Review: The Serpent by David Drake

Arthurian Legend arrives in the far future, with new players and no magic! Wait, no magic…?

Based on the Legends of King Arthur and other romantic tales of chivalry, the world of The Serpent is a shattered futuristic cosmos. The universe exists between two planes – Here and Not-Here. The Road connects nodes or locations of safety but creatures from the Waste outside these places will attack anyone at any time, or come into Here from Not-Here if something is attracting them. Finding Ancient technology to make life easier and rebuild civilization takes specific skills, and only a Maker can restore or retool Ancient machinery for modern use.

Into this broken world strides Lord Pal, a Champion of Mankind and follower of the Leader of the Commonwealth. Pal is a Maker as well as a warrior, a man able to go into a trance to rediscover and refurbish lost technologies. But finding those things and keeping them from the monsters – human or otherwise – which prowl his world takes more than one type of skill. It takes courage, honor, loyalty, and a strong sense of justice!

The story

Two weeks on the Road from the capitol of the Commonwealth, Dun Add, Pal is on patrol with his faithful dog Sam and his servant, Baga. They need to make sure all is well in the nodes which are under the Leader’s dominion, and if he can convince a new one to join them, that is all the better. If justice needs to be meted out, then he has the authority to negotiate as well – with weapons or with words.

Starting in Boyd’s Node, Pal learns about the body of a prospector from the Waste that has been put on display in the center of town. People can come to look at it if they pay the owner a price. Once a prospector himself, Pal is offended on behalf of the dead and bursts into the saloon to demand that the owner see to it the deceased is buried in a timely fashion. Looking over the corpse in sympathy, something catches Pal’s eye. Pulling the item from the desiccated and shrunken body’s hand, Pal finds it is an Ancient artefact of some kind and tucks it away for further study later.

However, restoring civilization isn’t easy. Soon, Pal all but forgets the artefact as adventure calls him to rescue a damsel in distress – one who has a reputation for despising men. If Pal hopes to rescue her then he must put aside all thoughts of the Ancient device to do it!

Unlike most novels but very true to the legends from which it draws, The Serpent has no unifying plot. Instead, Pal’s adventures follow a meandering path as he deals with various situations that crop up unexpectedly. One adventure leads to another for the young Champion who prefers being on the road exploring to spending time at court.

The characters

Pal is the point-of-view character and a worthy heir to Sir Percival and Sir Gareth of the Round Table. While he insists that he is not the smartest Champion or Maker but a simple man, his years in Dun Add have added polish to his humble attitude without removing it or making him unpleasant. He is also quite skilled at fighting, despite his protests, but by far his most impressive characteristic is his strong moral compass. Pal does not want or like to kill, yet if someone offers a fight he will give it to them – with interest.

Lady Irene, a noblewoman who meets Pal early in the novel, makes a perfect Lady Savage or Lady Linnet to his Fair Unknown (the name often used for knights like Gareth in the original legends). Raised by a Maker who created sex dolls for her noble father, when that Maker died Lady Irene’s dad decided to marry her off. But unknown to him she is a Maker – the first woman to become one – and she slips away from her escort, whereupon Pal needs to find her.

The rest of the characters take a little more time to develop, and some are only names at the start of The Serpent. When they reappear later in the flesh, however, they more than make up for their previous lack of presence. They become living, breathing people who leave a very apt impression on a reader.

The world

Dun Add and the rest of the shattered universe are something like an open world video game translated into writing; the Waste is the part of the world a reader (or gamer) does not get to explore, in part because the characters know better than to enter it. If they run out of water in the Waste, they will die and mummify. Furthermore, the Waste is populated by monsters such as giants and witches, so entering it for no good reason or no sure way back is pretty much suicide. Nodes are generally safe but if one wishes to travel between them, he needs a telepathic rapport with a dog to keep to the Road. Or he needs an Ancient “boat” to ride over the broken landscape as he and other people struggle to rebuild civilization while still making a living.

The politics

There are no politics in this novel.

Content warning

As noted above, there are discussions of sex dolls and much ado about who is sleeping with whom, though nothing explicit is described or mentioned. Pal has an afternoon with his ladylove, too, but what happens is not described and is left up to the imagination of the reader. The battle scenes are intense without being gory and the monsters – human or otherwise – are well within PG-13 bounds.

Who is it for?

Fans of Arthurian Legend and open world video games such as Knights of the Old Republic will enjoy this book. Those who have read some of the chansons de geste of old will also like it, as it puts a new and science fiction spin on Medieval tales. Anyone who wants a relaxing read which they can pick up and put down, to then take it up again and begin from where they left off without worrying about forgetting any details will also like this novel.

Why read it?

It is a good book that does homage to some of the greatest tales which mankind has told. Why not buy it and give it a read?