The conspiracies, the allusions, the tricks and references…nothing in this book is straightforward or as it seems. The first thing to be said about The Dragon Waiting is that it is a very complex book. If this weren’t enough, Ford has also added vampires and wizards into the mix, conjuring up a fantastic farrago like no other. Through the twists and turns of fate, these three find themselves embroiled in the world of intrigue surrounding England’s Wars of the Roses. We follow three central characters Hywel Peredur, a Welsh magician who just so happens to be the nephew of Owain Glyndwr Cynthia Ricci, doctor to Lorenzo de Medici and Dimitrios Ducas, a runaway Byzantine prince turned mercenary. Our story takes place at the tail end of the Middle Ages, and the weaves the complicated political threads of Plantagenet England, Renaissance Italy, and the Byzantine Empire into one thrilling narrative.

Julian successfully manages to dislodge Christianity’s grip on the Western world, resulting in a medieval Europe that is far more religiously pluralistic than was our own. The Dragon Waiting is set in an alternate history where Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor of Rome, enjoyed a much longer reign than he did in our world.

Martin’s The Armageddon Rag and Jack Vance’s Lyonesse. In 1984, it won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, beating – amongst others – George R.R. The Dragon Waiting is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American author John M.

The dragon waiting john m ford