| Title | : | Wings of Fire |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1597801879 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781597801874 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 499 |
| Publication | : | First published March 1, 2001 |
| Awards | : | Aurealis Award Best Anthology (2010) |
Introduction - Jonathan Strahan and Marianne S. Jablon
Stable of Dragons - Peter S. Beagle
The Rules of Names - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Ice Dragon - George R. R. Martin
Sobek - Holly Black
King Dragon - Michael Swanwick
The Laily Worm - Nina Kiriki Hoffman
The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath - Patricia A. McKillip
The Bully and the Beast - Orson Scott Card
Concerto Accademico - Barry N. Malzberg
The Dragon's Boy - Jane Yolen
The Miracle Aquilina - Margo Lanagan
Orm the Beautiful - Elizabeth Bear
Weyr Search - Anne McCaffrey
Paper Dragons - James P. Blaylock
Dragon's Gate - Pat Murphy
In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River - Naomi Novik
St. Dragon and the George - Gordon R. Dickson
The Silver Dragon - Elizabeth A. Lynn
The Dragons of Summer Gulch - Robert Reed
Berlin - Charles de Lint
Draco, Draco - Tanith Lee
The Dragon on the Bookshelf - Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg
Gwydion and the Dragon - C. J. Cherryh
The George Business - Roger Zelazny
Dragon's Fin Soup - S. P. Somtow
The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule - Lucius Shepard
Wings of Fire Reviews
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A collection of stories about dragons. I thought too many were old, from collections or novels published long ago. I wanted more stories that were new to me and to the world.
"Stable of Dragons," Peter S Beacle. A not very good poem (in the sense that it seems to be prose with line breaks) about a breeder of dragons who hopes to have a half-dragon son someday.
"The Rule of Names," Ursula K LeGuin. Mr.Underhill is the only wizard on Sattins Island. He's not particularly powerful, and in fact he's a bit comical, with his timidity, bow legs and puffing breath. But then another wizard sails in, and Mr.Underhill finally truly reveals himself. A wonderful mixture of cozy charm (think of the Shire) and merciless natural cruelty.
"The Ice Dragon," George RR Martin. Adara was born in the dead of winter, and she still has some of the cold that killed her mother in her. She smiles little, and all her affection is given to the little ice lizards and dragon that come out when the winter is at its coldest. But then war comes her farm, and Adara On the one hand, definitely well written: the dragon, Adara, and her imaginative adventures during winters were charming and memorable. On the other hand, the kingdom is the usual pseudo-European feudal medieval type without anything to distinguish it from all the fictional fantasy kingdoms out there, and I am exhausted by stories that include rape and the horrors of war in this kind of casual way. I want to read a story about a girl riding an icedragon, not
"Sobeck," Holly Black. Amaya's mom is acting a little crazy about a crocodile god she believes lives in the sewers, but Amaya's used to her mom being a little off. But then she gets dropped down an open manhole as a "virgin sacrifice" and Amaya realizes this has all gone too far. Holly Black writes some of my very favorite characters: the kind who are used to taking care of themselves, who find clever solutions to weird problems, who have emotional vulnerabilities and sometimes make bad choices but are still good brave people nevertheless. Amaya is great, and I'd love to read more about her .
"King Dragon," Michael Swanwick. An enemy dragon crashlands near Will's village. It has just enough power left to threaten the whole low-tech village into declaring him their king. Thanks to a hint of human in Will's ancestry, he's able to successfully interface with the iron dragon, and is used as the dragon's mouthpiece. One day the dragon goes too far, and Will devises a desperate plan to end his tyrannical reign. This short story is actually part of
The Dragons of Babel, which is, btw, set in the same universe as
The Iron Dragon's Daughter. I'm torn: on the one hand the writing is great and everything in this story is totally interesting and fascinating to me. I love the way Swanwick writes the intersection of tech and magic; no one else does it quite the same way. But I hate that terrible things always happen in Swanwick stories...someday I'll read a pleasant one in which no bombs blow up an entire village square full of children and I'll die of shock. Also, I'm not sure I like the idea of cutting out a section of a published novel and putting it in a short story collection published years later, even if the story does stand alone.
"The Laily Worm," Nina Kiriki Hoffman. After their royal mother dies, Masery and Perry get a stepmother, who at first seems kindly and then reveals her true nature. She transforms her step children into animals: Masery into a fish, Perry into a dragon. Through her enchantment, Perry is forced to guard a tree against all comers, killing many knights and despairing of his morality and freedom. I really liked the way this story was told; it's got a great fairy tale rhythm to it.
