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A review by dsnake1
The Book of Dragons by Jonathan Strahan
5.0
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.
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.