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Dragons: Lexicon Triumvirate
Dennagon, a lowly dragon sentry, leads a band of dissident dragons in facing cyborg technodragons, the forces of time, and the corrupt dragon king, Drekkenoth, as they seek the source of incorrupt knowledge known as the Lexicon.
Hardcover
Published April 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 20, 2016
Something that always makes me sad is when a book has an honestly interesting concept that I really like, but then the writing is absolute crap. Dragons: Lexicon Triumvirate is one of those books.
The premise of the story is about the world being in the Middle Ages, but because time is distorted and reality is being weird, things such as advanced technology co-exist in the world. I actually kind of like that. It creates a surreal atmosphere and I think in the hands of a more capable writer, it could have turned out cool. Something like a world where the laws of physics have broken and everyone is freaking out. That doesn't happen in this book though.
My biggest problem with the book is that it's unbelievably pretentious. The story constantly fills with random ramblings about time, space, reality, math, and abstract concepts. It's like the author is trying way too hard to show how smart he is by dropping math equations and getting all philosophical and stuff. Characters will randomly stop what they're doing to have a lively debate about the world and perception of reality. It does little to add to the book and just makes the characters irritating.
And the characters are already pretty irritating on their own. Dennagon, the main character, is just unlikable. He's got unwarranted self-importance, he acts like a jerk, and he does the whole, "I'm going to stop what I'm doing so I can ramble on about abstract stuff and sound smart." Out of all the characters, he is the worst. Everyone else is either dull or just plain forgettable. Or equally pretentious.
I would like to show how all this "drop smart sounding information" stuff ruins the narrative. For example, there's a sentence that goes like this:
"Lyconel gasped. She had just unveiled her inner most sensations and had been rejected faster than an electron’s revolutionary period around a nucleus (p.238)."
Like, why? Why would you write a simile like that? Not only does it sound awkward, it just makes you seem like you're trying too hard to impress people.
It sucks, because this book could have actually been kind of cool. I like the world it presented. It was this surreal fantasy with modern technology thrown in. Why not show it as some warped world where the rules of physics and reality don't apply? Why not make it so the characters struggle to deal with the non-rules of this world? Instead, we got this:
"'So what is important? How do you define ‘important’?'"
“'How does one define ‘define’? There is ambiguity in everything because everything can mean anything or nothing. Comprehension lies in one’s perception.'” (p.258)
and this:
“'Logic, consciousness, causality, a timeless genesis, a temporal genesis, destiny, time, space, spacetime, relativity, macrocosm, microcosm, quantum mechanics, uncertainty, unconsciousness, symmetry and asymmetry,” he listed all the certainties of the universe. “These things are irrevocably constant.'”
“'Prove each and every one of them.'” (p.261)
Ugh.
So, yeah. One of the worst books I've ever read.
(Thanks to conjugalfelicity.com for the quotes!)
The premise of the story is about the world being in the Middle Ages, but because time is distorted and reality is being weird, things such as advanced technology co-exist in the world. I actually kind of like that. It creates a surreal atmosphere and I think in the hands of a more capable writer, it could have turned out cool. Something like a world where the laws of physics have broken and everyone is freaking out. That doesn't happen in this book though.
My biggest problem with the book is that it's unbelievably pretentious. The story constantly fills with random ramblings about time, space, reality, math, and abstract concepts. It's like the author is trying way too hard to show how smart he is by dropping math equations and getting all philosophical and stuff. Characters will randomly stop what they're doing to have a lively debate about the world and perception of reality. It does little to add to the book and just makes the characters irritating.
And the characters are already pretty irritating on their own. Dennagon, the main character, is just unlikable. He's got unwarranted self-importance, he acts like a jerk, and he does the whole, "I'm going to stop what I'm doing so I can ramble on about abstract stuff and sound smart." Out of all the characters, he is the worst. Everyone else is either dull or just plain forgettable. Or equally pretentious.
I would like to show how all this "drop smart sounding information" stuff ruins the narrative. For example, there's a sentence that goes like this:
"Lyconel gasped. She had just unveiled her inner most sensations and had been rejected faster than an electron’s revolutionary period around a nucleus (p.238)."
Like, why? Why would you write a simile like that? Not only does it sound awkward, it just makes you seem like you're trying too hard to impress people.