"The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath," Patricia McKillip. A Dragon Harrower comes to the tiny island of Hoarsbreath, where winter lasts 12 months of the year, and convinces the islanders that their winter is caused by a dragon curled around the mountain deep under the snow. Peka Krao, a miner who loves the cold isolated darkness of Hoarsbreath as it is, nevertheless promises to guide the Dragon Harrower. The story is beautiful; the writing, perfection itself. Every sentence in this story is like a multi-faceted gem: gorgeous, and slightly different depending on how you look at it.
"The Bully and the Beast," Orson Scott Card. Bork is a giant of a man. He has a gentle heart and a trusting soul, and so he is used by everyone. At last he is ordered to slay a dragon, but in their first confrontation Bork sees the truth of his life and is ashamed of it.
"Concerto Accademico," Barry N Malzberg. A dragon enters an orchestra hall while a symphony orchestra practices. The musicians are all shocked and confused, since none of them knew dragons existed, but then decide to play for the dragon. Not my kind of writing or story at all.
"The Dragon's Boy," Jane Yolen. Young Artos is looking for a lost hound, but finds a dragon's cave instead. The dragon promises him wisdom, and so day after day Artos returns to the cave to hear its odd but strangely helpful lessons. I liked the earthy little details about life in the Dark Ages of Britain, and I especially liked Artos and his feelings toward the dragon.
"The Miracle Aquilina," Margo Lanagan. A woman witnesses a series of miracles as a god-touched woman repeatedly refuses to marry a king, no matter how he taunts or torments her.
"Orm the Beautiful," Elizabeth Bear. Orm the Beautiful is the last dragon, keeper of the treasures that all other dragons have collected. When poaches come to his cave, he realizes there is only one way to keep the hoard together: . A lovely and melancholy tale, with just that hint of merciless danger that should always accompany a dragon.
"Weyr Search," Anne McCaffrey. Lessa's family was killed and their Hold taken from them by the avaricious Fax. Although Lessa was just a child when this happens, she swears vengeance and spends a decade ruining Ruatha Hold just to induce Fax to renounce it. When a wing of dragonmen come to the Hold in search of a weyrwoman for their dragon queen's egg, Lessa uses their power to defeat Fax once and for all. But this reveals her existence to the dragonmen, who take her away to bond with their queen's egg. Like many fantasy fans, I read Pern books when I was young. Now the limitations of these stories are all too clear (the clunky attempts to write in an archaic style, the classism, the inconsistent characterization, female characters set apart by being "not like other girls," and of course, the male protagonists who have all the failings of rapey romance novel heroes), but I still enjoy the setting. This story is a perfect example of both the best and worst of Pern.
"Paper Dragons," James P Blaylock. Tinkerers try to create living dragons, but keep failing. At the end the narrator releases a tomato worm that has transformed into a brown moth, and the story ends "At last it was impossible to say just what the diminishing speck in the china-blue sky might be--a tiny winged creature silhouetted briefly on the false horizon of our little cove, or some vast flying reptile swooping over the distant ocean where it fell away into the void, off the edge of the flat earth." Great last line, but it doesn't feel earned. Where did the narrator's ambivalence and fantasy come from? They watched the moth fly--why were they suddenly unsure that it wasn't still a moth? If the story had been meatier I might've understood it, but as it stands there's no dialog, nothing actually happens, and even when the narrator goes to Chinatown to find a famed dragon tinkerer, they don't speak or even get anything out of it. They just find Captain Silver and then leave. wtf?
"Dragon's Gate," Pat Murphy. A traveling storyteller tells the tale of an ice woman to a tavern's appreciative audience, despite warnings that the ice women do not take kindly to such tales. The next morning, her mother has been struck down with ice sickness, and only three drops of dragon's blood can save her. Al goes in search of the nearest dragon and tells a tale in exchange for the blood. But along with the blood the dragon gives her own story, and that makes all the difference. I really liked this, both in terms of the plot and how Al is smart about tailoring her tales to different audiences.
"In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River," Naomi Novik. Set in the Temeraire universe, about Lien the white dragon. Though I've dreamt of Lien's defeat for years now, still this story was able to make me see from her perspective: her grief for her prince, her pride in her education and heritage, her just hatred of the British treatment of China and the vengeance that drives her. Her mind is a fascinating one to see into.
