I've been looking forward to The Book of Dragons, a collection of poems and short stories edited by Jonathan Strahan, for some time now. So, I was pleasantly thrilled to find an advanced copy of the book had landed in my inbox courtesy of HarperCollins and NetGalley.

The Book of Dragons features stories about dragons by some of the best-known writers of fantasy and science fiction today, including Peter S. Beagle, Patricia A. McKillip, Jane Yolen, Ken Liu, Sarah Gailey, Theodora Goss, and Garth Nix, among many others. The stories are diverse and varied, and there is one to suit almost all tastes. Within these pages you'll find modern retellings of myths, urban fantasy, adventure tales, science fiction, and everything in between.

The real pleasure of reading this collection is discovering how an author might subvert and transform the dragon beyond common sword and sorcery tropes. Many stories achieve this effect memorably, such as my favorite tale in the collection, "La Vitesse" by Kelly Robson, an homage to the movie Speed but with a busload of school children and a dragon in hot pursuit. Another is "The Long Walk" by Kate Elliott which features an unusual origin stories for dragons. Some stories focus on metaphorical dragons, such as "Yuli" by Daniel Abraham, where the protagonist's past catches up to him with explosive results. Peter Beagle's story "Except on Saturdays" is a memorable exploration of the legend of Melusine and was thoroughly enjoyable. I also loved "Camouflage" by Patricia A. McKillip, especially her charming magic school and her unusual camouflaged dragons. Zen Cho's story "Hikayat Sri Bujong, or, The Tale of the Naga Sage," is a funny and touching story about a naga sage struggling to find inner peace while pleasing his royal family--neither are easy tasks. The poems scattered throughout the collection also enhance the emotional themes, such as Amal El-Mohtar's poem "A Final Knight to Her Love and Foe" and "What Heroism Tells Us" by Jane Yolen.

I highly recommend this anthology to readers of speculative fiction seeking a high-quality literary escape. I will certainly return to this collection and re-read my favorite stories again and again.

I don't read very many story collections, but I knew I wanted to read this as soon as I read the title. I absolutely love dragons! They are a staple in fantasy and many authors are extremely creative and original when it comes to featuring them in their stories. I was hopeful that these would follow suit and I'd get to read about dragons like I normally wouldn't. When I usually think of them I think of them from stories like The Hobbit, or Game of Thrones. Classic, fire-breathing creatures that hoard riches. I am very pleased to say that this book lived up to the hype around it!

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love reading about dragons and this book has a whole bunch of different ones! I did like reading the stories, though I wish some of them could be turned into full length novels (I will keep my fingers crossed). Like the mechanical dragon one and getting a book at the pawn shop run by a vampire, or the one with the dragons powering the cities with their fire or Lucky's accidental experiment created miniature dragon or the dragon foster mother. They were so interesting! I did like that I did not have to sit for a long time reading it. If I had a few minutes I could just read one of the stories and then think about it while I was busy with other things. It was quite enjoyable. Though I did sit for awhile and also read several of the stories at once. It was like eating a plate full of appetizers, each one yummy but different.

I also was introduced to some new authors (though several were written by my favorite authors) with this anthology and now I have added even more books to my TBR list! That might not be a good thing but I know I will never run out of good books to read!

An amazing collection of original stories from some of the best SFF writers working today. Strahan's editing work for the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year anthology series has been fantastic so I knew he would choose some real stunners for this collection focused on dragons. As will all anthologies, you will likely enjoy some stories more than others, but the overall quality is so great I would be hard-pressed to choose favorites. Dragon lore in mainstream collections tends to skew in the direction of your typical Eurocentric, vaguely medieval types and this collection is much more diverse in terms of both the writers and the range of cultural traditions present in the stories. A really strong anthology is you like dragons, or just well-made fantasy stories in general.

As with most collections, this book has some stories I loved and some I did not. The grand thing about that is, there's probably a little something for everyone. The things I was "meh" about, someone else might adore. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing contributions from authors I already know and love, and I'm glad to have been introduced to some new-to-me authors, whose works I look forward to checking out. Entries featuring magitech and history captivated me the most, and several of the pieces featuring young girls discovering their own draggonness, in one way or another, were delightful. I bounced off of a lot of the gritter, masculine-focused material. But that's me, personally, and will not be a universal experience. On the whole, it's remarkable simply to have so many excellent authors collected together on such an enduringly fascinating concept.

