I am not normally a fantasy reader, but this sounded like fun, and I was not disappointed. Like any anthology, I liked some stories better than others, but overall, this is a good collection

I love dragon stories, and there was at least one or two authors I recognized, so I figured this would be a good read. And parts of it were very good. I especially loved the story set in Wyoming, because they got details right (a rarity). Some of the poems were just bad, but thankfully short, and some of the stories are obviously meant to tie in with other works by their authors, but I was unfamiliar with them so the stories didn't have the same punch that they might for familiar readers. Overall, not a bad collection for those who like the magic and mystery of dragons.

THE BOOK OF DRAGONS is a fantasy anthology like no other. The beauty of a book like this is that you can read various stories and come back to the book as many times as you want. I discovered authors I never heard of, read some favorites, and finally got to read stories from authors I have wanted to read forever. This collection has everything you need to enter into worlds filled with adventure and of course, dragons.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC. I really enjoyed reading the short stories within this book. My library purchased the title and I've seen it on our shelves (which I am glad we decided to do). I will perhaps be adding a story or two to my sci/fi and fantasy book club reading list.

Any fan of dragons and stories about dragons needs this book in their personal library. The variety of stories and the wide range of what one imagines to be a dragon are just a few of the delightful surprises in this collection, and the cover art truly adds to the stunning nature of this book.

Listen to our interview with Jonathan Strahan about THE BOOK OF DRAGONS:
https://www.writersafterdark.com/writers-after-dark-65/

I read the first one and wanted to quit but then read Matriculation and really liked that and will look for that author.

The Book of Dragons is an anthology that collected twenty-nine short stories and poems that explore the legendary dragon across the world. Strahan's passion for the mythological creatures is infectious and evident in his selections, which draw from many different myths and cultures, and paint portraits of dragons ranging from terrifying to heroic, even metaphorical.

Like most anthologies there are weaker contributions and The Book of Dragons is not an exception. There were a couple of poems that took time for me to understand and fewer short stories that I didn't connect to, but it did not dull my enjoyment to this anthology of dragons.

All in all, The Book of Dragons is a heaping hoard of literary gems that for readers who love dragon-powered stories will surely treasure.

I'm not sure what I thought or expected this book would be, but I can say what ever that was, this book wasn't. I did enjoy it, but it was not at all what I had expected in a fun way!

If you like dragons and sci fi, then this book is for you. This is a great collection of stories by a multitude of authors. The stories are well written and different. It was different from what I normally read. I really liked it. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Caro

Dragons are always an interesting topic in stories. There are different kinds and they can either be good or bad. The Book of Dragons is composed of nearly thirty short stories and poems some of which are funny, sad, happy or very serious. The stories have mecha dragons, Naga dragons, DnD dragons, dragons in the mafia, there’s dragon slayers, wyrms, french dragons, mages, priests, among other dragon types.

Here are some of my favorite stories and special mentions:

Matriculation

This short story starts young Magitechnitian, Melee, and her mechanical dragon flying over town looking for textbooks she will need for her studies. The person selling her books is no other than a vampire in a magical shop district. Can you imagine what he wants in payment? Lately Melee has been more stressed than usual. She has her studies to worry about and her father’s store to look after. Melee is determined to graduate and follow in her father’s career, but life won’t give her a break.

This story is a special mention because I would really like to see a full version of it. There’s some questions that one starts coming up with while you’re reading the story, such as, where is her dad? Who is this vampire that is selling her books? What is the mechanism of her mecha dragon? Will Melee get what she wants? And so many more. Definitely a story to keep an eye out for.

Hikayat Sri Bujang, or, The Tale of the Naga Sage

This is a very interesting story with an underrated type of dragon, Nagas. It is also an interesting story for its folklore background. Dragons and water are sometimes related to storms and other weather forecasts, and this story was a good example of what dragons and rain can cause, not to mention the nice and kind ending to it.