"St. Dragon and the George," Gordon R Dickson. Jim is hurled hundreds of years back in time into the body of a dragon. His only chance to save his fiancee from the Loathly Worm is to convince a magician, a knight, and several other dragons to band with him. At the last his courage almost gives out, but this is when he finally learns that whether or not you're scared doesn't matter, only what you do. There's a good mixture of humor and heart to this short story, but the lesson is trite and the ending (wherein Jim, now in his normal life again, uses his newfound courage to kiss the girl and confront his boss) even less to my taste.
"The Silver Dragon," Elizabeth A Lynn. A headstrong girl marries a changeling king. After she's taken captive by her father's enemy, the changeling king swears service to a sorcerer in exchange for her freedom. Years later, he escapes the sorcerer and returns to his wife. This is told in an unexpected style that I don't particularly like, where some paragraphs are told as though from hundreds of years later by a storyteller, and others as though the reader is seeing them happen.
"The Dragons of Summer Gulch," Robert Reed. I didn't expect to like this, because the opening sounds like a Western, but I was rapidly interested in the tale. Seven dragon eggs are unearthed, and everyone wants them for their own reasons: some to dissect, some to create weapons of war, and some to fulfill prophetic promises...I ended up liking the variety of characters and motivations, and the ways each of them reveal themselves and backstab the others in turn.
"Berlin," Charles de Lint. Drug dealers start a war with the Diggers (the do-gooder hippie types that provide food and shelter to the needy in Bordertown). This escalates into a showdown between two dragons: Berlin (who wants to clear her name) and Stick (who is haunted by his failure to stop another dragon years ago). As always with de Lint, the street scenes rang false to me and the characters seemed flat. But it's not a bad plot.
"Draco, Draco," Tanith Lee. An apothecary and a would-be hero witness a town's sacrifice of a maiden to a dragon. I love the descriptions of the dragon, which comes across as both ghastly & unnatural horror, and also like any mighty predator. I've rarely been as terrified by a dragon as in this story. The apothecary and the hero are also immediately interesting, memorable characters, each skilled, pragmatic, and cut-throat in their own ways. This story was a stand out of the collection for me.
"The Dragon on the Bookshelf," Harlan Ellison & Robert Silverberg. A little magic-wielding dragon is sent to protect a gateway in modern San Francisco, but instead falls in love with a human woman and neglects his charge. All of mortals' reality ends, so the dragon keeps his beloved in a little bubble dream. Didn't like this much.
"Gwydion and the Dragon," CJ Cherryh. Faithful Prince Gwydion rides to try to slay a dragon that has killed all other kingdoms' princes. He encounters unexpected help from the cruel and foul enchantress Glasog. I love the bones of this story, and the characters, but it felt too rushed. I wanted to see why Gwydion and Glasog came to care for each other, and I wanted to see Glasog talk with the god, kill the dragon, etc--all the actual action was summarized very swiftly in just a page.
"The George Business," Roger Zelazny. A dragon and a knight decide to con people into thinking they fight, thus raising both of their reputations. The entire story seems to rest on you thinking this is a hilarious and novel idea, but it's so old and tired at this point that it all fell flat to me.
"Dragon's Fin Soup," S.P. Somtow. Janice, a young Chinese lesbian living in Thailand, introduces American gourmand Bill Halliday to the secret of her family restaurant's success: every Wednesday they cut a little bit off of their captive dragon to make soup. In hopes of finding a way out of Janice's arranged marriage they go to ask questions of this dragon. On the one hand, it's a real relief to read a story that isn't about straight white people in medieval Europe. On the other, this story still feels dated (as many of this last half do), of a style that I don't particularly like. And Bill's interests seem mechanically erudite--he gets 3 questions and he asks: "How different would the history of music be, if Mozart had managed to live another ten years," "You know, I've always been troubled by one of the hundred-letter words in Finnegan's Wake. You know the words I mean, the supposed 'thunderclaps' that divide Joyce's novel into its main sections...well its the night one of those...I can't seem to get it to split into its component parts. Maybe it seems trivial, but it's worried me for the last twenty-nine years." and finally, "Is there a proof for Fermat's Theorum?" First of all, anyone educated enough to know about all three of those things should be able to craft better questions. Any reasonable dragon would just give a one word answer to that last question, for instance. Second of all, I just don't buy that those are the things he most wonders about. They seem calculated to make Bill seem smart to readers educated enough to have heard of Mozart, Joyce, and Fermat, but not so knowledgeable that we notice how disconnected those questions are. Even though I wasn't sold on Bill OR Janice as actual characters, I did like the dragon's riddle answers to Janice's questions, and I liked the final solution of how to keep their restaurant going without keeping the dragon imprisoned.