This anthology is one of my new favorites. I have a huge love doe dragons: so a book filled with stories about them is right up my alley.
I really enjoyed the diversity of the stories with in this novel, each author brought with them a different flavor and I was so happy with this story. Can’t wait to get a physical copy of this book.

Jonathan Strahan has compiled an excellent anthology on a well loved topic. The list of authors is stellar and they do not disappoint. Here there be dragons! But not as expected. A perfect set of stories to dip into and then think about.

I want to thank Harper Voyager for providing me with an e-ARC, via Netgalley. All of these thoughts and opinions are my own.

I saw someone talk about this as an upcoming book they couldn’t wait for. I needed to read this because DRAGONS! Also, I saw that R.F. Kuang had a story included. I requested a copy but didn’t think I would be approved because it released within a week. I did though and I’m so glad that I did!

I don’t typically read anthologies, they are harder for me to read because you have all these different writing styles. Once I got into some stories, they were over and I had to start over. I did find that my pacing was slower than normal but it was so worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There were so many amazing stories that will stay with me for a long time. There are some stories that I had a harder time connecting to. I believe there were only 3 and there’s nearly 30 stories, so that’s a great ratio.

One story that really got me emotional was, A Whisper of Blue by Ken Liu. It was so interesting and so beautiful. I actually had a hard time getting back into this book after that story. I felt like I was having a book hangover from one single story!

It shouldn’t be a surprise that I absolutely loved R.F. Kuang’s story called, The Nine Curves River. It was such a beautiful but heart breaking story!

I also really, really enjoyed the story, We Don’t Talk About the Dragon by Sarah Gailey. It had me hooked from the beginning and I was so intrigued because there is so much mystery. I absolutely loved how it ended!

I think one of the stories that I liked least, was towards the end, Maybe Just Go Up There and Talk to It by Scott Lynch. I don’t know if it was because I was tired or what. It just was really crazy and I had a harder time with the writing style.

There is a lot of poetry mixed into this book and I actually quite enjoyed it. I think I’m starting to come around to reading more poetry.

One of the things that I loved most about this was all the different ways these stories portrayed dragons. It wasn’t just your straight forward fire breathing fantasy dragon. There’s so many different ways that authors used dragons in their stories and they were full of imagination.

Overall, I really enjoyed this anthology! I found I liked a lot of new to me authors. There are so many different writing styles and it was just a lot of fun. If you are looking for some great stories about dragons and some a way to try out some new authors, this is a great way to go! I really want to buy this book because I want to see the Illustrations and it just needs to be on my shelf.

I came across The Book of Dragons anthology, edited by prolific, award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan, while I was looking for a good upcoming book to review. Of course, I always look for something grim and, well, dark because that is what I and our readers enjoy. I was wary, of course; I didn’t want to accidentally stumble into any high fantasy noblebright nonsense. (Kidding! Nothing wrong with that stuff, just not my cup of ale.) But I felt myself yearning nostalgically for a battle or two with a dragon. To be honest, I miss Wiglaf, and I wanted to see if I could find him here. I did not. However, I did find many extremely well-written, if somewhat unconventional, dragon stories and poems, and best of all, a new story by Grimdark Magazine favourite author (and extreme recluse these days) Scott Lynch, which is almost itself worth the cover price (of the Kindle version at least).

The Book of Dragons comprises 29 stories and poems that essentially take dragons out of their comfort caverns and place them into mostly modern settings. The list of authors is quite impressive. In addition to Lynch, The Book of Dragons contains stories or poems by Garth Nix, R.F. Kuang, Ann Leckie & Rachel Swirsky, Daniel Abraham, Peter S. Beagle, Beth Cato, 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 one of my new favourites, Zen Cho, whose new brilliant new novella, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, I reviewed here last issue.

