The Dragon Has Some Complaints is the third novel by author John Wiswell, whose prior two books - Wearing a Lion and Someone You Can Build a Nest In - were incredibly fun, queer fantasy novels that dealt with family drama and abuse as well as unusual relationships between unusual beings (often non-human), and more. They were really delightful stuff even as they sometimes dealt with some pretty serious themes (abuse, justice, accountability, etc.) and were some of my favorite reads of the last few years. So I was super excited to get an advance copy of this third book, which was described like more of classic Wiswell: the story of a dragon who pretends to be tame in order to get care/food and finds himself frustrated by the conflict caused by his desire to eat his new eccentric rider and his need to keep that rider alive.
The Dragon Has Some Complaints is actually quite a bit more than that, as it deals with the dragon Garrodigh becoming part (unwillingly) of the dragon-riding flying country of Kardoša, which faces besiegement from both a mysteriously powerful and tyrannical enemy and the overtures of a different puritanical and colonizing third nation. The result is very good, although I don't think it reaches the heights of Wiswell's other two novels, as it deals with themes of fighting for freedom, the acceptance of refugees, and the relationships (often if not always queer) of those who are trying to make it in the new freer nation and trying to either live there or defend it. And of course, as always with Wiswell, you have fun questions of humanity and what that means, even as the novel's centerpiece is actually a dragon.
More specifics after the jump:
Plot Summary:
Still despite the dragon centered narrative, it's the humans and their intrigue and relationships who really carry this book forward (there's a whole bunch of human related mysteries, sometimes related to Garrodigh and the dragons, but the only dragon-specific related mystery turns out to be a nothingburger, even if its reveal is a big moment for Garrodigh). And thankfully this works very well both in setup and in individual characters. Kardoša is a flying city where humans use their knowledge of dragons to defend a egalitarian queer-friendly and pluralistic society in a world that features at least two other powers that are both socially conservative, homophobic and imperialist, even as one of those powers is openly attacking Kardoša while the other is trying to essentially annex it as an alternative power to the invaders. The people of Kardoša are refugees from the other powers seeking a better life, with many of them coming from the other countries and hoping to either find a new life in peace or to defend that peace for those less able.
The result of this is a situation where the dragon-riders of Kardoša are both extremely welcoming and their relationships are very queer and polyamorous at times but also sometimes extremely on edge and skeptical of newcomers from the conquering countries, people like Rania for example, who comes from the attacking FFR, and is so odd and caring as to be hard to figure. Rania is a fantastic character, a woman with odd quirks but an immense wellspring of caring and sense about everyone other than Oleksiy, the trans man First Knight (top dragon rider) of Kardoša with connections to her childhood. Her caring makes her an easy person to love and to melt down Garrodigh, despite his protests (and despite her annoying tendency to have sex in their stable) and makes it incredibly easy to feel for her when she's put down by another top dragon rider Cosmos for being from the FFR and not being of obvious martial value. The other dragon riders are often themselves well built out and complex, from the aforementioned Cosmos to Oleksiy, and how Rania handles them all throughout the drama of this book is excellent.
The book also has Rania be canny enough and sensible enough such that she doesn't have typical reactions to being on the end of what could be hurtful reveals or harmful well meaning emotions by others, which made me really happy. There's a common romance trope where a protagonist gets emotionally harmed by a reveal but eventually makes up with the other party when they realize later that the reveal is less important than the relationship that had grown....and it can be realistic, but I hate it and I'm happy here that it doesn't happen in the equivalent (non-romantical) situation.
That said, I do have some qualms with this book. The first one is probably more personal than anything, but a plot point involving the invaders and how things develop in the final act remind me very much of Martha Wells' The Ships of Air in a way I won't spoil here. It's not quoted as one of Wiswell's inspirations in the acknowledgements so I imagine the similarities are unintentional, but it bugged me a bit. Secondly, while Garrodigh is fun and Rania is an excellent protagonist, they just aren't quite as memorable or as interesting as Wiswell's prior protagonists (Shesheshen and Heracles/Hera) who had more specific knowing struggles and dealt with more poignant and distressing themes. Which is not to say that the themes here aren't strong or that the characters aren't great or that this book being more straight "fun" than the other two books isn't a good thing! But it just feels like this book will stick to me a lot less than Wiswell's other books if that makes sense.
Still The Dragon Has Some Complaints is an excellent novel overall, a lot of fun with some great characters, a fun dragon-filled world and an ending that ties it all together in a way you'll appreciate and enjoy. If this is a "down' novel for Wiswell, that just means he's truly one of the best SF/F writers out there today.
