Well, I definitely liked it better than the Cold War spy one, though it was a remarkably similar reading experience: slightly disorienting, with a lot of Big Reveals for which I didn’t fully understand what’s happening. But I can see why people would re-read this one and gradually build up a great attachment to its subtleties: when I *did* know what was going on, I felt very clever. But especially early on, I think I knew exactly the wrong amount of historical background: enough to recognize things but not enough to be confident that they had been creatively altered to suit the novel’s premise; rather than cottoning on that it was “alternative history”, I thought we were doing flashbacks to Rome…. Overall I don’t intend to put in the work needed to fall in love with this book, since I already have my personal library of touchstones, and I have the uncomfortable feeling that at least some of the epiphanies I miss are due to misaligned value systems (such that I can’t “read in” the “right” emotions/motivations). But I’ll probably read a lot of things *about* this book and I’m glad I gave Ford a try.

4.5 Stars

A wonderful story hard to categorize, it's mostly alternate history, but also real fantasy with wizards and vampires, it reminded me a little of [b:Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell|14201|Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell|Susanna Clarke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1357027589l/14201._SY75_.jpg|3921305] or [b:The Hollow Hills|116343|The Hollow Hills (Arthurian Saga, #2)|Mary Stewart|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1395143293l/116343._SY75_.jpg|1282681].

It's not easy going, the narrative jumps around between tenses, between 1. and 3. person viewpoints and even makes som huge skips in time without warning or explanations.

There plenty of historical and cultural references and, as a foreigner not benefitting from learning about various English kings and battles at school, i highly recommend the guide at
http://eblong.com/draconc/index.html to connect some of the dots after each chapter.

Definitely a novel that will benefit from a re-read at a later time

This recently rediscovered book by John M. Ford is unquestionably one of the best examples of alternative history worldbuilding, if not the best, that I have ever read. The 15th-century Europe in "The Dragon Waiting" resembles what could result from a long game run in the Crusader Kings III - world religions that have shaped our well-known Middle Ages might be present here, but only in the forms of radical and marginalized sects, while the ancient polytheistic religions of the Romans, Greeks, Celts, and Germans remain strong and influential.

From the perspective of a historical nerd like myself, the world of the book is a real feast, especially if you love 15th century European history. It offers a constant exercise in ‘what if’?. What if the Roman Emperor Julian had acted more radically? Would he have remained known in history as Julian the Apostate or would he have been honored as Julian the Wise? Would Christianity have become a world religion or would it have remained a minor sect?

What if Justinian I and his legendary wife Theodora had lived longer than they did in real history? What if Justinian had managed to solidify the results of his restoration of the Roman Empire? And what exactly could have prolonged Justinian's life ? The book offers a rather unusual solution
This is a true delight for lovers of English history from the 15th century, which itself has inspired many authors from William Shakespeare to George Martin. The debate with Shakespeare - and almost every chapter of the book is preceded by a quote from Shakespeare's play Richard III - seems to hold a key place in this book.

And let's not forget that this is a fantasy world, with wizards and vampires.

With all that said, if you're not a history nerd, this book will likely leave you thoroughly confused. You'll drown in a sea of names, titles, and events that Ford doesn't always take the time to explain. And if you can somehow live with that - at least by reading a couple or three wikipedia articles - then Ford's literary game can drive you crazy in the first few chapters. Unexpected jumps in time and place, at times unclear dialogues, poorly understood motivations of the main characters, numerous obscure references - all this makes a thick soup of literary fun for Ford, but it will not be to everyone's taste.

I can't help but feel that from this day until I die all books of the fantasy genre shall be be ranked in my mind according to Harry Potter and The Dragon Waiting. The former has it's well deserved virtues expressed elsewhere, and while this book has also had its virtues expressed I can't help but praise it's magnificence.
As complex as many (ahem) respectful pieces of literature it is equally as rewarding. Ford has such wonderfully drawn characters, an expansive and brilliantly crafted world he knows how to mix humor with tension with plot without a single detriment in my mind. It is simply brilliant in every sense of the word.

I would be interested to re-read it at a later date, but right now it's really not resonating with me. I don't mind working for my books, but this became too convoluted. Incredible ideas though!

At no point in this book did I have any idea what was going on.
4/10

Fascinating characters, dialogue, and interesting world descriptions… but I just can’t follow what’s going on half the time. I want to enjoy it, but it’s just so much work to do so…