I never read reviews that just run down the plot blurbs of each story, so I won’t do that here. Nevertheless, in this diverse and extensive anthology you will find stories about a girl who sells her dragon for tuition money, dragon domestic squabbling, a society that uses dragon energy, a beautiful poem by everything-award-winner Jo Walton about the Norse dragon Nidhog, a dragon spirit summoned by a mobster, the son of a knight who captures a dragon for his father to battle, a girl who loves Le Guin’s Earthsea novels visits San Francisco’s Chinatown for the first time, a girl who sacrifices her younger sister to mollify dragons, an exile sentenced to prepare a new planet with a dragon, a guy who falls in love with a dragon at the University of California Berkeley, a school bus chased by a dragon, a society that sacrifices destitute widows to demon-eating dragons, a dragon procured for a puppet show, a dragon woman who hoards foster children, a girl and a demon boy who want to become dragons, a woman who gives up being a lawyer to live with dragons, and more and more. By now, you can tell that this is not an anthology of conventional dragon tales, which I found both good, since many, many clichés are avoided, and not-so-good, I was hoping for more real, old-school dragons. There are, however, some very good and fairly grimdark stories here, which for me, made a well-written, surprising anthology all the better, so that’s what I’ll focus on.

One of my favourites stories in the anthology is “Where the River Turns to Concrete” by Brooke Bolander. It’s a contemporary tale about a river dragon summoned to work for a mobster. Aside from the violence and the grim urban setting, this one falls squarely into the grimdark realm thanks to the moral ambiguity of its main character, Joe. Joe is a hired goon for mobster Raymond Sturges’s gang. He’s not sure how he became a mob thug, but the pay is good, he can’t remember ever doing anything else, and he’s suited for role both physically—he’s huge—and psychologically (or perhaps spiritually)—he feels no compunction about hurting and killing people. He was found by Sturges huddled and completely naked in the corner of a parking garage. He is grateful Sturges gave him something to do to support himself. However, when a meets a young woman and her young son at the apartment complex where he stays, he finds himself feeling other human emotions that he doesn’t know what to do with. In the end, of course, his two natures must clash violently and terminally. “Where the River Turns to Concrete” is not only grimdark (IMHO), but it contains the emotional intensity of the best shorties. Yes, it has plenty of action, but the emotional engagement is what makes this story special. You’ll have to read it to find out where the dragon fits in.

Another emotionally compelling story, which is both grim and dark, is “The Long Walk” by prolific fantasy novelist Kate Elliot. In this beautifully told story, a new widow, Asvi, is spared her social duty of taking the long walk to sacrifice herself to demon-eating dragons because her deceased husband has left her enough to subsist on. Less-well-off women must walk to the mountains to sacrifice themselves to the dragons, not only so the dragons will keep the demons away but also to avoid becoming a burden on society. However, when her family moves her from the big upstairs bedroom with a distant view of the dragon mountains into a lower level room with a view of the garden wall, she begins to question how much she really wants to live in her new role. Aside from being a grim tale of aging and women’s role in society, this story gives a penetrating psychological insight into the roles of family members, their relationships, and also a look at class stratification in society. Even more compelling, perhaps, is that it is exquisitely and vividly told, tense with emotion, and full of surprises. It is probably my favourite of the many excellent stories in this anthology.

I would be remiss here, I think, if I did not discuss Scott Lynch’s excellent story, “Maybe Just Go Up There and Talk to It,” since he is a favourite of our staff and our readers. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it. The story begins after the nuclear explosions of World War II. (Yes, it is way out of the Gentleman Bastard’s world.) Soon after the war, strange grey clouds appear all over the world, and people soon discover that the clouds are leaving dragons on earth wherever they appear. At first a few hunters arm themselves against the dragons—an elephant gun proves to be a powerful weapon against them—but even when they’ve killed a few dragons, many more take their place. A down-and-out American veteran of the Pacific War, Emery Blackburn, is given the job of rural deputy sheriff as the police try to bulk up, but as the years progress, society finds they cannot control the dragon invasion, and the government writes off rural communities, including Blackburn’s own, as lost,. “Maybe Just Go Up There and Talk to It” shows that Lynch’s writing is as dense, vivid, and beautiful as ever. The story is full of human compassion, which perhaps its most compelling draw, but Lynch’s writing brings his dragons to life as frightening, deadly beasts. The dragons in the story are the most vividly and beautifully detailed in the anthology, and at the same time are probably the most vicious. For me, though, Lynch’s writing is the grabber. His prose is dense and fast-moving, animated and eloquent, and full of wry humour and surprises. Yes, it made me pine for another Gentleman Bastard book. Please, Scott, you can do it!

All the stories and poems in The Book of Dragons are high quality, well written, and engaging. Although I enjoyed some more than others, I think most readers who enjoy reading about dragons and who enjoy diverse contemporary fantasy short stories will want to add this to their collections. Yes, I would rather be reviewing the next Gentleman Bastard novel, and though The Book of Dragons might not be ideal for readers who strictly read grimdark, it should definitely satisfy general fantasy readers and should serve as an excellent model for good short-story writing.

