Some days ago, surfing Amazon I stumbled over a book I had heard about once or twice and which had caught my attention: James A. Owen´s “Here there be dragons”. I just finished it and put it into my bookshelf where it now sits with all the great fantasy stuff I dearly love, such as a number of works by Tolkien, the Harry Potter series, Bill Pullman´s “His Dark Materials” and Michael Ende´s “Neverending Story” So, as I promised I´d tell you what I think of your book, James. :-) Just finished it.
To everybody possibly reading this. Huuuuge spoilers ahead for all those who have not yet read the book. Read on or don´t. I´d advise you to not read on... read the real thing. It´s worth being read!
So here´s a review for you, James:
Some two or three years ago I wrote a termpaper titled “The road goes ever on and on – biographical influences in J.R.R.Tolkien´s Lord of the Rings” and it was the only termpaper I truly enjoyed writing. In doing so I found a lot of influences his life might have had on the author Tolkien, but apart from that, apart from the real influence, there was another faint idea: what if Tolkien had somewhat been... inspired. I once wrote a short story about that, featuring a youngish Tolkien walking along a road, meeting an Elf who has kept the necklace of the Ringbearer and hands it down to Tolkien, encouraging the young man to write down the old tales he has started to remember. My own little attempt of finding a romantic idea behind the genious... oh well.
When I first heard about Here there be Dragons it was this what caught my attention. The end was no surprise to me as the first thing I read about the book was that it featured young Tolkien, Lewis and Williams as protagonists. I´m a true sucker for fantasy and Tolkien and Lewis are among my favourite author´s so... I simply had to buy the book.
I´ve read an aweful lot of fantasy since I started this obsession (too much for my parents´ taste who have long forsaken scowling at the “fairytales” I read ;-)), and when reading Here there be dragons I tried to find a word to classify it – all I came up with was: beautiful!
It´s hard to describe but I guess I was having a happy smile on my face most of the time while reading it and I was truly sad when it was over. And although I knew the big surprise at the end it nearly made me cry, simply because this book is such a wonderful dedication to these people those young men became (I have to admit though, I don´t know Williams... *hides in shame*)
There are a few things I not actually disliked but which were a little shaky, not many though. The main thing was, that young John never seems to think about home. It´s mentioned he was married and he´s indeed married to a woman who later became the ideal model for Tolkien´s Lúthien. So I guess, unless the Archipelageo does not have a similar charme to it´s travelers as Fantásia (in the Neverending story) where people slowly forget about their “real lifes” this was actually what I missed a little. Another thing, and a minor thing also, was that during the first few chapters I felt a little thrown into it all. I needed a little time to assemble to the plot and to figure out why the Caretakers had been summoned after all.
Okay, that was the criticism, let´s get to the good things which are by far more obvious.
Here there be Dragons takes the reader into the realm of imagination itself... literally. I´m sure I didn´t get all the references there were, but the ones I got made me smile. Pandora´s box, the shield of Perseus, Mordred (oh man, Mordred, I was so surprised, never would have expected that), the Argo and Nemo and many more felt so familiar but so wonderfully in place. The creatures (I just love dragons and centaurs), especially Tummeler, made me think of Lewis´s Narnia but I guess this might be halfway intended, right? ;-) The places, especially the Rim of the World were very well described and have a huge amount of mythicism to them in a way I love reading in books like these. Along with all those tiny references (John´s remark when passing the Argonath... uhm.... the pillars at Paralon for example) the Archipelagio makes a wonderful mix of countries and myths which is nicely different from yet another fairytale land from yet another fantasy novel.
There were many things that actually made me smile and which I enjoyed very much. So it was Jack who is responsible for Nessie, eh? ;-) Wonderful idea to create a place such as the Keep of Time, I very much loved this passage of the book. Jack losing his shadow was heart-wretching. I was actually wondering why he had become so harsh and especially ... *lack of words...German..* unfair at times with John (after all John and Jack will eventually become best friends in their later lives). And I so loved the idea of Bert´s true identity. Beautiful, simply beautiful.
So, all there is to say is that I will be impatiently waiting for the release of book 2. :-) And again I will order it via Amazon because I won´t want to wait for the German translation.
Oh, one question on the nature of the Archipelago, if the author is willing to answer it ;-) There must be constant additions to the Imaginarium Geographica, musn´t there? To take some examples: as soon as John will establish Middleearth, as soon as Jack will start on Narnia... wouldn´t they have to appear in the atlas, too? I hope so, because the thought along is wonderful. :-)
Awesome job, James. Sorry, this review has become long, but well.... now you go ahead and continue writing, will you? ;-)
Keep up the good work!
Nili
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