are freed from prison, for example.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
The bridge altar on the Mexic ship that requires blood to activate ship’s systems makes my lips twitch in a Mona Lisa half grimace. Hemoglobin sensors. Blood sacrifice as a religious rite, okay. An Aztec-ish empire that has risen to the stars, okay. I’d even accept blood sacrifice as an attempt to influence good omens on the start of a voyage or something like that. Blood sacrifice required to operate bridge stations on a starship. :/ This feels like a hole in the worldbuilding designed to make the enemy seem more bloodthirsty than they would seem anyway marching prisoners to sacrificial altars in religious ceremonies.

Hmm Moments:
The worldbuilding here is awesome, but it does have its overboard exaggerations. See above and below.

I thought the altar was overblown, overwhelming, over the top...then I read about the cages and it brought the book crashing back to earth in horrifying detail. The cages at the back of the bridge of the Mexic ship and the thought of being trapped there, watching your fellows be drug out as blood sacrifices to satiate the ship’s controls. Wow! Mixing blood sacrifice ritual with sci fi spaceship controls...just wow. Your enemies would all fight to the death and your crew would worry about what happens when those cages get empty on a long voyage. And the rust brown stains all over from when the controls are being satisfied in zero gravity...wow!
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Last Page Sound:
That’s alright.

Author Assessment:
I might look at something else by this author

Editorial Assessment:
Could have used a bit more editorial guidance to keep the plot from wandering and filling pages in a few spots, ie: the training sequence.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
it’s alright

Disposition of Book:
Moore Memorial Public Library
Texas City, TX

Dewey Decimal or Other ID System:
SF
ROBERSON

Would recommend to:
friends, family, kids, colleagues, everyone, genre fans, no one
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The cover grabbed me, and the title intrigued me. When I flipped to read the synopsis I was hooked: Chinese and Aztecs in space. I am a sucker for books with historical trappings and spam in a can (space opera).

Unfortunately the book was slow, boring, and didn't really use much of the Aztec or Chinese essence. It could have been set anywhere, and the characters could have been from any culture. The story was told completely from the Chinese POV, with the Aztecs being the cartoon bad guys. There was a bit of cultural window dressing, but nothing with any depth.

The story is basically an Asian Dirty Dozen in space. Nine solders/sailors who are about to be executed for crimes, not following orders, or knowing dangerous secrets, are given a show more chance to survive by going on a suicide mission.

The Chinese and Aztecs are at war in space and the Aztecs are attacking Mars and the Chinese colonists there. They have a secret asteroid base and the Chinese high command has a captured ship, and has cracked their codes.

The nine are sent off to plant a big bomb and blow up the Aztec base. Of course none of the men like each other, or care about the outcome, they just want to stay alive. During the trip the nine all tell the stories of their lives, and what got them condemned. Very much like a poor man's Hyperion. They also fight and feud, but the whole thing is boring, and predictable.

The story picks up towards the end, but it was a slog to read, and took me forever to finish it.

The writing is clear, but the author lacks storytelling skill. Very much in a quick survey style, with no chance to develop the characters. I am a great fan of C.J. Cherryh, and of the Chinese SF saga, Chung Kuo. I was hoping for a cross between the two, and it was not even close. show less