It was not what I expected, not what I’d hoped for, and not at all bad. I pretty much gobbled it up like Smaug at a harvest festival.

Review originally published in Grimdark Magazine #23. July 1 2020
Buy The Book of Dragons ed. Jonathan Strahan

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The Book of Dragons is a collection of stories and poems involving dragons, including the current masters of fantasy writing. It is also illustrated by award-nominated artist Rovina Cai, who has black and white line drawings accompanying each entry into this collection.

It opens with a poem by Jane Yolen, then the story "Matriculation" by Elle Katharine White. Dragons are a means of transport for the magitechnician student, a vampire is a pawnbroker that takes payment in blood, and there all sorts of magical creatures that exist. But that doesn't erase feelings of loss or the realities of paying for school, or that degrees and certificates will always be barriers to success for those unable to obtain them. Dragons in the modern world can be sued in court in Zen Chu's entry, and they're a source of cheap energy in Ken Liu's.

Not all dragons are literal. "Yuli" has dragons in the form of the title character's grandson playing Dungeons and Dragons, though he had a gold hoard of his own that he's willing to brutally defend.

We hear a lot about a dragon in "The Nine Curves River," a tale told in second person that is melancholy and thoughtful. We don't see it, and the lyrical words tell us more about the people of the village and how sisters can treat each other.

Rereading the story just brings out more of the sadness and regret, and everything I would expect from the author of the acclaimed novel "The Poppy War." Peter S. Beagle's entry involves Melusine, a half-human and half-dragon woman that shape changes every Saturday, and has for centuries.

Seanan McGuire's contribution is also a judgment against the callousness of the foster care system, and the children cast aside. (Also, her introductory blurb is hilarious.) Aliette de Bodard's story includes Vietnamese characters and a science fiction blend to the fantasy involving dragons.

I love that we see so much of the Eastern traditions of dragons in a lot of these stories. The culture is featured in small ways and large ones, and there are fantastic ways that the mythology is changed and modified to give life to the tales we have here. Even though they're short, the stories here still pull at the heartstrings and make us feel and think. Those are always the best kind of stories, and these are made better yet by featuring dragons.

I ended up DNF-ing this book at around 76%

I really didn't know what I was expecting with this book. Overall, there were some stories that stood out to me and that I enjoyed, but there was still a lot going on with this anthology that made it difficult for me to get immersed in the different stories. I wanted to finish the book, but I wasn't able to since, like I said, there was a lot going on and it was hard to really get in the flow anthology with the different stories and even poetry.

I was intrigued by this anthology as a dragon lover, and was pleased to see it featured a mix of familiar names and new ones, and that they came from a variety of backgrounds, thus being able to present the ways dragons manifest not only in Western fantasy, but in other traditions as well. I didn’t care that much for the poetry, as it’s not my favorite medium, the exception being Jane Yolen’s short, but sweet “A Nice Cuppa,” which captured the imagery of a young dragon perfectly.
As for the stories, I naturally gravitated more toward works by authors I knew and had loved previously, like Elle Katharine White or Theodora Goss, but it also provided me a nice taster for some other authors I wanted to try but hadn’t yet, like Seanan McGuire or Ken Liu.

<I>Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in return for an honest review</I>.

Overall this is a great collection of stories. What most impressed me about the collection as a whole was the sheer variety of genres, styles, and dragon types collected here. Usually when you have a genre/theme based anthology you get at least two or three stories similar enough that they are a little hard to distinguish between after you put the book down. No two dragons are quite alike, either, across the 23 stories presented here. Last, there was not a single piece I gave 1 star to, which is a first for me in anthology reviews.

In addition to evaluating the usual factors such as idea, plot, characters, pacing, and language use, I also considered how well dragons were used in the story and how well the story stood on its own.

Note: I did not review the poetry pieces in the book. I don't read that much poetry so my rating for each was based purely on how much I did or did not enjoy it. I also cannot speak to the illustrations in this book as, sadly, my review copy did not include them.

🐉 Matriculation by Elle Katharine White - 3 - A well written, interesting story with a pretty cool setting. Unfortunately, it reads like the prologue of a novel so there is little satisfaction in reaching the end.