Habitat

This story is about a young farmer/dragon slayer-by-accident. One day our young hero is looking after the sheep with his older brother when they notice some of the sheep missing and go looking after them. All of a sudden, the older brother goes missing and a dragon appears. Our hero defeats the dragon out of sheer luck. Years later, the hero is called to capture another dragon, but his life hasn’t been that of a hero who slayed a dragon and survived to tell the tale. Life has changed him in many ways.

This was one of the few stories in the book whose ending left me thinking about it for a while. It is very interesting and has quite the plot twist.

The Nine Curves River

In this story, two sisters take a walk on a festival night during the Lunar New Year celebration. The oldest sister buys the younger one food and sweets to try. The older sister feels remorse for how she has been treating her little sister and tries to make up for it. The festival is fun and there’s much to see that the younger sister hasn’t seen before, but the sun is setting and the two sisters need to be across the island for a very important event.

This is a story I would like at least another chapter to it or a short story sequel. The sisters mention two legends that leave the reader wondering which one is true. It would be nice to know what’s inside the cave as well.

The Exile

In this story, a group of priests from outer space are traveling to scout a new planet. On board is also a dragon. When they arrive at the new planet only one priest and the dragon stay. The priest is now in charge of journaling and cataloging the development of the new planet, but as the priest spends time with the dragon, they learn that there is more to the planet than what they expected. This story has a great narrative and would easily be a very well illustrated comic. Space scenes, inhabited planets, water dragons! A story you don’t want to miss.

Except on Saturdays

Author of The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle shares with us a lovely short story between a teacher and a she-dragon disguised as a human. As one of the few short short stories in the book, we get introduced to one of the last Melusine, a female water spirit with a snake tail for legs. If you’ve read The Last Unicorn you will find this story enchanted and with Beagle’s signature fantasy style.

The Long Walk

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a widow in medieval times in a land of dragons? This story takes the reader through the initial reactions of a noble family after the head of the family dies and his wife becomes a widow. The family has to pay a fee in order to keep their mother, otherwise, she will have to take the long walk to the land of dragons where she will die as a sacrifice to the beasts. But there is more to the land of dragons than what the villagers know. This story has a nice plot twist that turns into an afterlife sort of revelation with a brave and magical ending.

Hoard

One of the other short short stories in the book, in which a dragon takes care of foster children in need of help, but when someone shows unannounced to the dragon’s house, she will do anything to protect her children, for they are hers. I was surprised to know that this short story is by author Seanan McGuire, she has a way with words that always leave you thinking about their double meaning. This was a very motherly and sweet short story 🙂

We Don’t Talk About the Dragon

One of the few very mysterious and intriguing stories of the book. This story is about a family with a dragon living in their barn of which no one can talk about. The knowledge of this dragon stays within the family, no outsiders can know about it. One little girl’s life task has been to feed the dragon and never mention it to anyone else. But is there really a dragon in the barn? Or does the dragon have a different meaning? Very mysterious story indeed.

This book is definitely a must read for the fantasy/dragon fans. The stories are different from one another and interesting in their own way. The Exile is the first story of its genre that I read (can’t spoil much) and very beautifully detailed and narrated. This book is one for your folklore and dragon collection.

this was a great anthology, I enjoyed the stories and I really enjoyed the use of dragons. I look forward to more from this editor.

Its the start of October, my favorite month, and it seems like the perfect time to curl up with a giant book of short stories. Today we will be talking about The Book of Dragons, by a whole hell of a lot of authors and edited by Jonathan Strahan. Jonathan Strahan has been on my radar for a while. He continuously puts out anthologies that pique my curiosity, but not quite enough to divert my reading schedule for a massive pile of short stories. Well, the stars have finally aligned. This is a collection edited by Strahan, it has a serious A-list of authors, and it’s about DRAGONS. Who doesn’t love dragons? Dragons are experiencing a real renaissance right now, so I decided to get into the spirit and dig into this big book of dragons in search of treasure. However, as usual with anthologies, the results were mixed.

