Amazing end to an excellent series! ( )

The time has come for Jack and Draycos to fulfill their destiny, or die trying. The K’da/Shontine refugee fleet has nearly completed its two years of faster-than-light travel, fleeing across the void between adjacent spiral arms of the galaxy. Despite all of their efforts, their enemies have assembled an attack force at the rendezvous point for the refugee fleet.

The time has also come for answers. Who are the K’da, and where did they come from? Why are their enemies willing to pursue them beyond the edge of the world? Who is Alison Kayna, and whom does she work for? What exactly is the connection between Jack and Draycos, and and why do they ‘nick’?

By now, we also have many answers. We learned in the last volume that Jack’s parents were Judge-Paladins, the circuit judges of the Orion Arm, empowered to hear cases and dispense justice anywhere they might find themselves. While we don’t learn precisely what the limits of their power or jurisdiction are, we do know that are granted ships of unusual power, speed, and armament, such as the one Virgil Morgan stole from Jack’s parents.

I found Zahn’s description of the badges of authority of a Judge-Paladin fascinating: their distinctive hats were a combination of a biretta and a tricorn hat. As a Catholic convert, and a reader of First Things magazine, that seems like a not entirely accidental combination. If someone were to boldly create a symbol of the late twentieth century project to marry orthodox Catholicism to the American Dream, this would be it.

While I’ve had some doubts about Zahn, I have absolutely nothing to make me think that Zahn is a secret disciple of Fr. Neuhaus. Nonetheless, this is a striking example of cultural convergence. I might dismiss it as a coincidence if it weren’t for the uncanny resemblance of Draycos’ ethics of war to the police model of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

An interesting wrinkle in this theory is that book 6 is where the gloves come off. Up til now, Draycos has avoided intentional killing, except for book 1, where he executed a man who had killed a random passerby in an attempt to coerce Jack into helping with Arthur Neverlin’s grand conspiracy. Now that time is short, and the fate of his people hangs upon a precipice, Draycos is quicker to kill, and he even resorts to the use of the Death, the dreaded weapon of the Valahgua, smuggled into the Orion Arm to finish the fleeing refugees.

I saw a comment in another review that seems pertinent here. I hadn’t particularly noticed, but book 1 was a bit of a departure from Zahn’s usual style, and even a bit over the top in how the story and even the terminology was simplified. Now that we are down to book 6, I feel like Zahn has gotten more comfortable with the juvenile novel thing, and relaxed back into something that feels more normal for him.

Which is a good thing, insofar as Zahn skillfully wraps up all of his plot threads and hints from the previous five volumes into a hell of a conclusion. This is an excellent series, with some interesting ideas and especially well done character development. I encourage you to pick these books up. ( )

The finale to the DragonBack series.
Jack and Draycos, along with others, save the fleet of immigrants and in the process figure out that a Human/K'da pairing are immune to the Death ray. All the badguys get defeated after much daring-do and Jack ends up as the Ambassador to the new colonists, who have been given a world by the rich guy, who turns out to be Alison's grandfather.

This was a good YA series. Fantastic Zahn. ( )

Very good conclusion to the series, the ending seemed, perhaps, a bit abrupt to me, but very well worth reading for any fan of Zahn's work. ( )

With less than a month before the arrival of the K'da/Shontine refugee ships, Jack, Alison, Draycos, and Taneem have to figure out a way to stop Neverlin, Frost, and the Valaguha from massacring the refugees. After a mission to break into the K'da safe goes wrong, Alison and Taneem end up trapped abroad Neverlin's yacht. Meanwhile Jack and Draycos try to disable the Valaghua's death weapons before the refugees arrive.
This is the action-packed conclusion to the Dragonback series. Draycos's people finally arrive, Jack gets closure on his parents' murders, and Alison reveals who she really is and who she works for. ( )