Customer Reviews

Dragon Ring

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Lettie Prell's fantasy-sf combines video gaming, outlaw roadrunning, and human-reptile shape-shifting to provide multiple entertainments. There's everything from the emotional connections afforded by a young woman's coming of age to the spinal chill of looming worldwide energy breakdown (sound familiar?). Showing no small imagination, this debut novelist takes us deep into the spirit and brainstem of a semi-magical Guatemalan, just out of adolescence, wrestling with secrets both occult and corporate, some out her own family. She and Nicola Tesla -- if she can manage to make the supernatural connections necessary, amid falling in love and eluding a grim multinational security force -- may provide a way out of global collapse, Finding out the answer makes for ring indeed: clangorous and whirling, and undeniable fun.

Those glorious golden age sci-fi pulp magazines have now been reincarnated with the introduction of five trade paperback science fiction novels of galactic adventure, save-the-world suspense, and the merged technologies of magic and science. "Dragon Ring" is Lettie Prell's original story that mixes magic, science, and murder in a riveting read from first page to last. With their brightly colored 'pulp magazine' style covers, all five of these new titles from Flying Pen Press are enthusiastically recommended for fantasy and science fiction enthusiasts, and would make enduringly popular addition to community library collections.

I met Lettie Prell at Wiscon. She was selling copies of her first novel, Dragon Ring, at a launch party for the book. I'm a sucker for authors selling their books, so I took a flyer and bought a copy. I'm glad I did.

Dragon Ring is the story of Nadine Xitumul-Washington, a half-Guatemalan, half-American girl. She lives with her family in Guatemala, which has become a corporate-owned country, and quite prosperous. Nadine's mother is attuned to native spirituality, specifically Mayan, and Nadine shows some tendencies as well. However, Nadine is more interested in modern technology and virtual reality.

The story starts a bit slowly at first, as Nadine explores then rejects her Mayan sprit powers, but do pay attention to the story told to Nadine in Chapter 1. It starts to pick up when her father, Cypress, is killed. He had become involved, to the point of being an absentee father, in a somewhat mysterious US-based company called AEI, developing a free-energy device. When Nadine graduates from college, she applies for a job at the same company, and starts investigating what they are really up to.

This is where the story gets good, and picks up a lot. Since the plot is basically a science fiction mystery, I can't discuss it further, other than to say there's a cameo by Nikola Tesla. Ms. Prell weaves together an interesting tale of magic, science and aliens, creating if you will a unified theory of these three items.

I truly enjoyed Dragon Ring, and look forward to more works from Ms. Prell.

What a surprise! This is a page turner that intertwines the old and the new, the spooky and the solid, the strong women with the uncertainty of a girl. I recommend this to anyone looking for a good read in a genre that was brand new, at least for me.

Amy Thornton

Dragon Ring (Flying Pen Press, ISBN: 978-0-9795889-6-9) is that rare sort of novel that not only crosses genres, but does it quite well.

The first novel from Iowa-based author Lettie Prell, Dragon Ring tells the fascinating story of a young Guatemalan woman named Nadine who has a transcendant experience while partaking in a virtual reality game.

The setting of the story is the near future, laying out an intriguing vision where Guatemala has essentially become one large corporation in order to rid itself of corruption. Nadine's father was highly involved with the development of the new Guatemala, before he left to participate in a United States-based corporation that is involved with some momentous and visionary research with energy systems. When Nadine learns that he was killed suddenly in a plane crash, she sets out for the United States on a journey that takes her to the roots of mystical elements that she was skeptical about, as well as the circumstances concerning her father.

The writing paces quickly, while having enough description and exposition to satisfy the reader's curiosity. The plot and story are kept tight, such that there are no loose ends hanging by the end of the adventure.

Dragon Ring takes a great risk in that it involves both hard science fiction as well as the mystical, two things that are not often comfortable neighbors in literature or other forms of entertainment. Both are essential elements of the plot, and neither is positioned as innately superior to the other. Lettie is to be commended for this approach. This refreshing harmony of the two is rarely seen in realms where the subjects of science and the spiritual are often polarized, or one is propped up at the expense of the other.

Aztec and Native American mysticism flow into the plot, right alongside an amazing plot element involving energy systems. I can't say too much because I don't want to unleash big spoilers, but suffice it to say that Lettie may be onto something big here! Lettie also portrays some very interesting concepts regarding the future applications of virtual reality technology, in both entertainment and non-entertainment arenas.

There are many very captivating characters that emerge along the way, from the spiritual Juan Carlos (who almost plays out like a wizard-mentor to Nadine as the heroine in this story), to Three Crows, a young Native American man who factors into Nadine's profound VR experience, to Norman Lee, a brilliant scientist who turned out to be one of my favorite characters in the book. They are all very alive and vibrant, and Lettie did an excellent job at developing a supporting cast for a main character that is strong and captivating enough to sustain the leading role effectively.

This book will resonate with fantasy fans, science fiction fans, and even readers who are not normally into speculative fiction. The pacing, plot twists, sense of mystery and intrigue present in Dragon Ring is just as potent as any thriller/adventure type novel. All of it races towards a very powerful conclusion, which results in one of the biggest revelations of the entire novel.

My only regret is that this wonderful reading experience was over too soon! I wish that Dragon Ring was a five-hundred page book, and that another installment was on the horizon. Dragon Ring is simply that clever, visionary, and compelling. Take a chance on Dragon Ring and you will discover a very special book indeed!

-review by Stephen Zimmer originally posted for Seventh Star Press Blog Site, October 1, 2009

Dragon Ring is a lyrical, sensual, and intelligent novel in which science, technology, and romance intersect in original and intriguing ways. As a writer born and bred in the U.S., but with deep ties to Central America, I loved Prell's imaginative, futuristic renderings of both the U.S. and the Guatemala of tomorrow. I look very forward to reading more books by Lettie Prell.