Review: An original loaded with gems
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2012
The setting alone sets this story apart as a radically original and ambitious project: the land of Noah and his fabled Ark. Sutherland builds a world that is surprisingly familiar in some ways, but with wondrous and bold technological, cultural, and spiritual interpolations woven in. Yes, he dares introduce dragons into the hallowed shadow of the Ark, but he doesn't stop there at all. Those familiar with the more doctrinally problematic allusions of Genesis 6 will find great satisfaction with this author's rendering of the Nephilim, I predict.Susah, a daughter of Noah, must negotiate her way through the challenges every young woman must face, but she does not yet know how high the stakes are. As if coming of age were not enough of a challenge, she chooses to do so while in pursuit of a career in a male-dominated military special ops analogue: the Dragoneer corps. So you see how full Sutherland's hands are with this story, and you really should find out how well he sorts it all out."The Dragoneers" stands as a pioneer in its genre--whatever that is, exactly--and includes a surprisingly rich spiritual subtext with top rate characters and plot.