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Dragonback
Series · 7 books · 2003-2008

Books in series

Dragon and Thief book cover
#1

Dragon and Thief

2003

Jack Morgan 13 has a dragon on his back - literally. The warrior K'da species are symbiotes, can only live six hours without their humanoid host. Draycos 30s is the sole survivor of the three ships destroyed scouting for their refugees, and Jack is the only possible choice. They may be an odd couple, but together they're more than the sum of their parts. They are destined to travel far and wide, facing many perils - human, alien, and other, as they seek justice and safety - Jack for himself, and Draycos for his people.
Dragon and Soldier book cover
#2

Dragon and Soldier

2004

Jack Morgan 14 aka Montana enlists with youngest trainees for Whinyard's Edge mercenaries, hired by Parprin daublite mining colony humans from "Agrist claim-jumpers", who in turn employ Shamshir mercs. Honorable warrior-poet Draycos 30ish hides as 2D tattoo on Jack's back, and encourages noble values while their space-ship Uncle Virge continues the tradition of his late selfish Uncle Virgil, con artist. Recruit Alison is expert, already has militia experience - and secrets. Somehow, the duo must track down who attacked Draycos' scout ships before the refugee ships arrive to be ambushed.
Dragon and Slave book cover
#3

Dragon and Slave

2005

Two outcasts are bound together by more than loyalty in the third Dragonback adventure from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Star Wars: Thrawn. Fugitive Jack Morgan and dragonlike alien Draycos have become literally inseparable. After Jack rescued him from a crash, the K’da warrior, who must have a host to survive, took residence on his back as a biomorphic tattoo, in return protecting the boy from harm. While Jack tries to clear his own name of a crime he didn’t commit, he also helps Draycos uncover a conspiracy to destroy his race. After narrowly escaping service with a band of mercs, Jack and Draycos know that whoever wants the K’da dead was involved with a Brummga alien—brutish beings known to be tough as nails . . . and dumb as rocks. To get more information, Jack’s “sold” into slavery on a rich Brummga estate, where he has to find out all he can from the computer system while under the cruel watch of a vicious slave master who has no problem killing the help. It’s not going to be easy. But, as always, Draycos has his back . . .
Dragon and Herdsman book cover
#4

Dragon and Herdsman

2006

Orphan Jack Morgan, after losing his Uncle Virgil, has bonded with Dracos, K’da poet-warrior who requires hours daily on his host's back to survive, and escaped with fellow mercenary Alison Kayna, to the primitive Rho Scorvi planet. But they find a small lost colony of Draycos’s own race, the Phookas, grown slow, lethargic, and unintelligent. Before a thief, soldier, and slave, Jack must become a herdsman to protect the Phookas from danger, and guide them deep into the unexplored forest. Starscape 2007 edition includes 5 page Reader Guide with paragraph biography, several student activities and questions.
Dragon and Judge book cover
#5

Dragon and Judge

2007

When orphan Jack Morgan 14 is dragged off by Golvins on planet Semaline because he smells like a Jupa (Judge-Paladin), golden Draycos, poet-warrior of K'da dragon symbiotes, tags along in the form of a back tattoo. Alison, host to newly intelligent K'da Taneem, is kidnapped by Braxton Universis mega-corporation renegade Neverlin and mercenary Colonel Frost to open a safe. The villains who massacred Draycos' scout ships now want the destination of the refugee fleet of surviving K'da dragons and their Shontine hosts, to finish their genocide. Uncle Virge, the artificial intelligence based on Uncle Virgil, the swindler who raised Jack from the age of three, pilots their spaceship Essenay (sounds suspiciously like "S and A"), and keeps the secret of who Jack's parents were, and how they died. Danger everywhere, brains and cooperation required.
Dragon and Liberator book cover
#6

Dragon and Liberator

The Sixth Dragonback Adventure

2008

Jack Morgan 14, and Draycos, poet/warrior K’da dragon hiding as tattoo on his back face Neverlin, who killed Jack’s parents and destroyed the scout fleet of which Draycos was the sole survivor. When their friend Alison is captured, Jack gives himself up, and Draycos is imprisoned too. How will the duo prevent both species' annihilation?
The Dragonback Series Books 1–3 book cover
#1-3

The Dragonback Series Books 1–3

2005

The first three adventures in the Dragonback series. Dragon and Thief: Young thief and con artist Jack Morgan is hiding out on an uninhabited planet after he’s falsely accused of a crime. But his solitude is interrupted when Draycos, a warrior whose reptilian race is being targeted for extinction, makes an emergency landing. The two will be able to survive, but only if they literally bond together . . . Dragon and Soldier: When all is well, Draycos looks like nothing more than a tattoo on Jack Morgan’s back. But when Jack’s threatened, the K’da warrior appears in his true, dragonlike form. Together they go undercover to investigate a mercenary outfit connected to the extermination of Draycos’s people, and it turns out Jack isn’t the only new recruit with a secret . . . Dragon and Slave: Following a lead, Jack becomes a slave on a Brummga alien estate where he must find out all he can while under the cruel watch of a vicious slave master who has no problem killing the help. Fortunately, Draycos always has his back.

Author

Timothy Zahn
Timothy Zahn
Author · 78 books
Timothy Zahn attended Michigan State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1973. He then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and achieved an M.S. degree in physics in 1975. While he was pursuing a doctorate in physics, his adviser became ill and died. Zahn never completed the doctorate. In 1975 he had begun writing science fiction as a hobby, and he became a professional writer. He and his wife Anna live in Bandon, Oregon. They have a son, Corwin Zahn.
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