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Electric Dragon
reviewed by
First-novelist Patrick Wood's Electric Dragon is a near-perfect portal into a foreboding future London where perfection has become the main criterion for official existence—anyone born imperfect, deficient, illegal, or undocumented must go to a workhouse by law. Any such being has no rights and Dushma, who lives with her reluctant guardian, the seedy "Aunt" Megan, inside the arch of an elevated train viaduct, is a non-person. Orphaned by her mother's death in a camp for protesters, Dushma cannot attend school—her unregistered status prohibits her from receiving an education. Which is okay, because her street education is beginning to pay off. She routinely explores the city and the imposing St. Gotha's Cathedral. A sudden police raid by a suspicious, savage Inspector Rappleman makes her a fugitive, though the dogged pursuit seems unusual and out of proportion with her "crime."
Dushma soon finds herself among other outcasts, a group of wannabe kid-revolutionaries who have taken refuge in an abandoned subway station, Hitler Street (an embarrassing attempted appeasement now walled off and forgotten). Beltrowser, the electronic tinkerer, Susskin, the upper-class malcontent, and Ibmahuj, their bland leader spend their time scavenging and telling stories and evading the elidra (fearsome electric dragons used to police the tunnels), but taking in Dushma will eventually lead to betrayal and discovery. What is Dushma's secret—one even she doesn't know? Out of these elements, Dushma must fashion a destiny, but what will it be?
Wood's tale (Young Adult to Adult in level) is an inventive neo-gothic with touches of P.K. Dick/Blade Runner motifs. It features a plausible near-future SF London that's very Dickens-by-way-of-Gaiman, the city almost itself becoming a character, and a spunky protagonist bound to be more important than she realizes. Pace sags a bit during the storytelling sections, but at least one of the two seems likely to be crucial to understanding Dushma (and her electric personality) later on. The novel raises more questions than it answers, but the violent and cinematic conclusion is merely an introduction to the next chapter of the series, Fireglass Machine (see review next month). Originally published as Viaduct Child, Electric Dragon clearly showcases Fantasy's dark inroads into children's literature, while mildly echoing some of Rowling and Gaiman's own excursions into the London underground.