I hope this group doesn't mind, but I started reading this thread because of the book being discussed. I read Dragondoom several years ago. It was the second McKiernan book I read, and I have become a big fan of his Mithgar novels. But I will admit Dragondoom is not one of his better works. If you don't mind, I thought I would give the group a little background on McKiernan and his Mithgar novels.
I didn't have a problem with Dragondoom jumping forward and backward in time, because the first McKiernan novel I read, The Eye of the Hunter, did the same thing. And was a lot more successful in its use of that technique. That's because Dragondoom was written earlier, when McKiernan was still learning to be a fiction writer.
I don't remember right off hand what McKiernan did before he became a fiction writer -- some technical job in the defense industry -- but he turned to writing when he was laid up at home for an extended time after a severe accident. He read Tolkien's work, then decided to write a "sequel," if you can imagine that. After finishing it, he shopped it around to various publishers. This is when he learned about copyright laws and such, and that you just couldn't write a book set in another author's world, and use characters and events from that world, without permission.
So in order to get the book published, he changed the names and places, etc., to it wouldn't violate any copyrights. This was the Iron Call, and like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, was split into three volumes by the publisher because of the size.
His next book was the Silver Call, then Dragondoom. Having read Eye of the Hunter first, when I was reading Dragondoom I saw how McKiernan was attempting to grow as a writer in Dragondoom, and could appreciate it since I knew his writing would improve later.
As far as the Mithgar novels as a whole, McKiernan's "hook" if you will for the stories is that he found ancient, original scrolls or texts that were written by an unknown author from Mithgar, and he merely translated them for a modern audience. Sort of like what Ed Greenwood used to do with his Elminster articles in Dragon Magazine -- pretending Elminster really did exist in another dimension, and would visit Ed to dictate information about the Forgotten Realms in exchange for ice cream. So that accounts for some of the bard-like quality of his writing -- he's trying to write as if the stories were written by someone else long ago.
As far as the changes between archaic, formal and informal language, one of the things McKiernan does is claim that some of the races of Mithgar use different styles of language, and he tries to maintain that feel when he "translates" their language. The elves, for example, use very archaic expressions such as "thee" and "thou." I'll admit this didn't bother me too much whenever I read his work, but I can see where it would be bothersome to people not familiar with his work, or who prefer a more consistent style of writing.
I hope my post gives the group some understanding and insight into McKiernan and his writing, as that was my sole intention. I am not trying to change anyone's mind about whether you should like or dislike his work. Hopefully I haven't hijacked your discussion too far off course.
But I would recommend reading Eye of the Hunter. This is one of the best fantasy books I've ever read. In fact, I include it on my list of my 10 favorite books ever, of any genre. Your mileage may vary, but it is a very interesting book.
I am enjoying reading everyone's take on the book so I'll follow the other discussion wether I read the next book or not.