To begin, I think Strahan did a fantastic job organizing and gathering up these stories. This is a truly eclectic group of works, and I really enjoyed their diverse nature. There are traditional dragon/sword-and-sorcery stories, tales about metaphorical dragons, poems, inventive takes on what a dragon is, and more. I think holistically, The Book of Dragons is a great package deal that would satisfy any dragon fan looking for more fresh content to dig their greedy claws into. The writers and their dragons are also from nice diverse backgrounds so you really get a nice mix of perspectives on the topic.

On the other hand, there weren’t a lot of stories that stood out as being particularly exemplary to me. What was particularly interesting is that my past experiences with the various authors’ writing had little to no bearing on whether I liked their shorts. Scott Lynch has written some of my favorite books, yet I found his story slow and dull. I feel like I am the only person I know that didn’t like R.F. Kuang’s Poppy War, but her short story was probably my favorite in the entire series. It felt like a number of authors took this as an opportunity to step out of their comfort zone and really take flight to explore new territory with their writing. While I definitely think that is a great thing to do, the resulting product can be a little uneven.

Below is a list of my top five pieces (in no order) from the collection and a little about them. If these sound appealing to you, the book is likely worth buying just for them – and you will get a ton of additional content to explore. Take a look and see what you think:

1) Hikayat Sri Bujang, or, The Tale of the Naga Sage – Zen Cho – Zen Cho’s story is about a naga dragon named Hikayat who abandoned his family (who rule the sea) to live atop a mountain and try to gain enlightenment. He remains there for thousands of years until his sister comes to tell him his father is dying. Hikayat returns home to take over his father’s throne – but finds he can’t quite give up his mountaintop retreat. In the course of commuting back and forth between his mountain and the sea, his natural aura creates monsoons and wrecks the countryside, and he is forced to think about the consequences of his actions.

This story is both cute and clever. It does a really good job of both modernizing dragons while also speaking to their eternal aspects from lore. The reader gets a true understanding of how Cho envisions dragons as their beings that don’t hate humanity but simply do not notice them in their comings and goings. It is fun, cute, emotional, and funny. Definitely recommend.

2) Yuli – Daniel Abraham – This is one of the metaphorical dragons. Abraham tells the story of an US veteran of the War in Afghanistan who comes home to find that his family has abandoned him and left a grandson he doesn’t know on his doorstep. He resents the burden he has been left with, but quickly finds he has much bigger problems to worry about. While the soldier was in the Middle East, he stole a ton of money and brought it back with him. Now enemies have come looking for his hoard and he will destroy any insignificant insects that even think of laying a hand on his treasure…

The metaphor here is fantastic. The story is told from split perspectives. In one, the grandson is playing a game of dungeons and dragons with his friends trying to attack a dragon and steal its treasure. In the second perspective, the grandfather (and metaphorical dragon) is defending his hoard from those who would try to take it. The prose here was phenomenal and the execution of the concept was the best in the entire anthology.

3) Habitat – K. J. Parker – This is one of the more “classic” dragon shorts about a dragon hunter who is recruited by a king to capture a dragon. The story tells the reader about the childhood of the protagonist during which he accidentally killed a dragon and managed to get a reputation as a dragon hunter. It then goes into a lot of fun gritty details about how Parker’s dragons work and how hard they are to hunt and capture while the protagonist tracks a dragon for the king.

This book is a great mix of old and new. The dragons scratch that itch I have for big dangerous beasts that knights set out to slay – with a lot of subversion of expectations mixed in. This short is only a handful of pages long and yet Parker manages to work in a few twists that surprise and delight. I really enjoyed this one, and it continues to cement my opinion that Parker is a great short writer (and a great writer in general).

4) The Nine Curves River – R. F. Kuang – In The Nine Curves River Kuang tells the story of two sisters who are walking into town for a ceremony. The entire story takes place over the course of the walk and is mostly filled with reflection from the older sister about the siblings’ life together. The older sister is very plain and untalented, whereas her younger sister is filled to the brim with talent, beauty, and intelligence. This results, unsurprisingly, in a life filled with jealousy and spite from the older sister – until this walk. The younger sister has been selected to be sacrificed to the dragon that rules the area, and the end of the walk will be the end of the younger girl’s life.

