Book Review: The Fox and the Dragons

Reviewed by Melissa Suggitt

This is what happens when women lead the resistance—the revolution is personal.

It’s 2086 and the world is cracked dry. Power is gone, cults rise, and two women—one born a protector, the other shaped by vengeance—are the only ones who stand between what’s left of humanity and total collapse.

The Fox and the Dragons is the second book in Norman Luce’s Future History trilogy, and it hits like a sunbaked fist to the chest. It blends post-apocalyptic grit with character-driven emotional depth, serving up Mad Max energy with a soulful undercurrent of fierce female resilience.

Set nearly fifty years after “The Wave” strips the planet of all non-biological electricity, society has fractured into tribalized pockets of survival. Maya, the no-nonsense leader of Douglass Ranch, is called back into action when her closest ally, Kali, sends a desperate message: the Trade Post is under attack by a brutal cult known as the Dreaded Dragons. What follows is a taut, fast-paced journey of loyalty, trust, and power—not just the kind we lost, but the kind we find in each other.

Maya and Kali are the fire and steel at the heart of this story. Their bond is earned, raw, and deeply human. Maya’s strength lies in her compassion and clarity; Kali, in her pain and grit. The evolution of their dynamic is one of the book’s most satisfying arcs. “She’s… She’s my friend,” Kali says at a critical moment, and those four words carry the weight of battlefields and betrayals.

And then there’s Inari. 

Oh, Inari. The nonverbal fox companion who communicates through presence, empathy, and body language that somehow speaks louder than words. That a character with no dialogue feels this vivid is a testament to Luce’s skill. If anything, my one quibble is that I want more Inari.

Despite its novella length, this story is absolutely packed with immersive action and thoughtful worldbuilding. The combat scenes are lean and gripping, never flashy for the sake of spectacle. It reads like Luce trusts your imagination to do the work and you’ll thank him for it. The imagery is brutal but never gratuitous. “The guards open fire at the cultists with everything they have: arrows, spears, old firearms… Even Molotov cocktails.” It’s a chaotic ballet of desperation and survival.

But make no mistake, this isn’t just action for adrenaline’s sake. The story explores power, both the electric kind and the personal kind. It’s about giving people choices when they’ve had them stolen. Maya and Kali’s dynamic captures this perfectly: trust built from trauma and hope kindled in shared decision-making.

The Fox and the Dragons doesn’t waste a single beat. It’s a story about choice, about reclaiming agency in a broken world. And while it continues the threads from Come See the Light, it stands strong on its own. The ending leaves the door open for the trilogy’s conclusion, but this chapter delivers its own full arc—and a hell of a good time.

Come for the desert cults and hidden blades. Stay for the resilience, the reckoning, and the fox. 

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