Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn

Title: Dragon and Thief

Author: Timothy Zahn

ISBN: 0765301245

Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

Copyright Date: 2003

Genre: Science Fiction

About the Author:

Timothy Zahn attended Michigan State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1973. He then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and achieved an M.S. degree in physics in 1975. While he was pursuing a doctorate in physics, his adviser became ill and died. Zahn never completed the doctorate. In 1975 he had begun writing science fiction as a hobby, and he became a professional writer. He and his wife Anna live in Bandon, Oregon. They have a son, Corwin Zahn.

Timothy Zahn. http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12479.Timothy_Zahn.

Curriculum Ties:

•  Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
• Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Plot Summary:

 In this science fiction novel, Draycos, a dragon like symbiote, and his people travel through the galaxy trying to find a safe place for his people. When they are attacked by the enemy they were trying to escape, he lands on a planet and comes across an orphaned thief named Jack, whose only companion is an AI programmed after his uncle. They decide to team up, after Draycos saves Jack from some of his attackers, promising to help each other. Draycos needs a companion to bond with, otherwise he would die, and someone to help him save his people. Jack is on the run from people who have framed him for the theft of a cargo shipment, and Draycos promises to clear Jack’s name from the crime. In this first of a series, they begin by helping Jack, all the while looking for clues on who is attacking and killing Draycos’ people.

Critical Evaluation:

Dragon and Thief is a shorter book, only consisting of two hundred and fifty pages. As such, it is a very fast paced book, with the main characters’ back stories and meeting being finished within the first seventy pages. There are a number of action scenes as well, which help keep the pacing quick and even. Both of the main characters are from different backgrounds, with Draycos being a skilling and experienced soldier and a somewhat less skilled poet, while Jack is a teenage boy who only occupational skills are thievery. They are both given extensive backgrounds and interact with each other in realistic ways, such as Jack’s disbelief in Draycos’ skills, and Dracos’ shock in learning about how Jack was raised. The plot takes some genuinely unexpected turns, and the villains are portrayed as being very skilled and frightening. The ending of the book is somewhat of a cliff hanger ending, which is to be expected since it is the beginning of a series.  

Readers Annotation:

Draycos and Jack are both in serious trouble. Jack is on the run by killers who have framed him and are trying to kill him, while Draycos is pursued by beings who are trying to end his entire race. Only be trusting and working together do they have a chance to defeat their enemies.  

Book Talking Ideas:

•  Discuss where each Jack and Draycos come from. Look for how they react to those differences while reading.
• Talk about the future galaxy that is portrayed in the story. How do you think the future will be?

Reading Level/Interest Age: 10-16

Challenge Issues:

•  Some violence, including killing and threats.
• Some theft

Defense Collection:

•  Less complex than such recent novels as Manta's Gift and  Angelmass , this start to a new SF adventure series from Hugo Award-winner Zahn will appeal largely to younger readers. Fourteen-year-old orphan Jack Morgan, former small-time thief , is on the run, framed for theft from megacorporation Braxton Universis. Hiding out on an unoccupied planet, his only companion an artificial intelligence programmed with the personality of his con man uncle Virge, Jack witnesses a battle between incoming spaceships. While looking over the wreckage, he meets Draycos, a dragon -like K'da, sole survivor of an advance team of K'da and  their Shontine allies—murdered by their enemies, the Valahgua, with a terrible energy weapon called "the Death." With Valahgua-backed mercenaries searching the planet for survivors, Jack and  Draycos work together to escape. Despite Virge's continuing doubts, Jack agrees to help Draycos find out who betrayed his people; but first they must prove Jack's innocence and  get the police off his back. Along the way, each will earn the other's trust as they learn to work together as a team. Zahn keeps the story moving at a breakneck pace, maintaining excitement even when the plot becomes clichéd. (Mar. 12) Forecast: Fantasy fans attracted by "dragon " in the title may be disappointed, while SF readers may pass it by, thinking it's just another dragon  fantasy. Zahn is the author of the bestselling original Star Wars tie-in novel, Heir to the Empire. --Staff (Reviewed February 3, 2003) (Publishers Weekly, vol 250, issue 5, p59)
• Zahn (Angelmass, 2001, etc.) goes after YA readers with the tale of a space-going orphan and  his alien companion. Fourteen-year-old Jack Morgan lives on a small cargo spaceship with Uncle Virge—actually a computer simulation of his now-dead uncle. Jack is on the run from the authorities, accused of stealing cargo he had contracted to deliver for Braxton Universis, a powerful mega-corporation. Proving his innocence is not an attractive option because Uncle Virge was one of the most accomplished burglars and  con men in the galaxy—crafts he was training Jack for until his death. Jack's consequent flight takes him to a supposedly uninhabited world where he sees the arrival of three spaceships, all immediately attacked by unknown fighters. One of the ships crash-lands on the planet, and , at Uncle Virge's urging, Jack goes to see what he can salvage from it and  encounters Draycos, a surviving crewmember. Draycos, a warrior-poet, is a member of a symbiotic race and  exists either as a two-dimensional "tattoo" on the skin of his hosts or as a three-dimensional dragon . Since his host was killed in the attack, he persuades Jack to become his new one so that he can live and  avenge the attack. This sets the two on a string of adventures culminating in Jack's accepting an assignment to burgle the safe on a luxury spaceliner. The task makes use both of Jack's burglar skills and  Drayco's assorted alien talents. As things progress, Jack and  Draycos learn to trust each other—and  discover that they have enemies in common. The conclusion leaves the door open for a sequel.A palatable adventure for a young audience, well paced and  smoothly narrated. (Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2003)
• Awards:
• YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2004
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Purpose in Collection:

This is another book that is an excellent book for younger teens. Timothy Zahn is a highly regarded Science Fiction author, and with the popularity of his Star Wars and other novels, is a good edition to the teen collection.