🐉 Hikayat Sri Bujang, or, The Tale of the Naga Sage by Zen Cho - 3 - This story had good imagery and the plot wasn't bad, but the main characters could have really been any creatures (including humans with powers) with little to no change in the story.

🐉 Yuli by Daniel Abraham - 4 - A really interesting use of metaphor here and the switching back and forth between real life and a game did a great job of creating the magical realism aspect of the story.

🐉 A Whisper of Blue by Ken Liu - 5 - Fascinating. The themes of memory and forgiveness combined with the world building style create a poignant, beautiful, and utterly believable of tale of modern day dragons.

🐉 Where the River turns to Concrete by Brooke Bolander - 4 - The rarer dragon use and good pacing made for a really interesting story that felt like a real myth. The only downside is that I think the switching between time periods detracted slightly from the climax of the tale. Still one of my favorites, with a strong ending.

🐉 Habitat by K. J. Parker - 3 - A unique take on dragon reproduction will keep this a memorable story. However, the slight choppiness to the writing and a mildly generic main character keep this one at 3 stars for me.

🐉 Pox by Ellen Klages - 3 - I liked the imagery and magical realism aspects of this story. However, I don't know how well this was will do for every reader as some of the best parts of the story rely on you having already read <I>A Wizard of Earthsea</I>.

🐉 The Nine Curves River by R.F. Kuang - 5 - Beautiful. The use of the 2nd person felt very natural within the context of the story, which was well-paced with memorable characters. The poignant ending was what made this really stand out for me.

🐉 Lucky's Dragon by Kelly Barnhill - 3 - This is a cute story that would make a great middle grade read. Unfortunately in short story form the 2nd half of the tale is executed and wrapped up far too quickly.

🐉 The Exile by JY Yang - 3 - The concept and the unique dragon abilities are what I liked most about this tale, and what keep it memorable. However, the personal part of the story and the main human character were both a little generic for me to give this four stars.

🐉 Except on Saturdays by Peter S. Beagle - 2 - "Stunning, ancient and/or powerful creature is, for some inexplicably reason, interested in some generic, middle aged man. Cue waxing poetic and an obligatory "made love" scene." While the language use and pacing are both adequate (which is why I don't give it 1 star), its easily the most generic piece in the collection.

🐉 La Vitesse by Kelly Robson - 4 - Robson does a good job with keeping you on the edge of your seat for this one, even when she's flashing back to previous events. The action was smoothly written and easy to visualize while reading.

🐉 The Long Walk by Kate Elliott - 5 - This is the 2nd anthology this year I've read where Elliott has been a stand out. She has a real talent for natural world building and memorable characters in such a short amount of space.

🐉 Cut Me Another Quill, Mister Fitz by Garth Nix - 2 - Everything about this story makes it feel like you are reading a single, random chapter in a book. It begins, slowly, by one character reminding another character of the "who, what, where, when, and why" of what the are doing, which read like a summary of a previous story or chapters. Then once the action does start, all of the "twists" are pretty obvious. Finally, the words end with the story completely unfinished.

🐉 Hoard by Seanan McGuire - 3 - This one is a unique take on the idea of dragon hoarding with a believable modern day setting. I keep it at 3 stars though, because the writing, characters, actual plot, and pacing are all simply fine.

🐉 The Last Hunt by Aliette de Bodard - 2 - de Bodard is probably my favorite new author so far this year, so I was pretty disappointed that I could not get into this tale. The combination of nonstop action and kind of confusing, vague "explanation" of why that action was happening made the story or characters difficult to become invested in.

🐉 We Continue by Ann Leckie and Rachel Swirsky - 4.5 - This is probably the most unique of all of the stories here. It was a setting that not in a million years would I have ever thought "This - but dragons!" Having two writers to write the separate species point-of-views really helped make them distinct and accentuated the disconnect the two characters were having in a powerful way. This was a complete story that I was satisfied with at the ending, but also made me interested in reading more about the world.

🐉 Small Bird's Plea by Todd McCaffrey - 2 - This one had some really interesting character concepts, but I felt like it was trying to do too much at once. The story doesn't actually really explain anything and I left it with more questions than answers. Finally, I don't think this is a good example of a dragon story, since the end is just "oh by the way here is a dragon for no real reason - could literally be any flying animal with no affect on the story." Maybe this was supposed to be a dragon creation tale? I don't know.

