The Dragon Never Sleeps is a 1988 sci-fi novel by Glen Cook. An epic scale story is set in a galaxy spanning empire, commonly known as Canon Space. It has been several thousand years since humans defeated and subjugated all of the rival species in their part of the galaxy. Canon Law is enforced by the Guardships, giant sentient space vessels with an immortal crew of cloned soldiers. Guardships represent the pinnacle of human military, technical and scientific superiority, being the supreme, unchallenged power for millennia. No enemy can escape their harsh and swift judgement — be it rebellious aliens or scheming trade barons of the Great Houses.
The plot perspective switches between various characters, including:
- Simon, Valerena and Blessed Tregesser - the ruling family of a Tregesser House;
- Lupo Provik, Simon's right-hand man and security advisor of the House;
- Hanaver Strate, commanding officer of a VII Gemina guardship;
- Jo Klass, sergeant from VII Gemina's planet assault force;
- Kez Maefele, one of the few remaining aliens of an ancient Ku race - the most formidable enemy the Guardships have ever encountered;
And a great number of other humans, aliens, A.I.s and artificial biological constructs, involved in a series of dramatic events that may reshape the face of the entire galaxy.
This book provides examples of:
- Crapsack World: Any Down Town on any inhabited planet is literally a hellhole, infested with all kinds of violent crime, deadly plagues and genetic anomalies.
- Doppelgänger: More than once, the aforementioned clones, driven by survival instinct, try to supplant their original versions. Sometimes they succeed.
- Grey-and-Grey Morality: There's no good and evil. Only strong individuals with conflicting interests and cosmic forces no man can understand.
- Humans Are Warriors: It is never explained whether humans managed to become the dominant species in the galaxy due to their natural warlike qualities or simply due to blind luck. Either way, they ended up conquering every single alien race in known space.
- Long-Lived: Ku's natural lifespan is measured in thousands of years.
- Portal Network: The Web is an unexplainable phenomenon - a network of hyperspace "threads" that allows starships to cover thousands of light years in mere hours or days.
- Resurrective Immortality: Any soldier of the Guardship fleet can be resurrected in a cloned body.
- Space Romans: Human empire, the Canon Space, is heavily based upon the Roman Empire at the height of its power. Lampshaded by the fact that all Guardships are named after the Roman legions.
- Void Between the Worlds: Web Space is a plane of existence that defies all known laws of physics.
- War Is Hell: For guardship soldiers, life is a non-stop combat operations interchanged with decades (or even centuries) of cryogenic sleep. They get used to it, though.
