4.0
A Dragon for William
ByPublisher Description
Set after the Aurora Award-winning novel, A Play of Shadow, this novella explores the story of a young boy whose fanciful tales of dragons and dangers may prove to be more than just fiction.
Werfol returns to Vorkoun with his family to find their fortunes changed for the worse. His father is in disgrace and banished from court. Meanwhile, Vorkoun has been ceded to Asnor by the prince's treaty and no one knows what that will mean.
And to complicate matters further, Werfol is now a truthseer, able to discern if another is lying. His training has barely begun, but his mother refuses to send him back to his uncle in Marrowdell. Werfol, bored and heartsick, retreats to his imagination, secretly writing a story about a brave boy who befriends a young dragon. In their adventures, “Prince William” is always the hero but, in real life, Werfol grows angrier and more afraid every day.
It doesn’t help that Werfol's brother Semyn, once his closest confidant, can’t remember Marrowdell’s magic. Then Semyn, worried about Werfol, finds his story and shows their parents. Their mother, plagued by dangerous dreams, fears her son may become a doorway to a threat far more dangerous than a treaty.
For Werfol wrote of a dragon the colour of a Sei, a being so potent its curiosity once tore apart worlds. Suddenly, no one, not even Werfol, can be sure where his imagination ends and the magical Verge begins.
Can a boy who sees the lies in others find the truth within himself?
Werfol returns to Vorkoun with his family to find their fortunes changed for the worse. His father is in disgrace and banished from court. Meanwhile, Vorkoun has been ceded to Asnor by the prince's treaty and no one knows what that will mean.
And to complicate matters further, Werfol is now a truthseer, able to discern if another is lying. His training has barely begun, but his mother refuses to send him back to his uncle in Marrowdell. Werfol, bored and heartsick, retreats to his imagination, secretly writing a story about a brave boy who befriends a young dragon. In their adventures, “Prince William” is always the hero but, in real life, Werfol grows angrier and more afraid every day.
It doesn’t help that Werfol's brother Semyn, once his closest confidant, can’t remember Marrowdell’s magic. Then Semyn, worried about Werfol, finds his story and shows their parents. Their mother, plagued by dangerous dreams, fears her son may become a doorway to a threat far more dangerous than a treaty.
For Werfol wrote of a dragon the colour of a Sei, a being so potent its curiosity once tore apart worlds. Suddenly, no one, not even Werfol, can be sure where his imagination ends and the magical Verge begins.
Can a boy who sees the lies in others find the truth within himself?
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesA Dragon for William Reviews
4.0
Metaphorosis Reviews
Created 10 months agoShare
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“4 stars, https://reviews.metaphorosis.com/review/a-dragon-for-william-julie-e-czerneda/
<strong>Summary </strong>
Worfel and Semyn, sent to Marrowdell to save them from serious threats, are heading home, but political complications mean that home isn't exactly what it used to be. And, away from Marrowdell's magic, only Worfel remembers its dragons.
<strong>Review </strong>
This is an immediate sequel to https://reviews.metaphorosis.com/review/a-play-of-shadow-julie-e-czerneda/ – though following supporting characters – and I recommend they be read one soon after the other. It also steps away – a little – from the happy, lovey-dovey tone of the main series.
Worfel and Semyn were central but supporting actors in <em>Play of Shadow</em>, coming to and eventually leaving Marrowdell. This story picks up immediately after they leave, and lets us know what happens to them. Perhaps because it’s not so focused on core characters Jenn and Bannan, it’s a little less sickly sweet than that relationship. Much as I like Jenn and the happy tone of her stories, it’s a welcome change, since she and Bannan get pretty sappy – on the verge of incredible. In any case, this story, though about children and childish concerns, also deals with weighty concerns and a little more darkness, to my mind.
Czerneda brings in another interesting species, and some of the old ones come up in interesting ways, which is fun. Emon and Lila, the boys’ parents, naturally play important roles, though as before Lilia is quite distant – and, I found, unlikable.
The plot sets off well, but at about the two third mark or a little after, it feels like Czerneda loses her grip on it. A key confrontation that has been set up suddenly, and for no real reason, fizzles out almost completely and then the story ends. Czerneda notes in the acknowledgements that the story was originally written as a gift, and maybe those roots are why she (and her editor) wasn’t so concerned with narrative structure. The result is a nice field trip into the Night’s Edge world that’s a little “This way to the Egress” – I expected more from it.”
About Julie E. Czerneda
Julie E. Czerneda is the author of the Species Imperative trilogy, the Night's Edge fantasy duology, and the Stratification novels. She is a multiple Aurora Award winner, and was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award and the Philip K. Dick Award.
Other books by Julie E. Czerneda
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