Whether it’s imagining yourself charging into battle astride a mighty beast or daydreaming about flying through the clouds on the back of a peaceful one, who hasn’t wished to befriend a dragon? The Book of Dragons, edited by Jonathan Strahan, is a dragon lover’s dream.
The collection contains twenty nine stories and poems by some of the greatest modern fantasy authors, featuring dragons from different myths and cultures around the world, as well as mechanical and metaphorical ones. As with all anthologies, this one too is a mishmash of stories that might strike a chord with you, and stories you may not about. Along with fantasy, some of these tales also overlap with several other genres such as sci-fi, crime fiction, and urban fantasy. The dragons range from the more usual shape-shifting, gold-hoarding kind to terrifying and heroic beasts to cute, small ones who slowly steal pieces of your soul to grow, and each one of them will keep you engaged.
In general, all of the pieces are captivating and keep you turning pages to find out what happens next, though some do start off a little slowly, especially the longer stories, and again some are so bizarre. For example, Yuli by Daniel Abraham; there are two parallel narratives with no apparent connection between them and that requires some getting used to. Then there are pieces like A Whisper of Blue by Ken Liu, which is a collection of interviews with multiple people, and those take a while to start making sense and taking the familiar shape of a story. The Last Hunt by Aliette de Bodard is, to my understanding, a prequel to her novella In the Vanisher’s Palace, and to readers unfamiliar with said novella, the story might seem a bit incomprehensible. Matriculation by Elle Katharine White tells the story of a mechanical dragon and its owner, and while the premise is intriguing, it ends too abruptly for the reader to connect with it.
Out of all the pieces, these were the ones that really stood out to me, and I think they accurately represent the diverse assortment of stories offered:
Hikayat Sri Bujang, or, The Tale of the Naga Sage by Zen Cho
This one tells the story of a naga prince struggling between choosing the path of self-enlightenment and taking up the responsibilities of his father. Told in a light and humorous way, Sri Bujang’s story manages to be satisfactory despite being relatively shorter than most stories included.
Habitat by K. J. Parker
Habitat fuses together two different storylines, one about an endless, pointless war that brings about only devastation and countless deaths, and another about laying a trap for a dragon. Despite the sombre issues it discusses, the story is hilarious and will make you laugh out loud.
Pox by Ellen Klages
In spite of the anthology being all about dragons, some of the pieces allow them to take the back seat and instead choose to shine the spotlight on a different theme, in this particular case, Chinese culture and mouth-watering Chinese food. The story is about a girl whose aunt takes her to Chinatown in San Francisco with promises of a great adventure and lots of dragons.
The Nine Curves River by R. F. Kuang
R. F. Kuang is the primary reason I so looked forward to this anthology, and she of course didn’t disappoint. The Nine Curves River is a lyrical and deeply emotional story about a pair of sisters, one of whom has to sacrifice herself to the dragon to end a drought. Kuang manages to pack an insane amount of worldbuilding in the span of only a few pages. She also proves she’s fully capable of shattering reader hearts no matter how little space she’s given.
The Long Walk by Kate Elliott
A strong, feminist story set in a world where women are considered dead once their male guardian dies, this is another of those stories where dragons don’t take the centre stage. In this one, dragons symbolise liberty.
We Continue by Anne Leckie and Rachel Swirsky
A poignant, beautifully written story about dragons who operate as a hive mind, this one will make your heart ache, while also delivering a message about how we have to learn to move on and survive even after losing someone we thought we couldn’t live without. We Continue is going to stay with you for a long time.
We Don’t Talk About the Dragon by Sarah Gailey
This is the story of a young girl from a dysfunctional family, with an abusive father, who befriends the dragon living in their barn. The story ends on an empowering note, and will resonate with a lot of readers.
To sum it up: all of these short fiction pieces were extraordinarily creative and immersive, and I highly recommend The Book of Dragons if you are a fantasy lover! And if you love dragons (as all right-minded people should), I hope you don’t need much encouragement to pick this one up. You won’t regret it, I promise.
The Book of Dragons is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of July 7th 2020.
Will you be picking up The Book of Dragons? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Scott Lynch, R.F. Kuang, Kate Elliott, Ken Liu, Todd McCaffrey, Garth Nix, Peter S. Beagle, and other modern masters of fantasy and science fiction put their unique spin on the greatest of mythical beasts—the dragon—in never-before-seen works written exclusively for this fantasy anthology compiled by award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan and with art by Rovina Cai!
Here there be dragons . . .
From China to Europe, Africa to North America, dragons have long captured our imagination in myth and legend. Whether they are rampaging beasts awaiting a brave hero to slay or benevolent sages who have much to teach humanity, dragons are intrinsically connected to stories of creation, adventure, and struggle beloved for generations.
Bringing together nearly thirty stories and poems from some of the greatest science fiction and fantasy writers working today— Garth Nix, Scott Lynch, R.F. Kuang, Ann Leckie & Rachel Swirsky, Daniel Abraham, Peter S. Beagle, Beth Cato, Zen Cho, C. S. E Cooney, Aliette de Bodard, Kate Elliott, Theodora Goss, Ellen Klages, Ken Liu, Patricia A McKillip, K. J. Parker, Kelly Robson, Michael Swanwick, Jo Walton, Elle Katharine White, Jane Yolen, Kelly Barnhill, Brooke Bolander, Sarah Gailey, and J. Y. Yang—and illustrated by award-nominated artist Rovina Cai with black-and-white line drawings specific to each entry throughout, this extraordinary collection vividly breathes fire and life into one of our most captivating and feared magical creatures as never before and is sure to become a treasured keepsake for fans of fantasy, science fiction, and fairy tales.
