Dragon and Herdsman
(The Dragonback Adventures, Book 4)
Timothy Zahn
Starscape
Fiction, YA Sci-Fi
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: The young human thief Jack Morgan and his companion, the symbiotic K'Da warrior-poet Draycos, have been through quite a lot since they met and formed their unlikely partnership. Though they've learned much about the forces who attacked Draycos's scout ship upon their arrival in the Orion's Arm section of the galaxy, they're no closer to discovering why - or how to stop them from exterminating the rest of the refugee K'Da species when they drop out of hyperspace in a mere couple of months. Having learned which mercenary group was hired for the job, Jack plans to break into their computers. The plan goes wrong almost from the start - but he's saved by an unexpected benefactor, the mysterious girl Alison, whom he met while impersonating a soldier recruit. When Jack and Draycos run for their ship, they wind up with Alison on board.
They flee to the primitive world Rho Scorvi, where Alison claims she has a planned rendezvous with friends. Here, amid the primitive yet peaceable natives, Jack and Draycos discover something unexpected: the Phookas, simple scavenger beasts that appear to be degenerated relatives of the dragonlike K'Da. While Draycos is still reeling from the shock - his people, after all, originated from far across the galaxy - the mercenaries turn up, eager to recapture Jack on orders from their powerful employer.
Jack, Alison, and Draycos head for the cover of the world's thick forests, taking a group of natives and Phookas as protection. Here, they will have to learn to trust one another... and Draycos will discover truths about his species that defy everything he ever learned.
REVIEW: A bit of a ratings dip, here, but still a fairly decent, fast-moving adventure story. Jack finds himself adapting surprisingly well to not only the primitive life of a Phooka herdsman, but to the K'Da code of ethics that contradict everything his con-artist uncle ever taught him. More comes of developments in the previous book, that the symbiotic K'Da are bound to their hosts as more than just a place to "rest" in two-dimensional form. I clipped it because it started to feel like Zahn was padding the tale, drawing out discoveries and bursts of combat. I also found Alison irksome on occasion. Still, I expect I'll track down the last two books in the series eventually.
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