It sucks, because this book could have actually been kind of cool. I like the world it presented. It was this surreal fantasy with modern technology thrown in. Why not show it as some warped world where the rules of physics and reality don't apply? Why not make it so the characters struggle to deal with the non-rules of this world? Instead, we got this:
"'So what is important? How do you define ‘important’?'"
“'How does one define ‘define’? There is ambiguity in everything because everything can mean anything or nothing. Comprehension lies in one’s perception.'” (p.258)
and this:
“'Logic, consciousness, causality, a timeless genesis, a temporal genesis, destiny, time, space, spacetime, relativity, macrocosm, microcosm, quantum mechanics, uncertainty, unconsciousness, symmetry and asymmetry,” he listed all the certainties of the universe. “These things are irrevocably constant.'”
“'Prove each and every one of them.'” (p.261)
Ugh.
So, yeah. One of the worst books I've ever read.
(Thanks to conjugalfelicity.com for the quotes!)
October 22, 2014
Dragons Lexicon Triumvirate, Good ideas in the hands of an incapable author.
Dragons lexicon triumvirate, seems like it has the makings of a good story. It has dragons that are fighting humans and technoknights, as well as the technodragon king Drekkenoth and his two cyborg cronies. Its got dragons, thunderbirds, magic and fantastic lands. Also cyborgs, firearms and computers.
Too bad that it just comes off as an asinine half-baked waste of a story! The central plot is about Dennagon a once loyal sentry of the destroyed city of Drakemight. who then joins up with Lyconel and her band of rebels. So they can get the all-powerful magical MacGuffin: the lexicon. The story itself is just a mess of ideas that has no cohesion and ends up like something a forth-grader came up with on the bus ride home from school. The prose itself is just plain awful. The sentences don't flow well, and is very clunky with a slight hint of pretentiousness. I swear that he abuses the thesaurus so badly that someone should call socal services. In all honesty it makes me wonder if there was an editor at all when this story was written.
The characters are flat at best and before and done way, way, better elsewhere in other in other works. They have no real personalty and just there, they have at best a single stereotypical trait and little else. The villains are just the most bland and uninteresting. The motivations of the big bad just boils down to, "I want the Lexicon because I want to be all-powerful," and little else. In conclusion they are all forgettable. The fights lack energy or even make you care who wins or not.
I would like to call Kenneth Eng a hack. But, that would insult the likes likes of Ayn Rand, Stephanie Meyer, Terry Goodkind, and Christopher Paolini. because at least they have sold works and have a fanbase.
I would like to call his writing style akin to fanfiction but, that would be an insult to everyone on fanfiction.net. At least they have the benefit of being based on something that was successful. The only value this story has is for any aspiring author to see how not to write a story like this.
Dragons lexicon triumvirate, seems like it has the makings of a good story. It has dragons that are fighting humans and technoknights, as well as the technodragon king Drekkenoth and his two cyborg cronies. Its got dragons, thunderbirds, magic and fantastic lands. Also cyborgs, firearms and computers.
Too bad that it just comes off as an asinine half-baked waste of a story! The central plot is about Dennagon a once loyal sentry of the destroyed city of Drakemight. who then joins up with Lyconel and her band of rebels. So they can get the all-powerful magical MacGuffin: the lexicon. The story itself is just a mess of ideas that has no cohesion and ends up like something a forth-grader came up with on the bus ride home from school. The prose itself is just plain awful. The sentences don't flow well, and is very clunky with a slight hint of pretentiousness. I swear that he abuses the thesaurus so badly that someone should call socal services. In all honesty it makes me wonder if there was an editor at all when this story was written.
The characters are flat at best and before and done way, way, better elsewhere in other in other works. They have no real personalty and just there, they have at best a single stereotypical trait and little else. The villains are just the most bland and uninteresting. The motivations of the big bad just boils down to, "I want the Lexicon because I want to be all-powerful," and little else. In conclusion they are all forgettable. The fights lack energy or even make you care who wins or not.
I would like to call Kenneth Eng a hack. But, that would insult the likes likes of Ayn Rand, Stephanie Meyer, Terry Goodkind, and Christopher Paolini. because at least they have sold works and have a fanbase.
I would like to call his writing style akin to fanfiction but, that would be an insult to everyone on fanfiction.net. At least they have the benefit of being based on something that was successful. The only value this story has is for any aspiring author to see how not to write a story like this.
