The Dragon Waiting by John M Ford: A Retro Review

 

I have a copy of this novel from its first publication, back in the 1990s. Then the author died in 2006 and, due to some technicality, nearly all his books went out of print. Now this one is back, thanks to a fan, with the blessing of John M Ford’s family, and if you missed it last time, you can catch up now.

I bought the new edition with a new introduction, in ebook, so this is not really a retro review. 

Anyway, here it is. 

Imagine a universe in which Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate,  who tried and failed to bring back paganism, is called Julian the Wise, because he succeeded. As a result, everyone can worship as they please and every city has a pantheon instead of a church or cathedral. There are no witch trials and witches can quite cheerfully admit to it. Christianity is a small sect which has hardly any members. Nevertheless, it’s the equivalent of the late 15th century. The Italian Renaissance is in full bloom and in England the Wars of the Roses happened pretty much as we know them. The Byzantine Empire is still powerful in this world (Constantinople was wiped out as a Christian kingdom in 1453 in our world). It sends out spies and interferes. Interestingly, there is no mention of famous European artists, who in our world focused on Christian religious work. I can see why it would have been simpler to leave them out than to speculate what they might have painted or sculpted in a pagan Europe.

Four people meet in England one night at an inn. One is Cynthia Ricci, a Florentine doctor, fleeing Italy after losing everything, including her father. Another is mercenary Dimitrios Ducas, whose father was a Byzantine governor in France, before his betrayal and death. German artillerist Gregory Von Bayern is a vampire, having been turned by a woman in Alexandria. He can go out by day, though with smoked glasses, and never harms anyone. Most of his food is leftover blood from kitchens, and the occasional human blood from willing donors, taken carefully and drunk from a cup. Hywel Peredur is a Welsh wizard. He, too, has lost family and friends, and been left alone till now. 

The four of them become very much involved with the fortunes of Richard III and his family. And because things are different here, Richard’s youngest sister Ursula, long dead in our world, is alive and well and competing in tournaments, while his friend Francis Lovell, who survived him in our world, is dead, killed in a tournament by Anthony Woodville. 

Anthony Woodville was a brother of Queen Elizabeth Woodville. He wrote the first book printed in England and was a poet and scholar. He was in charge of the education of young prince Edward, heir to the throne. In our world, he rushed off towards London on the death of Edward IV, taking his nephew, so he and the boy’s mother could control him. He met Richard on the way and was executed for treason. In this world...well, you will have to read it. 

There are quite a few historical characters in it - Dr Argentine, diplomat Dominic Mancini, John Morton(in our world a Cardinal who supported Henry Tudor, in this world a wizard, as there wouldn’t be any Church roles to play in a world without a major Christian Church!). 

As alternative universe fiction, this one is more like Guy Gavriel Kay in style than Harry Turtledove, whose alternative universe books are straight historical fiction except that things didn’t happen that way in our history. In Kay’s books - and in this one - magic is a thing. 

What can I say? A wonderful novel and a pleasure to re-read after all these years. 

Buy it.