"The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule," Lucius Shepard. Poor but inspired artist Meric Cattanay comes to the town of Teocinte, long held under the thrall of the dragon Griaule, and proposes to kill the dragon with art. Specifically, he proposes to use poisonous paints on the dragon's scales, slowly poisoning the dragon while creating something beautiful. Very well told, particularly the descriptions of the vast ecosystem that lives on and in the dragon's body. -
Wings of Fire is a dragon anthology. As such, its difficult to rate the book as a whole. Instead, I'll give a brief review of each entry in the collection.
Stable of Dragons: A poem that includes dragon sex. Creepy but enjoyable.
The Rule of Names: Earthsea story. Satisfying read, if a reprint.
The Ice Dragon: Simple, sweet, and solid.
Sobek: Urban fantasy dragon. Dark YA style, enjoyable but hard to suspend belief at times.
King Dragon: This motherfucking story. This fucking short story is reason enough to buy the collection. It is perfect. It is flavorful and gripping, with unique dragons that are an amalgamation of organic beast and manufactured bomber jet. You will read this goddamned dragon tale.
The Laily Worm: Standard fairy tale fare.
The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath: Well-written, with a good twist on the standard dragon.
The Bully and the Beast: Card's entry has the dragon as a minor plot point, but that doesn't diminish the enjoyment of this, essentially, morality story.
Concerto Academico: A metaphysical dragon enjoys music, meh.
The Dragon's Boy: I felt a little cheated by this one. The dragon is fake, a metaphor. The story is a bit too predictable. In the book where the back cover talks about "Fearsome firebreathing foes, scaled adversaries, legendary lizards, ancient hoarders" having no real dragon seems like a cop-out.
The Miracle Aquilina: The dragon is minor plot point in a story about a jesus allegory.
Orm the Beautiful: I loved this story. Urban fantasy with very memorable dragons, brought a tear to my eye.
Weyr Search: Is there a dragon fan that hasn't read this one yet? Its the most ubiquitous dragon story out there.
Paper Dragons: Bland and slow, mediocre.
Dragon's Gate: The story warns you that it meanders, so I suppose I shouldn't hold that against it, but I do.
In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River: Temeraire story following Lien. I appreciated the unique perspective to this one, both as far as being from the dragon's viewpoint but also being a Temeraire story not narrated by Lawrence or Temeraire himself.
St. Dragon and the George: Another classic. I've always felt it was a little ponderous and over-rated, but it has charm.
The Silver Dragon: Romantic traditional fantasy. Pretty good, reminded me of the Lanen Kaelar trilogy.
The Dragon's of Summer Gulch: Dragon cults and paleontology is always a fun mix.
Berlin: Another good twist on dragons: elemental guardians who patrol the streets of Dragontown like massive police officers. Again, though, the dragons weren't the focus.
Draco, Draco: Explores the tradition of virgin sacrifice. Fun, if ultimately forgettable.
The Dragon on the Bookshelf: So very, very depressing. So very, very good.
Gwydion and the Dragon: Nothing special, meh.
The George Business: I enjoy the Zelazny version of this to the very similar St. Dragon and the George. Its just so lighthearted and delightful.
Dragon's Fin Soup: The only story that could be said to feature an Eastern-style dragon. It is dream-like and odd but decidedly draconic.
The Man Who Painted The Dragon Griaule: A massive dragon so large it's part of the landscape, complete with trees and waterfalls, that holds a town in mental thrall (or does it?). There was a Tommyknockers feel to this story, and I loved it.
There's many solid contributions in this book. Like any anthology, there are hits and misses, and I can't help but think about other authors I would have liked to have in it (Terry Pratchet, Jaida Jones, Jo Walton). Overall I enjoyed more than I didn't, so I suppose it succeeds there; the sheer NUMBER of stories is impressive. I felt some stories stretched the 'dragon' premise a bit....is it like Chopped, where the dragon can appear in a teeny, tiny amount and its still 'dragony' enough to work? Other Anthologies such as The Dragons of Chaos, The Dragons of Krynn, and The Dragon Quintet all have better focus on the dragons in the short stories.