September 14, 2015
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It's great; I'd give it a ten out of five if I could. A life-changing journey. Just like the Trail of Tears.
It's great; I'd give it a ten out of five if I could. A life-changing journey. Just like the Trail of Tears.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
March 7, 2023This book defies rating. It's the literary equivalent of Wiseau's The Room, a product of bizarre passion with just enough competence to make it readable. Any normal human being would have abandoned it long before the end, but I somehow stuck with it.
Eng LOVES his obscure words. If you were to take a shot with every use of "betwixt", "trice", and "macrocosm/microcosm", I'm fairly sure you would die. My eyes were starting to glaze over during the characters' five hundredth discussion on the nature of existence using as many big words as humanly possible.
The characters are pretty lackluster as well. Dennagon is misanthropic and unlikable. Lyconel is the team leader. Dradicus is annoying. Ballaxior is the typical fantasy mentor figure. Nomax might as well have "Judas Iscariot" tattooed on his forehead for how subtle he is. Lefius... is also there. The villains are all pretty one-note too. The only character I found myself enjoying was Dradicus, largely because of how annoyed all the less likable characters were by him.
The action was written surprisingly well on a moment to moment scale, but every character feels absurdly durable. They can survive getting backhanded by creatures ten times their size, having their dermal layer liquefied by a blast of hydrochloric acid, or getting flayed alive by powerful blasts of light energy. On the rare occasions they actually die, you find yourself wondering "Wait, that killed them?"
The worldbuilding is a scattering of interesting ideas that we don't see developed enough. We're told over and over that the humans are greedy and destroying the world as well as having power over time itself, but we hardly see them at all. The supersurface cave network, aerial river, Astinor, and red marsh are all really interesting locations that we barely get to see at all. Judging by the glossary at the back of the book, even more was cut out as several characters and places are completely absent from the finished product.
This all adds up into a fascinating mess that you have to read to believe. I can't say it's a good book by any means, but it holds a special place in my collection regardless.
Eng LOVES his obscure words. If you were to take a shot with every use of "betwixt", "trice", and "macrocosm/microcosm", I'm fairly sure you would die. My eyes were starting to glaze over during the characters' five hundredth discussion on the nature of existence using as many big words as humanly possible.
The characters are pretty lackluster as well. Dennagon is misanthropic and unlikable. Lyconel is the team leader. Dradicus is annoying. Ballaxior is the typical fantasy mentor figure. Nomax might as well have "Judas Iscariot" tattooed on his forehead for how subtle he is. Lefius... is also there. The villains are all pretty one-note too. The only character I found myself enjoying was Dradicus, largely because of how annoyed all the less likable characters were by him.
The action was written surprisingly well on a moment to moment scale, but every character feels absurdly durable. They can survive getting backhanded by creatures ten times their size, having their dermal layer liquefied by a blast of hydrochloric acid, or getting flayed alive by powerful blasts of light energy. On the rare occasions they actually die, you find yourself wondering "Wait, that killed them?"
The worldbuilding is a scattering of interesting ideas that we don't see developed enough. We're told over and over that the humans are greedy and destroying the world as well as having power over time itself, but we hardly see them at all. The supersurface cave network, aerial river, Astinor, and red marsh are all really interesting locations that we barely get to see at all. Judging by the glossary at the back of the book, even more was cut out as several characters and places are completely absent from the finished product.
This all adds up into a fascinating mess that you have to read to believe. I can't say it's a good book by any means, but it holds a special place in my collection regardless.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 9, 2012
Reviewed by K. Osborn Sullivan for TeensReadToo.com
Dennagon is a dragon sentry of Drakemight. His life is dedicated to a search for knowledge. Only Dennagon doesn't take the easy path to enlightenment. Unlike most of the other dragons, he refuses to consume the information-filled black orbs. Instead, he seeks out facts directly from books and the world around him. This sounds fine on its surface, except that Drakemight's king, Drekkenoth, is secretly using the black orbs to corrupt his people. Now all that stands between him and world domination is Dennagon, with his untainted soul.
The adventure really begins when a band of anti-Drekkenoth dissidents tell Dennagon that they must find the Lexicon, which is the source of all pure knowledge. Dennagon is intrigued by the notion that such an item could exist, but wary of the ragtag collection of traitors who are offering to help him find it.
