Day of the Dragonking by Edward Irving

Day of the Dragonking by Edward B. Irving
Series: The Last American Wizard #1
Published by Ronin Robot Press on April 13, 2016
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 330
Format: eBook
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Mystically powered terrorists unleash volatile magic on the world, turning Washington, D.C., into a politically charged fantasyland ripe for human sacrifice.

A trio of suicide attackers with magical abilities bring down a 747 by summoning a dragon to rip it from the sky, using the hundreds of lives lost as a sacrifice to initiate the Change. The country morphs into a new landscape of swords and sorcery. Now computers and other machines are coming to life, and regular people have started to turn into mythical creatures and forgotten deities, creating a chaotic world easily seized by whoever—or whatever—set this shift into motion. Hope appears in the nation’s capital where, along with transforming Democrats into potbellied elves, Republicans into cantankerous dwarves, and Tea Party members into trolls, the Change has granted struggling freelance journalist Steve Rowan the abilities of the Tarot Arcana’s Fool card, making him a powerful, yet unreliable, wizard. Realizing his potential, he is “hired” by the trivia-obsessed sentient computer Barnaby and coupled with the attractive, no-nonsense female Navy SEAL Ace Morningstar to uncover the puppet masters behind the plane crash.

Day of the Dragonking may be the oddest book I’ve read recently. I think that’s a good thing, but it’s hard to write a review of it.

If you read the blurb, you’ll know that a Change has come, that normal people are becoming magical, and magical people are losing their powers. We’ve got Tarot cards personified and deities from various cultures coming to life. Not actually coming to life – people are being transformed into them. Ghosts are visible and the main character, Steve, has a cell phone that is somehow haunted by an Asian teenager. It’s a funny and violent at times. The author plays with the Washington stereotypes well. It’s got great action and a few really well-developed characters. It’s a wild ride and I’m not quite sure it follows its own rules, but that’s okay, just fasten your seat belt and enjoy the trip.

It’s definitely a funny book too. There were several laugh out loud moments and a few passages I had to read to my husband.

I’m not a big fan of the end, though. Granted it’s the first in a series, but nothing’s really accomplished except the destruction of a national monument. I like a book to have a wrap-up of its own, even if it is part of a larger story. I will read the next one, though, if I can get ahold of it.