TL;DR Lots of re-prints for dragon veterans, but a few new commissions add brilliant stories to balance out the chaff. Worth checking out, but don't feel the need to rush to do so. -
This book was wonderful! It contains short stories from some of science-fiction's best authors. My favorite stories were Stable of Dragons, by Peter S. Beagle; Orm the Beautiful, by Elizabeth Bear; The Bully and the Beast, by Orson Scott Card; The Dragon on the Bookshelf, by Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg; Draco, Draco, by Tanith Lee; Berlin, by Charles de Lint; Concerto Accademico, by Barry N. Malzberg; Dragon's Fin Soup, by S.P. Somtow; and King Dragon, by Michael Swanwick.
The other authors featured in this collection are Holly Black, James P. Blaylock, C.J. Cherryh, Gordon R. Dickson, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Margo Lanagan, Urusla K. LeGuin, Elizabeth A. Lynn, George R.R. Martin, Anne McCaffery, Patricia A. McKillip, Pat Murphy, Naomi Novik, Robert Reed, Lucius Shepard, Jane Yolen, and Roger Zelazny.
Even if you are not as fascinated by dragons as I, this book will keep you up reading all night! (I should know!) -
Most of these, in my opinion, were not particularly "short" stories, but some were very interesting. Some I liked, some I didn't, but that's with any anthology. The editor states that they were out to collect stories rather than having ones written for the anthology, so most of these are reprints, but with a clear organizing principle, which I appreciated. The idea of dragons in their various aspects - and there was a lot of variety - worked.
"Stable of Dragons," Peter S Beagle. Honestly, a jarring way to start the collection.
"The Rule of Names," Ursula K LeGuin. Interesting tale of dragons hidden, until prodded to reveal themselves.
"The Ice Dragon," George RR Martin. Unsettling and full of war contrasted with the view of a little girl, but did we really need to destroy everything?
"Sobeck," Holly Black. It will stick with me, but not because of the dragon necessarily.
"King Dragon," Michael Swanwick. This one was a mix of sci-fi and fantasy (in the sense that technology, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic), violence, the tendencies of humans to be both good and evil, and absorbing to read. It will stay with me.
"The Laily Worm," Nina Kiriki Hoffman. My least favorite part of this is the title, it doesn’t really bring out the story itself.
"The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath," Patricia McKillip. I will always love her writing, and this is no exception.
"The Bully and the Beast," Orson Scott Card. Very different take on the relationships of dragons and bullies.
"Concerto Accademico," Barry N Malzberg. Strange tale about a dragon wandering into a symphonic rehearsal.
"The Dragon's Boy," Jane Yolen. Lovely story about a child and his relationship with a dragon as he gains some wisdom.
"The Miracle Aquilina," Margo Lanagan. This tale bothered me, because of the way it ended. It had so much pent-up potential towards both recognition of the trap women are caught in with that world, and how someone’s faith can work miracles, somehow, inexplicably, coming to an abrupt end.
"Orm the Beautiful," Elizabeth Bear. This is a truly gorgeous tale.
"Weyr Search," Anne McCaffrey. Classic Pern, have read before and will again.
"Paper Dragons," James P Blaylock. A very abstract tale, unmoored in reality.
"Dragon's Gate," Pat Murphy. Lovely inversion of some dragon/maiden tropes and adventures. Really enjoyed this one.
"In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River," Naomi Novik. Well done as a standalone, though I don’t have as much context as I haven’t read as much Temeraire. .
"St. Dragon and the George," Gordon R Dickson. The “modern” parts of this story were far less to my taste as the parts where dragons, wizards, and champions try to forge an alliance against evil. But the gender overtones to the entire tale kind of took something away from it.
"The Silver Dragon," Elizabeth A Lynn. Never been exposed to this author before, and this almost-novella had a lot of plot and twists and turns.
"The Dragons of Summer Gulch," Robert Reed. Multi-part story following dragon eggs and different characters. Entertaining and imaginative.
"Berlin," Charles de Lint. Hidden dragons again, with emphasis on their role as guardians. Really good worldbuilding considering the short form.
"Draco, Draco," Tanith Lee. A “nothing as it seems” tale though the ending is semi-predictable, solidly told.
