The Dragonback Series, by Timothy Zahn

I really liked these six books.

I don’t often read YA books, but I’ll read anything Timothy Zahn writes (as I’ve mentioned before), and I saw the first “Dragonback” book on sale at a discount bookstore a few years ago, and so I’ve been slowly making my way through them since.

The “dragon” is Draycos, a member of the symbiotic K’da warrior species. The K’da and their host species, the Shontine, are fleeing from their arm of the galaxy to the Orion Arm (Earth’s arm), away from the genocidal Valahgua. The Valahgua have a weapon called the “Death” that utterly ignores armor and shielding to exterminate any biological life within range, a weapon against which there is absolutely no defense. Unable to stand against the Death, the K’da and the Shontine have contracted with a human corporation to buy an uninhabited planet to serve as a new homeworld. Draycos is assigned to the advance scouting party, set to arrive six months before the main refugee fleet.

But waiting for them are human mercenary fighters equipped with Valahgua Death weapons. Draycos is the only survivor of the trap, and desperate for survival, links up with a new host – Jack, an orphaned 14-year-old thief on the run from the law. Jack is a thief, but was framed for a theft he didn’t actually commit – the theft of valuable cargo from the powerful Braxton Universis Corporation. Jack and Draycos soon strike up a pact – Draycos will help Jack clear his name, and in exchange, Jack will use his considerable cunning to help Draycos find who is working with the Valahgua to exterminate the K’da and the Shontine.

This is a excellent space-opera epic. Jack and Draycos have their work cut out for them. Murky secrets from Jack’s past rise to the surface (along with the secrets of his dead parents), along with the long-forgotten history of the K’da. By the sixth book, the narrative is tense; the Valahgua and their human allies will wipe out the K’da and the Shontine, unless Jack and Draycos can stop them.

Definitely recommended, even for adult readers.

-JM