🐉 The Dragons by Theodora Goss - 3 - I know this one is technically poetry, but it read more like a story and the style added to the overall whimsical feeling of the tale. This one is probably the most feel good of all of the pieces.

🐉 Dragon Slayer by Michael Swanwick - 3 - This is the other story where I thought "okay we're kind of pushing what is or is not a dragon story here." I could even argue there is no dragon in this story, just a human who looks like one for a scant handful of lines. The story itself is not bad, but I honestly don't know why this particular one was chosen for a dragon anthology, especially when Swanwick has a variety of dragon shorts to choose from.

🐉 Camouflage by Patricia A. McKillip - 3 - An interesting story (and dragon concept) that is hindered slightly by its messy, unclear ending.

🐉 We Don't Talk About the Dragon by Sarah Gailey - 3 - An interesting concept, but the repetitive nature of the writing style chosen here, even though it serves a purpose, keeps this one from being one of the better tales.

🐉 Maybe Just Go Up There and Talk to It by Scott Lynch - 3 - I don't normally like Lynch's writing, but this was a pretty neat story. The modern day setting was easily believable and the ending is a good example of an open-ended short story.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy for review - you certainly get bang for buck in this huge compilation of dragon tales.

Let me start by lauding the absolutely rad diversity in these stories - the representation amongst writers AND plotwise. There are plenty of female authors, and there's even a queer nonbinary writer from Singapore in here. It was awesome, and made for even more creatively-varied stories. The diversity even came with some inclusions in poem form.

There are feminist stories in this, and there are some pretty gritty stories, and some humourously slice of life stories. In one, there's an aspect that was reminiscent of zombie or werewolf lore, really unique in a dragon story. In another, a knight is trolling through tax records looking for someone inordinately wealthy who could be a dragon in disguise, hilarious. I enjoyed that it wasn't just a straightforward knight taking on a dragon in every story.

So then, I love the various takes on "dragons" in this. In one tale veering towards urban fantasy, the dragons are not what you'd expect, and the existence of vampires and talking gargoyles in that world make it even cooler. The dragons in this book are sometimes much more metaphorical than winged reptiles flying around or sitting on a hoard of gold in this anthology - and YET, the gold aspect is interpreted really differently from story to story. The creativity was just...awesome. Of course some stories do go the sword and shield route, which, well, is one of my favorite routes anyways, as well as the asian lore presented in several stories.

I was delighted to see some favorite authors in here - R.F. Kuang of The Poppy War fame, and Garth Nix of the Sabriel saga! Their stories were incredibly enjoyable. Kuang's "The Nine Curves River" was an emotional tale of two sisters, and Nix's "Cut Me Another Quill, Mister Fitz" was comedic and a nice reprieve from some of the heavier stories. But I think my favorite of all was Pox, by Ellen Klages, in which a young girl from a boring, eastern state is brought to San Francisco's Chinatown, and her world is turned upside down with a multicultural injection of food and sights. That one was incredible - and not just for the mentions of dim sum, which I love.

This book is very long, and I think would have been more digestible if read over a longer period than I allowed myself, but there is much to enjoy here for fantasy and dragon lovers.

I saw this anthology on NetGalley and hello…dragons…so I was all in! The release date of this book is July 7, 2020.

As I read this book, I thought a lot about what I like and don’t like about short stories. This book contained a few I didn’t care for and several that I loved. All were well written, but some stood out above the others. I analyzed them and came up with 5 qualities that make a good short story. I’m sure these are not all the qualities of a good story. You might like short stories for another reason. If so, let me know!

The first piece is a poem by Jane Yolen. So that’s awesome! Peter S. Beagle and Kelly Barnhill are the authors I was most excited to read.

“Matriculation”, the second piece, started so cool– steampunk & dragons! I loved the characters. The story was rich with detail and description…and then it stopped. I hated the ending. I like nice neat endings, and this did not have that. Most of all, I hated that this story ended.

Perhaps this was a fluke. Some stories just stop and leave it to the reader to decide the ending for themselves. But the next three stories did not impress me either. I began to think that maybe I just don’t like short stories. They are a breed all their own. I often crave lengthy stories that immerse me in fantastical worlds, far from reality. Short stories often force the reader to face some aspect of life and its brutal reality. Blah. I have also read some lovely short stories. So I didn’t give up. I kept reading, hoping that some favorite authors wouldn’t let me down.