"The Dragon on the Bookshelf," Harlan Ellison & Robert Silverberg. A weird story, but interestingly told and vivid in its descriptions.
"Gwydion and the Dragon," CJ Cherryh. Very much a fairy tale in tone and tale and I liked it.
"The George Business," Roger Zelazny. Short, amusing, fun, enjoyable and no one dies.
"Dragon's Fin Soup," S.P. Somtow. A really strange story, not sure if I enjoyed it, but it made me think. The idea of using the body of a semi-living thing (even if it regenerates and by all accounts, the dragon won’t feel it) set against a rebellious daughter in a changing culture. I didn’t really buy the characters at all, but the setup was fascinatingly told.
"The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule," Lucius Shepard. A short-story that covers a lifetime of an artist, set on killing a dragon in the most subtle possible way. The fascinating part of this story for me was not the artist or the plot, but the amazing ecosystem of and around the dragon itself, including the emotional one. -
As with any collection, it's hit and miss. The hits, though, are great. I'm inspired to look for more from Tanith Lee and Roger Zelazny.
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Some stories I loved; others were odd; some I plain skipped.
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Rating & reviews reflect the three stories that interested me:
The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath by Patricia A. McKillip
Verdict: ****
Harrowing is as much about atmosphere as it is about story, and McKillip's language -- heightened and timeless -- unfolds vistas of frozen plains and jagged crags. She understands rhythm. The timing of each word is perfect: sentences roll of the tongue, word after word. Her imagery is universal, elemental (ice, mountains, warmth) but also precise in delineation. "They descended hillocks of frozen jewels. The stream they followed fanned into a wide, skeletal filigree of ice and rock."
The tale itself beauteous, and unafraid to pose questions about home and transformation. It's also the sort of fantasy whose wondrous details evoke the other, the unknown: in a battle with a dragon, a Harrower releases rays of light and chants strange songs; dragon-fire is caught in crystals. It evokes awe, it rouses the senses... excepting the ending (which was a little flat for me) this is one of the most fascinating fantasy stories I've read in a while.
The Miracle Aquilina by Margo Lanagan
Verdict: *****
Like most of Lanagan's short fiction, Aquilina focuses on sketching a character's specific personal struggle and transformation in the context of a broader, fantastical occurrence. Aquilina, I think, takes cues from ancient martyrology -- it reminds me in particular of St. Catherine of Alexandria, allegedly martyred at the hands of the 'pagan' Emperor Maxentius. After Catherine spurned Maxentius' marriage proposal (so the story goes), she was subject to a series of brutal tortures, miraculously overcoming each;
There is a martyr in this story, but of course martyrs are above mere humanity. The focus is therefore not on the joyful sufferings of a supernatural lady. Instead, our protagonist is a nervous, angry, defiant young woman who wishes to choose her future for herself, but cannot because of her father's plans. The story's emotional core is the transformative and despairing effect the martyr's trials have on our central character.
Written in the peculiar rhythms typical of Lanagan's prose, Aquilina makes divine conflicts the fulcrum of an ordinary character's self-understanding. Easily my favorite story of all three that I've read.
Orm the Beautiful by Elizabeth Bear
[REVIEW TO COME] -
It only took me, what, six months to read this giant thing? I feel pretty stupid taking this long to realize the agenda of a book of short stories: leave all of the good ones for the end -_-
I trudged through the first half of this book because the stories were pitiful. Boring, unimaginative, tedious. But when I got to the second half, great stories shone through, enough to bring my originally given two star rating to a four star.
Overall, it was worth the read. And I might pursue some other books by these authors. But I wouldn't own it or read it again.
Favourites:
"The Ice Dragon" by George R.R. Martin
"The Miracle Aquilina" by Margo Lanagan
"Dragon's Gate" by Pat Murphy
"The Dragons of Summer Gulch" by Robert Reed (LOVE)
I also loved Card's writing and the world Charles de Lint created.The weirdness of "Dragon's Fin Soup" is indescribable - it's too bad it didn't stick with the awesome mythology it started with...and generally, the last half of the stories were all very well written, even though I didn't much care for their entirety. -
I don't like dragons.
This is probably not the first sentence you'd expect to find in a review of Wings of Fire, an anthology devoted exclusively to dragon stories, but I thought it best to get it out of the way right from the start.
