Review: The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

I saw this book recommended by someone on Reddit a while ago, and since I'm always on the lookout for African-flavoured fantasy, I thought I'd have a go.

In a word - wow! This world is a harsh one, where bloody war has been waged for generations. The magic in this world is realistic, in that it comes with a terrible price, which becomes horribly apparent as the story wears on.
The plot is a revenge tale, where a son embarks on a quest to avenge his father, becoming a champion of his people (and of his social caste) in the process. The story asks very important questions about the border between justice and vengeance, and how each can diminish the other; Also, What price do you pay for vengeance? The protagonist is willing to go all the way, and Winter has no problem showing the high price of that. It's quite a savage tale, and you slowly come to realise that there are no 'Good Guys', though there are good individuals, especially the love interest.

On the question of justice versus vengeance, I had the idea that justice is vengeance civilised and depersonalised. We seem to have lost sight of the idea that justice is meant to be, or was, about giving people their just deserts - which seems to be in conflict with the trendy idea of justice being about rehabilitation. In a society like the one in this book, justice simply does not apply across caste boundaries. To seek restitution, it becomes necessary to go outside the law. The idea of the Rule of Law (as opposed to the rule of monarchs), where even the greatest are subject to it, is one of the crowning glories of Western civilisation, and of the Anglophone world in particular - the kings of England were famously disposable!

Another point is on the nature of magic. In my less-than-humble opinion, magic in most fantasy (especially the Dungeons and Dragons franchise) is far too cheap: all our folklore, the accumulated wisdom of generations, places a truly awful price on esoteric 'powers' that place one outside the reach of the mundane. I pondered the issue here. Historically, the ultimate act of magic was the Mass, where God became supernatural food for deserving humans, and in that case, the price had already been paid by Christ himself.

I was quite interested in the Nguni flavour to the story. I enjoyed reading the words with the clicks for X, Q & C. I can't help wondering how Xhosa speakers would react to the elite titles sounding like Zulus, but I won't go there now!