cover image The Dragons of the Storm

The Dragons of the Storm

George Robert Minkoff. McPherson, $24.95 (349pp) ISBN 978-0-929701-81-3

In the second volume of Minkoff's trilogy, he continues detailing the tumultuous founding of the Virginia colony. Using the same metaphor-laden Elizabethan language of the first volume, he begins awkwardly with an old mariner recounting his years serving under two masters, Sir Francis Drake and Captain John Smith. Drake's story of Pacific exploration (seeking shorter trade routes for Queen Elizabeth) dominates the narrative with tales of even-handed interaction with natives, numerous enemy Spanish ships and traitorous ship hands. His successes contrast with Smith's tale, in which he faces off against his own men, the wily Chief Powhatan and other natives, as well as with fresh boatloads of British immigrants with high expectations for their new lives and low opinions of Smith. Antiquarian book dealer Minkoff saddles his characters with ornate speech (""I will hold the story to its wrist, while other flap words"") that more often obfuscates than elucidates, making this rambling tale all the more laborious.