Yeah, so, holy christ this story is a gutshot. It is by far the most emotional of all the shorts and as a person with siblings, it felt like Kuang was bombarding me from orbit. It is a masterful work of fiction and I cried at least twice while reading it. It made me sad for a day and I ended up sending awkward ‘I love you’ texts to my brothers. Highly recommended.

5) The Long Walk – Kate Elliott – Elliott’s The Long Walk is a powerful feminist piece that isn’t afraid to bare its teeth. It tells the story of a widow who recently lost her husband. In Elliott’s world, the sons of the family need to give the church a massive donation upon the death of their father or their mother, of the obviously useless sex, will be thrown into the sea with her husband’s body. The story is about the man’s funeral, the family coming up with the funds to keep their mother alive, and the woman processing the death and her realization that she is a commodity in the world. There are dragons involved but I don’t have enough space to explain how.

The Long Walk is a very smart and powerful commentary on the way society treats women in a package with fantastic prose and an inventive world. It made me think a lot about what women struggle with on a day-to-day basis and reassess some of my preconceived notions about what it means to be a woman. Forced me to do some introspections, great writing, A+.

Despite my minor complaints, this anthology is a great collection of works and one of the better anthologies I have ever read. I recommend that you pick it up and skip around to the stories that inspire your curiosity. There is a lot to find in this big book of dragons.

Rating: The Book of Dragons – 7.5/10
-Andrew

The Book of Dragons is a magical compilation of stories. Dragons have always been one of my favourite creatures, and being able to see so many variations of dragons in one book is amazing. Some of the stories in the book are so intriguing to me that I want more of that world. I have found a number of new authors to follow, and I imagine I will go back to this book many times. Any lover of dragons will enjoy the stories in this book, and I recommend it to anyone who wants a little variety in their dragon meal-plan.

I love anthologies. When I heard a book about dragons and poetry I knew I had to read it. As with any anthology there are good ones and bad ones. For me there were more good than bad.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a middle-of-the-road read for me. While I liked a lot of aspects, there were some things I disliked, and overall, I just didn't feel strongly enough about the book to really warrant adding an in-depth review to the blog.

Wow.
I have been reading stories involving dragons and fantasy worlds for as long as I can remember. This collection seemed right up my alley.
The stories utilize dragons from a variety of cultures and in varied and sometimes tangential ways. I took my time with this book... more so than I usually do because so many of the stories were so good that I wanted to linger in those worlds created. I wanted to find longer books and novels and series by the author living in this world (they don't exist so far as I know).
My favorite stories from the collection were: "La Vitesse" and "Maybe just go up there and ask". Both were complete worlds full of energy and life and were great tales besides.
A few stories were misses for me, and a couple of the poems left me indifferent, but by and large this collection is full of the wonder and power of dragons.. It is full of the foolishness and bravery of those who challenge them. It is a connection I fully intend to read again.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy of this book.

My Review: How could I not be excited about a book full of dragons, not to mention some of the top authors in fantasy and science fiction! While this was a pretty chunky book, the stories were pretty easy to read in single sittings. I loved the variety of genres in this book, I expected mostly high fantasy style books but there were a lot of sci-fi and urban fantasy style stories. There were also several poems scattered throughout the book. As with any anthology collection, there are going to be stories that suit you, some that blow you away and some that just don't work for you; but I have to say, overall I really enjoyed every story in this book! Even though the authors sometimes had to create a whole world and story within a few pages, each one felt so complete and satisfying. This book also featured several authors that I wanted to read but have been hesitant to pickup due to the size of their books, so it was a great way to see if their writing style works for me (and I can say, I am not going to hesitate any longer). Some of my favorites from the collection include La Vitesse by Kelly Robson, The Long Walk by Kate Elliott, Hoard by Seanan McGuire and The Nine Curves River by R.F. Kuang. This was a fantastic collection of stories and I am definitely going to be adding a copy to my shelves.


