Mercedes Lackey - Joust - 5

[spiphany]

Joust /Dragon Jousters, The /1



Lackey overdoes the 'poor, abused child' bit at the beginning - the first chapter practically drips with it. After Vetch is miraculously rescued from servitude and abuse to become the caretaker of a Jouster's dragon, and after we learn why the relationship between this particular rider and his dragon is so exceptional, the course of the story is pretty obvious. The combination of events that permits all this to happen is also a little too fortuitous to be convincing. Not one of Lackey's best books, obviously.

The strength of the book is in the descriptions of caring for and training the dragons, where she draws from knowledge of falconry and horse-training - although here again, for someone at all familiar with the subject, it's a bit predictable; the concepts (such as imprinting) which play such an important part in the story are fairly basic. The society she creates is interesting and different, being loosely based on ancient Egypt with the addition of dragons and elements from the medieval tournament. She combines these pieces together well. Nonetheless, nothing in the story is really new, and I was left with the impression that it was something that I might have read before.

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