Plot Summary:
The Dragon has Some Complaints has a very fun setup. Everything is seen through the third person eyes of Garrodigh -mostly through Centerhead, who is the most rational and largely in-charge head (Bottomhead is basically child-like, while Upperhead is far more poignant if very delusional and Centerhead seems mostly in control of the body). But Garrodigh is not human and thus isn't quite as understanding about the emotional drama and other events that unfolds around him and the other humans (although the reader can absolutely figure things out). But this isn't really a problem, as Centerhead's voice is really fun as he repeatedly insists that he is going to be the "great terror" and kill all the humans and slowly realizes that all three heads are coming to care for Rania and the other humans. It's just a delightful piece of character development and narrative here that guide the book forward (somewhat) and lead to the final conclusion (not spoiling).Garrodigh was once a four-headed dragon, with the four heads being "Lefty", "Centerhead", "Bottomhead", and "Upperhead", and despite their misgivings, Garrodigh once followed Lefty's human sympathies and tried to help humans in some fashion. But all that did was get Lefty killed and wound Garrodigh deeply - with a stump for Lefty's head and a wing that is too broken to fly. Now Centerhead, the most put-together of the three remaining heads (Bottomhead is basically childlike and feral, Upperhead is delusional), has sworn off anything to do with humans and their stupid war.But when cannonball firing humans threaten the area where Garrodigh is trying to survive and the local dragons refuse to provide Garrodigh shelter, Centerhead has no choice but to adopt a plan involving the humans: they will pretend to be one of the wounded dragons of the human flying city of Kardoša, will get rescued and given sustenance and shelter until they're well able to wreak great terror on the unsuspecting humans.But when Garrodigh is assigned an eccentric foreign rider named Rania to take over his care and riding, all three of his heads find himself somehow caring for Rania, and her humans and he begins the unthinkable: trying to help the humans save themselves from a mysterious and powerful invader without exposing himself and getting himself even more hurt....
Still despite the dragon centered narrative, it's the humans and their intrigue and relationships who really carry this book forward (there's a whole bunch of human related mysteries, sometimes related to Garrodigh and the dragons, but the only dragon-specific related mystery turns out to be a nothingburger, even if its reveal is a big moment for Garrodigh). And thankfully this works very well both in setup and in individual characters. Kardoša is a flying city where humans use their knowledge of dragons to defend a egalitarian queer-friendly and pluralistic society in a world that features at least two other powers that are both socially conservative, homophobic and imperialist, even as one of those powers is openly attacking Kardoša while the other is trying to essentially annex it as an alternative power to the invaders. The people of Kardoša are refugees from the other powers seeking a better life, with many of them coming from the other countries and hoping to either find a new life in peace or to defend that peace for those less able.
The result of this is a situation where the dragon-riders of Kardoša are both extremely welcoming and their relationships are very queer and polyamorous at times but also sometimes extremely on edge and skeptical of newcomers from the conquering countries, people like Rania for example, who comes from the attacking FFR, and is so odd and caring as to be hard to figure. Rania is a fantastic character, a woman with odd quirks but an immense wellspring of caring and sense about everyone other than Oleksiy, the trans man First Knight (top dragon rider) of Kardoša with connections to her childhood. Her caring makes her an easy person to love and to melt down Garrodigh, despite his protests (and despite her annoying tendency to have sex in their stable) and makes it incredibly easy to feel for her when she's put down by another top dragon rider Cosmos for being from the FFR and not being of obvious martial value. The other dragon riders are often themselves well built out and complex, from the aforementioned Cosmos to Oleksiy, and how Rania handles them all throughout the drama of this book is excellent.
The book also has Rania be canny enough and sensible enough such that she doesn't have typical reactions to being on the end of what could be hurtful reveals or harmful well meaning emotions by others, which made me really happy. There's a common romance trope where a protagonist gets emotionally harmed by a reveal but eventually makes up with the other party when they realize later that the reveal is less important than the relationship that had grown....and it can be realistic, but I hate it and I'm happy here that it doesn't happen in the equivalent (non-romantical) situation.
That said, I do have some qualms with this book. The first one is probably more personal than anything, but a plot point involving the invaders and how things develop in the final act remind me very much of Martha Wells' The Ships of Air in a way I won't spoil here. It's not quoted as one of Wiswell's inspirations in the acknowledgements so I imagine the similarities are unintentional, but it bugged me a bit. Secondly, while Garrodigh is fun and Rania is an excellent protagonist, they just aren't quite as memorable or as interesting as Wiswell's prior protagonists (Shesheshen and Heracles/Hera) who had more specific knowing struggles and dealt with more poignant and distressing themes. Which is not to say that the themes here aren't strong or that the characters aren't great or that this book being more straight "fun" than the other two books isn't a good thing! But it just feels like this book will stick to me a lot less than Wiswell's other books if that makes sense.
Still The Dragon Has Some Complaints is an excellent novel overall, a lot of fun with some great characters, a fun dragon-filled world and an ending that ties it all together in a way you'll appreciate and enjoy. If this is a "down' novel for Wiswell, that just means he's truly one of the best SF/F writers out there today.
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