My Rating: This was a book I am very glad I took my time to savor, it took me nearly a month to read it with only reading a story a day or every few days. It was one of my favorite anthology collections to date. I loved so many stories throughout this book and am excited to explore more works from several of the authors. I give it a rating of Four Paws!

Wide-ranging, masterfully edited collection of dragon tales by some of today's best sci-fi/fantasy writers and poets. With streaks of melancholy and humor, with pockets of charm and horror, these wildly different stories demonstrate the powerful position and creativity that dragons have in our imaginative worlds.

NetGalley and the publisher provided me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Book of Dragons is a collection of poetry and short stories by an exciting group of speculative fiction authors edited by the oft-awarded Jonathan Strahan.

There are twenty-nine works throughout, of all sorts. Encased in this tome are stories about love, loss, tropes flipped on their heads. There are stories of scary dragons, loving dragons, happy dragons, intelligent dragons, bestial dragons, and more. Stories of gods and spirits, stories of Earth, stories of space.

Some of the stories are high-intensity action stories. Some of them are deeply moving stories. Some are interview-style slices of life. They're all tied together through the ongoing theme--dragons, of course.

As I've noted, this is a diverse book. The contributing authors are a diverse lot, and the stories they tell are even more diverse. In addition, each author is trying to say something new, something different about dragons. There are no cliche stories of a knight in full plate riding up to the mouth of a cave, and then slaying the dragon through sheer bravery, determination, and strength. There are no maidens taken captive in an abandoned castle tower, ready to be saved by the prince and made queen.

This is for the best. Cliche dragons in cliche settings are still fun; they're still something I want to read. But really, new, unique dragons or dragons in unique settings are so refreshing.

And the poems! I'm not a poet, nor am I someone well versed in poetry. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the poems. That's not something I often say, but I was really into these.

The negatives for this book are few and far between. There are stories that speak to some people more than others, and while this is the nature of an anthology, some of the stories are relatively slow plot-wise. This isn't a problem in and of itself, but if the reader isn't connecting with one of the slower stories, it can really drag on. Overall, though, Strahan did a wonderful job of ensuring each story was written and built well to avoid this as much as possible.

Dragons roar, soar, and never bore in this anthology where tales of these fantastical creatures of all different kinds are told. Some giant, some small, some like insects, others like robots, and others bending planets toward their purpose. Many well-known fantasy and science fiction authors contribute to bring together ideas that are so very different, but also gathered toward the same goal, of regaling readers with the purest form of imagination known, the imagination of the very essence of magic, these creatures that resemble dinosaurs, fly like eagles, wield the strength of armies, and are at times more cunning than even the canniest human. With over thirty stories and black-and-white illustrations by Rovina Cai, readers are sure to escape and delight in these tales of the most magical creatures.

I love dragons, and really, who doesn't? I have loved them since I was a child, and so a compendium of these amazing creatures piqued my interest from the moment I heard of it. Another reason I really wanted to read these stories is because The Poppy War's R.F. Kuang is a contributing author, and her story did not disappoint. Focusing on two sisters, the story follows them on the final day of one of the sisters' lives, and is concerned with the guilt of one sister over her jealousy of the other sister, and how it has brought her sister to the end of her life. Of course, there is a dragon involved, however you'll have to read the story to find out more. There are so many other interesting stories here, including dragons versus demons, dragons in the present day, dragons living in the future, and so much more. There were two stories I did not care for, both of which featured inappropriate relationships built on abuses of power, however I am, just like you are, free to skip stories that are not personally agreeable in this anthology. If dragons get your mind racing and blood flowing, that is more than a good enough reason to fly down to your local bookstore and secure this precious hoard of stories. Whether they are called drakes, hydra, wyverns, wyrms, or anything else, they are dragons, and they are some of the most magnificent and persistent creations of the human mind across time and culture. The Book of Dragons is a must for anybody who loves to escape the ordinary.