There Will Be Dragons

The opening salvo in a so-far four-part series, There will be dragons doesn't exactly open with a bang (no pun intended!). A pampered, petted, soft and sedentary society where crime basically doesn't exist and neither does conflict; where food is plentiful, transportation is easy as a whim, and if you want to be a zebra, a unicorn, a dragon, or even a cloud of nanites, it's possible.

With a monitoring Mother computer to keep everyone safe and a thirteen member council to monitor Mother, everything should be serene and peaceful.... Except suddenly it isn't. The Council takes sides and goes to war, dragging the peaceful world along. For a population with no power except that commanded by the Council, no roads, no food supplies, and no show more survival skills to speak of, life is suddenly very, very difficult. The only hope? Small and scattered groups of reenactors.

This is the story - mainly - of Raven't Mill, a tiny dot on the surface of the Earth, and of Duke Edmund, Daneh, Rachel, Herzer and Bast. If they can't hold out, humanity as we know it is pretty much doomed. show less

The premise that the Society of Creative Anachronism members hold the key to surviving a high-tech apocalypse has stayed with me since I first read this, and compelled a re-reading. I also enjoy the philosophical discussions opposing freedom and individuality with survival of a civilization or species. Also the discussion of how the lack of want or the presence of abundant resources leads to technological and cultural stagnation. Overall, the story contains a lot of action, but also a lot of though provoking subtext. Can be read on multiple levels.

The MP3 version on the Baen CD-ROM Library Version 4.0 is either a very good computer reading or a very poor narration. It contains grammar and pronouncation mistakes that I've come to expect show more from computer text-to-sound programs. But the pacing is too fast, especially lacking pauses between point of view changes, to overcome any other problems. I had to give up on listening to the book as it was requiring too much concentration to be enjoyable. show less

I just finished this for my science fiction club's regular Book Discussion. It was recommended as a good example of Ringo's work by a couple of our members who are Ringo fans. I'm afraid I won't be joining them. While the concept behind this novel was intriguing, I found the execution somewhat lacking. The misogyny, the overabundance of standard plot devices, the slangy contemporary dialogue in a far-future setting and the excessive attention to minutiae were all off-putting. There were a few moments here and there that stood out, particularly the immediate descriptions of the effects of The Fall, but characters that were more stereotypes than archetypes, and embarrasing "male fantasy" scenarios make it easy for me to pass on any more show more Ringo. Thanks anyway! show less

in the 41st century mankind lives in a utopia. People do whatever they feel like while a computer program called 'mother' makes sure that nobody kills somebody else and that everyone gets all the energy they need. 'Mother' is overseen by a council of humans. It has split into 2 factions. One wants to just keep things the way they are, the other wants to return to the good old days of hard work and character building" with them in charge, of course. A coup happens. In the ensuing fight, earth is deprived of all her energy, and hence her gadgets. So everyone has to go back to pre-coal industrial happenings. One guy rallies a town and prepares for the attack by the other people. The good guys win but the council wars look like it could be show more generational, so everybody settles down to live a long, pre-industrial life. It was quite interesting. Ringo confuses me though. One minute he is talking about patriotism, importance of a strong military and the dangers of a bloated federal govt, etc, etc and then 2 people are shacking it up like it is totally normal." show less

As with most of Ringo's work, I enjoy the story and the concept, as long as I don't let myself get annoyed by his preachiness. After centuries of ultra-high-tech peaceful society where everything is made possible through sophisticated nanotechnology (technology sufficiently advanced that it *is* indistinguishable from magic in many cases), a violent disagreement breaks out in the Council to (barely) runs the world. Each faction immediately begins to consume the power available to them, which is to say almost all of the world's power. Instantly, civilization falls.

The rest of the novel deals with a community of people who had been reenactors and actually had physical resources to survive--and later, thrive--in this not-so-brave, show more not-so-new world. Much emphasis on the nobility of the warrior, who places self between danger and community, as is not uncommon in Ringo's work. Once you get past some of the more aggressively right-wing rhetoric, an enjoyable escapist tale. show less

I read this book using DailyLit's email program, and really enjoyed it. An idyllic technology-based society suffers a failure of technology and has to rebuild their society while fighting a civil war against a tyrannical and insane leader determined to change the world "for its own good." Fascinating political, military, and societal themes, guaranteed to appeal to any urban homesteader or survivalist. The only time I feel the story slows down is the military training sequence, but I enjoyed it because it was so spot-on for my own basic training experience. There's a Heinlein kind of feel to sensibility that I miss in many newer works. This story stand alone, but I will be reading the sequels. Recommended.

Opening Sentence: ‘…In the forest, a sparrow died.…’

My first e-book, and is first in the Council Wars series and despite its title it is pure Science Fiction.

Set in the future – there is no want, no war, no disease, medicine is done by nano technology, women don’t give birth and if you want to be a unicorn you can. Then it ends. The council that controls the Net divides on a point of view and goes to war.

Suddenly – the computers that run the world are withdrawn as the two council factions try to grab control. Millions of humans die in a couple of days as they are so dependent on computers.

Everywhere people who have never known a moment of want or pain are left wondering how to survive. Scattered across the world are show more communities which have returned to the natural life of soil and small farm just for fun – now this fun becomes real. In the village of Raven’s Mill, Edmund Talbot, master smith and unassuming historian, now finds that he is expected to become a leader and teach long forgotten crafts to the spoiled population of the world. Refugees are flooding in, bandits are roaming the woods. Life is suddenly tough for what is left of the protected human race.

There are heroes and heroines, dastardly (as well as some stupid) villains, noble sacrifices and dark deeds, there are some courageous and lazy people, wise people as well as foolish. Lots of wars and military manoeuvrings – but romance and friendship enough to counteract the bloodshed. show less