Dragon lovers rejoice! The Dragon Book is full of amazing, unique tales about, you guessed it, dragons.
Whether portrayed as fire-breathing reptilian beasts at war with humanity or as noble creatures capable of speech and mystically bonded to the warriors who ride them, dragons have been found in nearly every culture’s mythology. In modern times, they can be found far from their medieval settings in locales as mundane as suburbia or as barren as post-apocalyptic landscapes-and in The Dragon Book, today’s greatest fantasists reignite the fire with legendary tales that will consume readers’ imaginations.
Each of the 19 novellas show a different side of these magical beasts, taking us back to the good old days when dragons reigned supreme in fantasy novels. Though not all of the novellas stuck to the “old” ways, several brought dragons into the modern world. For instance, in JoBoy by Diana Wynne Jones, JoBoy thinks he’s a normal human until he gets ill and discovers there’s a bit more to him than he ever thought. In that cute novella, dragons take on a very unique persona and explains some recent destruction just south of London.
My favorite novella was Dragon’s Deep by Cecelia Holland. In an almost Beauty and the Beast-esque tale, Perla finds herself trapped with a dragon and uses her wits to keep herself alive. Perla was a strong, independent woman in a time when that was unusual. The dragon was the noble creature normally seen in fantasy epics. Together, they weave a story of love and fantasy.
I really don’t want to sit here and go into details about all 19 novellas. So to sum it all up each novella is set up in unique, sometimes breathtaking, worlds and all of the plots have varied paces. If you love dragons, or if you want to learn what all the hubbub about dragons is, then I would highly recommend reading The Dragon Book.
The novellas:
- “Dragon’s Deep” by Cecelia Holland
- “Vici” by Naomi Novik
- “Bob Choi’s Last Job” by Jonathan Stroud
- “Are You Afflicted with Dragons?” by Kage Baker
- “The Tsar’s Dragons” by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
- “The Dragon of Direfell” by Liz Williams
- “Okland Dragon Blues” by Peter S. Beagle
- “Humane Killer” by Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Sykes
- “Stop!” by Garth Nix
- “Ungentle Fire” by Sean Williams
- “A Stark and Wormy Knight” by Tad Williams
- “None so Blind” by Harry Turtledove
- “JoBoy” by Diana Wynne Jones
- “Puz_le” by Gregory Maguire
- “After the Third Kiss” by Bruce Coville
- “The War That Winter Is” by Tanith Lee
- “The Dragon’s Tale” by Tamora Pierce
- “Dragon Storm” by Mary Rosenblum
- “The Dragon’s Bride” by Andy Duncan
I would be interested in reading this one for the Diana Gabaldon and the Naomi Novik stories.
I like the sound of this one! Thanks for the heads up I didn’t know about it.