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From: chenr@tilt.FUN (Ray Chen)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers,net.books
Subject: Re: THE DRAGON WAITING
Message-ID: <270@tilt.FUN>
Date: Tue, 16-Apr-85 01:50:26 EST
Article-I.D.: tilt.270
Posted: Tue Apr 16 01:50:26 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Apr-85 06:51:37 EST
References: <667@ahutb.UUCP>
Reply-To: chenr@tilt.UUCP (Ray Chen)
Organization: Princeton University EECS Dept
Lines: 45
Xref: watmath net.sf-lovers:7058 net.books:1673
Summary: 

In article <667@ahutb.UUCP> ecl@ahutb.UUCP (e.c.leeper) writes:
>                     THE DRAGON WAITING by John M. Ford

[... edited for the sake of brevity ...]

>     The problem, I think, is that I'm not a historian.  I know some
>history, but there is so much history in this book--and it's not all real.
>Though the book is chock-a-block with real historical characters (Richard
>III, the Medicis, Louis XI, etc.), no one seems to be quite the way the
>history book describe them--in fact, none of them seem to be Christian.
>Everyone seems to belong to some strange cult or other, each with its own
>special symbols and rites.  Since my knowledge of *real* Fifteenth Century
>history is perhaps not all that it should be (especially in Italy and
>France, where most of the beginning of the book takes place), I spent most
>of the novel telling myself that I was merely confused.

I, too, recently read THE DRAGON WAITING and had much the same problem.
Then, I read in the notes that Ford was attempting to present a "solution"
or scenario to the "Missing Princes" problem.  The problem being that before
Richard III, a reasonably nice guy for a noble, took the throne of England
his nephews (who had better claims to the throne) died.  The problem is that
no one has been able to prove who or what killed them.  It's quite possible
that they could have died of some random fever, on the other hand, somebody
who favored Richard (or Richard himself) could have had them murdered.
Either way, there's no conclusive evidence as to the cause of their deaths.

Once I knew that, I found myself re-reading various portions of novel
and everything fell into place just beautifully.  (Re-reading more
carefully also cleared up some other points I was confused about).  So,
to summarize, I think THE DRAGON WAITING is a *fantastic* book.  Ford's
proposed solution is just mind-boggling.  As a reader, you have to
really *read* this book.  It's not a book to be simply skimmed.  Ford
is a *very* precise, able, and efficient writer, one of the best
wordsmiths I've ever read.  He tends to write just enough to create the
effect he's after -- and no more.  He also tends to give the readers
just enough information to figure out what's going on and why -- and no
more.  This kind of precision in writing is very difficult to pull off
because if the writer miscalculates, he can leave the reader very
confused.  On the other hand, if he does things just right, he can
leave the reader with an amazing sense of completion when the focal idea
of the entire novel makes itself clearer and clearer as the last few
chapter slowly unfold.  In THE DRAGON WAITING, Ford does it just right.

	Ray Chen
	princeton!tilt!chenr