DRAGONS: LEXICON TRIUMVIRATE is a book that's got it all. It has the fantasy elements of a kingdom run by dragons, who are engaged in an ongoing war with humans. It has science fiction in the form of time-travel and mechanized fighting dragons. It has arguments about assorted topics in the field of physics, including the nature of time and space. It has wild fight scenes among dragons, mechanized dragons, and other assorted creatures, including dinosaurs (time-travel, remember?) and hydras. It has corrupt government conspiracies. Like I said, this book has it all.
And having it all is exactly what I didn't like about DRAGONS: LEXICON TRIUMVIRATE. Perhaps my world view is too narrow because I don't want a book that includes everything. I found myself exhausted every time I started reading. There were just too many genres represented. The writing style was also a challenge. Instead of saying something simple like, "`Surrender or die,' his captor ordered," this book says, "`Surrender or be annihilated,' were the conditions of the dominating party." (p. 167). And I was always annoyed when the characters slipped into discussions of obscure topics in physics.
While I was not a fan of how this story was told, I can definitely see how it would appeal to other readers. Some people who aren't as narrow minded as I am would probably really enjoy the creative mixture of science fiction and fantasy elements. For those readers, this would doubtless be a real hit. And for those who enjoy theoretical discussions of the problems of time-travel, DRAGONS: LEXICON TRIUMVIRATE offers a great deal of food for thought.
Dennagon is a dragon sentry of Drakemight. His life is dedicated to a search for knowledge. Only Dennagon doesn't take the easy path to enlightenment. Unlike most of the other dragons, he refuses to consume the information-filled black orbs. Instead, he seeks out facts directly from books and the world around him. This sounds fine on its surface, except that Drakemight's king, Drekkenoth, is secretly using the black orbs to corrupt his people. Now all that stands between him and world domination is Dennagon, with his untainted soul.
The adventure really begins when a band of anti-Drekkenoth dissidents tell Dennagon that they must find the Lexicon, which is the source of all pure knowledge. Dennagon is intrigued by the notion that such an item could exist, but wary of the ragtag collection of traitors who are offering to help him find it.
DRAGONS: LEXICON TRIUMVIRATE is a book that's got it all. It has the fantasy elements of a kingdom run by dragons, who are engaged in an ongoing war with humans. It has science fiction in the form of time-travel and mechanized fighting dragons. It has arguments about assorted topics in the field of physics, including the nature of time and space. It has wild fight scenes among dragons, mechanized dragons, and other assorted creatures, including dinosaurs (time-travel, remember?) and hydras. It has corrupt government conspiracies. Like I said, this book has it all.
And having it all is exactly what I didn't like about DRAGONS: LEXICON TRIUMVIRATE. Perhaps my world view is too narrow because I don't want a book that includes everything. I found myself exhausted every time I started reading. There were just too many genres represented. The writing style was also a challenge. Instead of saying something simple like, "`Surrender or die,' his captor ordered," this book says, "`Surrender or be annihilated,' were the conditions of the dominating party." (p. 167). And I was always annoyed when the characters slipped into discussions of obscure topics in physics.
While I was not a fan of how this story was told, I can definitely see how it would appeal to other readers. Some people who aren't as narrow minded as I am would probably really enjoy the creative mixture of science fiction and fantasy elements. For those readers, this would doubtless be a real hit. And for those who enjoy theoretical discussions of the problems of time-travel, DRAGONS: LEXICON TRIUMVIRATE offers a great deal of food for thought.
June 22, 2022
"Upon the Mesozoic verdure, the sun cast its dawn light, giving life to the hovering woodland realm in the form pf photosynthetic vitality that sparkled betwixt the morning arbor (page 10)."
"“Velocity is distance multiplied by time,” he reminded himself (page 55)." (No it isn't. It's distance *divided* by time.)
"“How does one define ‘define’? There is ambiguity in everything because everything can mean anything or nothing. Comprehension lies in one’s perception.” (page 258)"
Yes, it's all like that. This is the new Eye of Argon. I rate it one star because I love it so much, in that "what the hell was that" way.
"“Velocity is distance multiplied by time,” he reminded himself (page 55)." (No it isn't. It's distance *divided* by time.)
"“How does one define ‘define’? There is ambiguity in everything because everything can mean anything or nothing. Comprehension lies in one’s perception.” (page 258)"
Yes, it's all like that. This is the new Eye of Argon. I rate it one star because I love it so much, in that "what the hell was that" way.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews