ragon and Thief is the first of a new series of adventure books by Timothy Zahn. Jack Morgan, a young orphan raised only by his Uncle Virge, is on the run after being framed as a thief. But while hiding out on a relatively isolated planet, Jack witnesses a space battle that will bring even more chaos into his life. Aboard one of the barely surviving ships that crashes to the ground is an alien that looks like a dragon with golden scales. The alien is a K'da named Draycos, and is a symbiote who can't survive without a host for more than six hours. It is only by attaching to Jack that Draycos is able to survive the crash. All the others on board, both Shontin (the hosts) and K'da (symbiotes), have died in the attack.
At first, Jack is a bit repulsed by having a parasite that slithers around on him, but almost immediately mysterious heavies are after Jack. He escapes with his new companion's help, and a friendship in their various strengths is born. One might even call it a healthy symbiosis. Drayco reveals that many more Shontin and K'da are on their way. Since Drayco's ship and colleagues were killed, he will need Jack's help warning the other Shontin and K'da. But first he is going to have to help Jack clear his name.
Clearing Jack's name isn't all that easy, and soon the pair are deep in the middle of corporate scheming of intergalactic proportions. The more they try to figure out why Jack is being framed, the more trouble they get into. Jack ends up being wanted for a murder he didn't commit, and being forced to commit a crime he doesn't want to do.
A fast-paced start for a new adventure series
There is no shortage of exciting things happening in this book, and it is very hard not to root for a peppy young orphan with an alien for a new best friend. There are large corporations, big dangerous aliens, cities, spaceships and more. The characters are always on the move, and there are some fun surprises that tweak readers' expectations. Zahn certainly knows how to keep the action going, and the book moves along very quickly.
The most interesting dynamic is actually the growing friendship between Jack and Drayco. Their personalities are different in some ways, and similar in others. Where they are different, they manage to complement each other. The other neat aspect of this novel is the unique nature of the K'da themselves. Drayco is able to squeeze himself down from three dimensions into just two. This leads to some interesting discussions between Jack and Drayco that Edward Abbot would have probably enjoyed.
The series seems to have been developed as something aimed specifically at young adults, although not necessarily pushed as such. As a result, a lot of the plot isn't very complex, or the aliens particularly alien. Many of the characters that turn up are somewhat cliched, and the science theory that Zahn slips in under the radar during the excitement of Angelmass isn't found in Dragon and Thief.
Yet, despite that, this is still a peppy first book full of clean fun. Dragonback may turn out to be an entertaining series that pulls in younger readers.
