Domesticating Dragons
The Build-A-Dragon Sequence, Book 1
Dan Koboldt
Baen
Fiction, Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Noah Parker didn't set out to design dragons. He didn't even really like them. His interest in genetics research was prompted by his brother Connor's progressive muscle-wasting disease, one too rare for a definitive diagnosis but which Noah is sure is linked to a particular genetic mutation. By studying genes and writing new programs to virtually model genetic alterations in real-time, he hopes to prove it, and maybe get Connor some sort of help before it's too late. Unfortunately, there's only so much computing power he can wrangle from the universities. The best servers are in private hands... such as the ones powering Arizona's cutting-edge Reptilian Corporation. Brainchild of eccentric inventor Simon Redwood, the company started off creating genetically engineered life forms to help curb the exploding feral pig population: apex predators based on reptile DNA (with a little rodent thrown into the mix) that are essentially dragons. Since then, new working forms have been developed, largely to fill roles left open after a devastating disease nearly wiped out the world's domestic dogs... but, to date, nobody has cracked the code to make "dragons" suitable as household companions, the ultimate potential market.
Noah needs access to Reptilian's computers. The company needs a genetic engineer to solve their domestic dragon problem. Maybe they both can get what they want... but one truth everyone forgot about dragons is that meddling with them is almost always more trouble than it's worth. Noah's greatest breakthrough may unleash far more trouble than he can imagine - and test Noah's priorities and loyalties to their limits.
REVIEW: I'll admit going into this one with middling-to-low expectations. (I'll also admit that part of this came from a not-great cover design, at least on the audiobook edition I borrowed via Libby.) But it was almost the exact right length to fill a shift at work (well, the right length at the speed I usually play audiobooks, at least), and I was tired of scrolling through options. The presence of dragons in the title didn't exactly hurt, either. So I figured it was worth a shot. Given that, it may not be surprising that Domesticating Dragons exceeded my expectations, but even I was amazed by how much I ended up enjoying it, enough I came close to giving it another half-star at several points.
Considering how much of this story relies on genetics (the author apparently is a genetics researcher, with published articles), this book manages to avoid lengthy infodumps, managing to set up the world and characters fairly quickly and backfill more details later on. There is a sense of wonder and inherent awe in dragons that even Noah, who is indifferent to fantasy, feels when in the presence of a dragon's egg for the first time. Never mind that it's not a "real" dragon from a storybook. Never mind that, as a genetic researcher, he is fully aware that this is a product of humanity tinkering/meddling with biological code it still doesn't fully understand. A dragon is a dragon, and one can't help feeling something when encountering them in the flesh. For all that Noah comes to Reptilian with ulterior motives - he mostly wants a foot in the door so he can secretly hijack some of their processing power for his own secret research - he finds himself caught up in the challenge of designing dragons, which are all crafted in company software and the "God machine" of a biological 3D printer with proprietary (handwave) technology. When a technical error winds up with him inadvertently creating an extraneous, uncounted dragon egg off an unauthorized design - an egg he impulsively takes home - his ambivalence about dragons takes on a new twist... ans when he learns the truth about the company director and the fates of too many of the dragons he has designed, that twist becomes a knife in the gut. Meanwhile, his personal life is shaken by an unexpected reconnection with Summer, the roommate of his former college girlfriend, and by his brother's continued deterioration.
There are acknowledged shades of Jurassic Park and other franchises throughout - at one time, Noah even makes a comment about Pernese dragons, perhaps the original genetically-engineered dragons in a sci-fi setting - as Noah is drawn deeper in the corporate culture and (despite himself) into the world of the dragons themselves. The dragons here may be products of science, but are very much dragons, and even the "pet" models are far more than scaly puppies. They are usually intelligent, often cunning, frequently proud (and perhaps a touch vain), loyal to their allies and absolutely devastating to their enemies... and humans, predictably, often have no clue how to handle them, frequently underestimating them. Interludes with customer service calls show just how far things are going off the rails in the real world, as real people interact with dragons (and demonstrate a sometimes-tragic inability to read the instruction manuals that came with their new companions). Corporate greed, however, sees no reason to even tap the brakes when they're making money hand over fist, and it's too easy to forget the consequences of one's work when one is parked behind a computer screen all day (and focused on personal goals that don't involve dragons at all). At some point, of course, Noah must face what's really going on - and his own role in that, via the dragons he has designed and consigned to uncertain fates - and must decide which takes precedent: stopping the atrocities being committed by Build-A-Dragon, or taking an increasingly-slim chance at saving his brother. This choice is not as simple as it may sound, when even Connor is telling him that this obsession is making him focus on the wrong things.
As I mentioned, I didn't really expect to enjoy this one as much as I did, so I found myself rather pleasantly surprised throughout. There were, however, a few stumbling points now and again, especially toward the ending - an ending that felt both a little too neat and a little too open to the inevitable sequel. I may or may not follow the sequence on to the next book, but I will say that I was well entertained.
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