“Habitat” by KJ Parker was the next story I read. It was the classic King sends a man to hunt down a dragon. I liked this story. It was longer, but it meandered in the way an old man with many life experiences that culminate into a life story. This story had a very satisfying ending! There was also a clever little take on dragon lore that I’d never considered before.


“We Don’t Talk About the Dragon” by Sarah Gailey was another story I found satisfying.

Kelly Barnhill wrote a short story with her usual lyrical prose. You may have heard me rave about this author before, when I talked about fairy-tale narrative style of writing, or when I first discovered her writing and reviewed The Girl Who Drank the Moon.

“Except on Saturdays” by Peter S. Beagle, this story surprised me–less fairytale and more urban fantasy. It had a twist I’d never seen before, based on mythology I’ve not studied before.

“A Final Knight to Her Love and Foe” by Amal El-Mohtar is a lovely poem. I’m not a poem critic, but this poem had some nice juxtapositions in it.

“A Long Walk” by Kate Elliott is possibly my favorite short story in this book. It had a contemplative mood. It reminded me of a moment I experienced with my grandmother when I was in high school–the disconnect in viewpoint. It also had a twist I hadn’t seen coming.

Each of the stories in this book offers something new, interesting, unique, a twist, or a surprise. Reading short stories like these are a magnificent way to study varying techniques and views of amazing authors.

Special thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins publishers for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Upon hearing about The Book of Dragons I was immediately curious. A collection of short stories and poems about dragons by a plethora of renowned authors? Count me in!

What we end up getting is a collection of primarily mediocre stories with a few gems thrown in. An overall advantage this book has regardless of its falling short story-wise is that the stories are all diverse re-imagining of dragons. Many of the stories include truly unique depictions of dragons that only a writer could imagine.

Even if some of the stories are at their best quite meh, I still find myself wanting to recommend the books to others and excited to see the final print edition. The illustrations will likely enhance the reading experience of even the most meh of the stories and the gems will only shine brighter.

The final review will be available Monday, July 6, 2020, on Geek Declassified.

As with most anthologies I read, I loved some stories here, liked others and was ambivalent toward the rest. But together, they show the breadth of dragon stories and mythos.

The absolute standout for me was Kate Elliott's "The Long Walk," which was so good I now feel compelled to pick up all of her books immediately. Other favorites were from Sarah Gailey, Zen Cho, Elle Katharine White, Seanan McGuire and Brooke Bolander.

Strahan has pulled together an impressive author lineup, and the works they've produced run the gamut on style and form. If you like fantasy and you're interested by dragons (and who isn't?), there's surely something for you here.

This is a star-studded anthology on a topic dear to my heart, but it doesn’t bear a great deal of resemblance to the dragons people may have grown up with. It opens and closes with quotes from The Hobbit, but few of the dragons within much resemble anything out of Tolkien, being neither terrible nor awesome. These are dragons for the twenty-first century, where they seem to have diminished from the days of yore, and they feel largely like livestock rather than magical creatures. When I want to read about dragons, I prefer to read about them as creatures of wonder, whereas most of these stories turn them into something mundane and pedestrian. But your mileage may vary.

Ignoring and trying to get over the fact that the dragons in this book are neither Smaug nor Ramoth, nor even the nameless homewrecker in Robert Musch’s The Paper Bag Princess, there are a lot of clever ideas in this book, as well as a surprisingly high poem count. The poems are about as enjoyable as your personal fondness for poetry allows for. I’m not much for poetry, myself, but I kind of liked about half of the poems.

Ultimately, reading this book left me exhausted. The writers were all very talented and clever, yet I kept checking my progress to see how much was left, and checking the table of contents to see how many more stories I had to read. It wasn’t that the stories weren’t technically fine. They just weren’t for me. Strahan’s stated goal in the introduction was to spend some time with a new group of dragons and the people who encounter them, and it turns out that wasn’t my cup of tea. I definitely recommend this book, because the writing is solid and the ideas are novel, not to mention it includes many of my favorite contemporary authors, but It just wasn’t for me.

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.

They had me at dragons. XD This was an interesting collection of stories. As with any anthology, some were better than others, but overall it was incredibly enjoyable. I don't know why but I was expecting more stories where the characters were dragons than stories about humans interacting with dragons. That's no comment on the book itself though, just I would have preferred more dragons and less humans I suppose.