Orphaned at the age of three, brought up by his Uncle Virgil, a con man,Jack Morgan has done things that are unusual even in the future in space. But when he rescued Draycos, a dragon-like symbiont, from certain death, his life became a series of breathtaking adventures. With the help of Draycos, who can leap onto Jack's back and become what looks like a tattoo, Jack has been doing everything he can to find out who ambushed the scout-fleet of Draycos's people, the K'da and Shontine, leaving Draycos the sole survivor. Now Jack thinks he may finally be on the trail of the information he needs. But before he can act on what he knows, he's kidnapped by aliens, who ask him to be a judge for them, as, they reveal to him, his parents had once been. Jack's friend Alison Kayna and her newly acquired K'da symbiont are also kidnapped, by the people trying to ambush the K'da/Shontine fleet. Her captors will do almost anything tolearn from Alison where the fleet willrendezvous. Jack and Draycos must rescue her before Alison is hurt-or worse. Using every trick in the book, Jack and Draycos race to her aid, but they aren't able to eliminate the threat to the endangered fleet...and precious time is running out!
| LoC Classification |
PZ7.Z2515 .Dj 2007 |
| Series |
Dragonback |
| Volume |
5 |
| Cover Price |
$17.95 |
| No. of Pages |
320 |
| Height x Width |
7.7
x
5.4
inch |
| Original Publication Year |
2007 |
|
|
Dragon and Judge (2007) 312 pages by Timothy Zahn.
Jack Morgan is a fourteen year old boy. Orphaned at three, brought up by his Uncle Virge a con man who teaches Jack how to open safes, trick and swindle people, etc. Virge died when Jack was thirteen, before he died he programmed the computer in the Essanay with his personality. Jack was hiding out on Iota Klestis when the advance party for the Shontine and K'da was ambushed and Draycos, a K'da poet warrior, was the sole survivor. Without a host for six hours, a K'da will die. Jack happened upon Draycos' crashed ship and it turned out the human was a suitable host for him.
In the fifth Dragonback book, Jack heads for Semaline, the planet where his parents died, and where Uncle Virge has a safe deposit box. Before Jack can get to the bank he is picked up by some Golvins and taken to a secluded valley. Taken there to be their Judge-Paladin, jupa. When Jack's comm goes silent, Alison takes it upon herself to go after him, and while she's at the bank, she might as well get the contents of the safe deposit box.
Now we really get to see some of the changes in Jack, how the influence of Draycos and his K'da warrior ethic have made Jack almost noble. Putting him in the position of Judge allows Zahn to demonstrate Jack's maturity. Plus while he's there he learns this is where his parents died. A lot of mysteries of Jack's past are unraveled.
Meanwhile Alison was taken by Frost and Neverlin back to Brum-a-dum and the Chookoock compound (the setting for book 3, Dragon and Slave) to open a safe from one of the Shontine/K'da ships. They have no idea who she is other than being a thief who broke into Virgil Morgan's safe deposit box. That doesn't make her safe, but it kept her from being killed right away.
This is another great Zahn story. Fast paced, fluid reading, plot hangs together, and characters that we can really care about.
