This sparky, action-filled science fiction novella brightened up my day just by reading it. In a previous instalment in the light space opera series by James McCormick, I learned that Dragon is the name of an advanced spacecraft and it's smart, not too wise or brave, and the pilot is a lad called Sillow. Now in DRAGON: THE TOWER OF TAMERLANE, the plot thickens and the zombie droids rampage.

Sillow agrees to act as a spy after his burly friend Brok gets married and retires from the active smuggler life. By this time Sillow has built-in nanobot connections to his Dragon ship's operating computer. This is an age of technical marvels, which include a shrivelled megalomaniac turning himself into a computer virus presence in order to infiltrate a computer in a privatised convict holding facility run by a different, beefy megalomaniac. Well, when the galaxy is within your reach, why not grasp it? Sillow agrees to slip in and discover what is going on. He's soon sorry.

This merry romp involves plenty of running, fighting and swordplay, as well as tech work and zombies. We meet a fine Amazonian lady called Titanya who gives Sillow the necessary powerful arm, while other characters are strong individuals and memorable, especially the villains. Readers just looking for light relief will enjoy this tale on its own but I suggest that it would help to have read the earlier books in the Dragon series, if only so that we feel invested in Brok's marriage. Those who enjoy horror will like certain scenes more than I did but that didn't stop me from enjoying the whole. DRAGON: THE TOWER OF TAMERLANE reminds us that even when everyone is out to get you, cooperation can save the day.

Book Summary

After the death of the Tuolon Ambassador Lagua and the failure to bring the non-humanoid worlds into the Alliance, Sillow and Brok’s long partnership is finally at an end. Now a reluctant solo agent, Sillow is called upon to undertake his first mission, investigate the Tower, a high- tech prison complex along with the oligarch who runs it, a mysterious nobleman who calls himself Tamerlane.

Seeking evidence to prove Tamerlane is responsible for a series of terrorist attacks, Sillow quickly uncovers the sheer scale of his plans, a lethal military strike on all four humanoid home worlds.

Caught and imprisoned however, the Sylvan finds himself helpless to warn the Alliance of the coming danger. All the while, something has been evolving, growing stronger inside the Tower, something intangible yet far more dangerous than Tamerlane ever could be, a being implacably opposed to all life in the galaxy.

And only Sillow has any chance of stopping it.

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