Nothing But Blue Skies

Nothing But Blue Skies is a humorous fantasy novel by English author Tom Holt. It was first published in the UK by Orbit Books in 2001.

Plot introduction

The plot of the book concerns a Chinese Dragon, Karen, who falls in love with a mortal, Paul, and so decides to become mortal herself in the hope that they get together. However, she is not any ordinary dragon; she is the daughter of the adjutant-general to the Dragon King of the North West. Naturally her father is worried and comes to look for her, but he falls foul of the Weathermen, who consider dragons their sworn enemies. The Weathermen though fall foul of a government plot to cause a drought in Britain as a pretext for invading Australia. Actually, this is also a cover for the real reason. Paul is really the runaway son of an Australian global media tycoon, who wants to lure the dragons to his outback hideaway. Here he uses a machine to disarm their abilities in order to use their 'third eye' as a super-efficient mode of multimedia communication.

Major themes

This book has its origins in many mythologies and Tom Holt weaves these into a classic love tangle and conspiracy theory with the easy and dry wit of his other humorous novels. He displays a fondness for biting similes reminiscent of Douglas Adams.

Critic Review

This was considered a return to form for the author and that it would "guarantee to cheer up a rainy day".^[1]

References