There's nothing inherently wrong with dragons. They're just terribly overused, one of those tired genre mainstays that people who typically don't read a lot of fantasy will expect in a fantasy novel because they were practically unavoidable for a long time. To this day, I confess to having to suppress a mental groan whenever I encounter them.
For a long time, I actively avoided reading any fantasy novel with the word dragon in the title. Granted, I made several exceptions to this rule in the past, most notably The King's Dragon by Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi... -
This is a surprisingly large collection of short stories, all with the subject of dragons. The range of interpretations of the theme is immense, from dragons as guardian spirits in a broken borderland town to a tiny otherwordly creature that falls in love with a woman in San Francisco. My favorite two were a funny one about St George and the Dragon, where it is revealed just how St George got his reputation, and the second was a story about Lien in France by Naomi Novik. I also picked up a few authors to read based on their stories in this book, and overall while not all stories were to my taste it was definitely worth the read.
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Finally finished reading this collection of short stories about dragons! My favorites were
Anne McCaffrey's "Weyr Search", a beautiful and emotional story, and
Pat Murphy's "Dragon's Gate", which was just a really good story. Overall, a great collection, it just took awhile to get through it. -
Only read: In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River, by Naomi Novik.
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2 "it was okay" stars. I picked this up because it was an anthology full of dragons, but didn't enjoy it that much. Some of the stories didn't really have dragons at all! Like with all anthologies, it seems, my enjoyment of each story varies wildly.
Stable of Dragons: 1.5/5 stars. Poetry. Did not like this one. Nasty and confusing.
The Rule of Names: 3/5. The beginning is slow and the twist is not hard to guess, but the end is entertaining.
The Ice Dragon: 4/5. Like all of Martin's other books I've read, I couldn't get fully into this, but it was interesting and I liked it all the same. Nice dragons in this one.
Sobek: 3/5. Interesting, but a few lines are strange and the added romance was unnecessary.
The King Dragon: 1.5/5. Great dragon concept, but ultimately too crass for me. The protagonist is distractingly horny. I started actively disliking him and all the other characters.
The Laily Worm: 4/5. The writing is a bit iffy in places, but overall this was quite enjoyable. Very satisfying ending as well. Apparently this is based off of a traditional ballad.
The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath -- 2/5. Ehhhh. Cool concept, but the execution didn't work for me.
The Bully and the Beast: DNFed halfway through because there were no dragons and I was getting bored. Might go back to later.
Concerto Academico: 1.5/5. Confusing, dragged down by meaningless info dumps, and bad dialogue. The dragon is weird but not interesting. At least it's short.
The Dragon's Boy: 2 stars. There's a fair bit of useless-seeming exposition here too. Meh.
The Miracle Aquilina: 2/5. Confusing in plot and language, doesn't have much of a dragon, and the protagonist is inactive and doesn't do anything of note. Frustrating.
Orm the Beautiful: 3/5. Some of the diction is a bit strange, and the ending was confusing, but overall it's interesting and enjoyale.
Paper Dragons: 2/5. The writing style is interesting, but the story doesn't make much sense and there aren't any real dragons. Skip this one.
Dragon's Gate: 4/5. Starts off iffy but gets a lot better. The strange punctuation choices kept this from being amazing, but it's quite good. I do wish , though.
In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River: 2/5. I had no context for this having never read any Tememaire books, but read it anyway. I didn't like Lien or any of the other characters. If I had read the series this comes from, I may or may not have enjoyed it more.
St. Dragon and the George: 4/5. The prose is a bit hard to parse at times, but the characters are good and the dragons are great. Highly entertaining.
Draco, Draco: 3.5/5. The dragon is very menacing in this one. Good ending too. It just took a bit to get going.
The Dragon on the Bookshelf: 2 stars. sad ending. Could've been better if it was less confusing.
Dragon's Fin Soup: 3/5. The dragon is interesting, but there's a romantic and sexual element to this story that doesn't need to be there. I did like the descriptions, though. Bangkok sounds lovely.
Stories I skipped entirely for time (but might read if I can come back to this again later): Weyr Search, The Silver Dragon, The Dragons of Summer Gulch, Berlin, Gwydion and the Dragon, The George Business, and The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule. So I read 19 out of the total 26 stories.
Average rating of all the stories I read: 2.67. There are good ones in here, but there are mostly stories that didn't work for me and/or weren't engaging enough to hold my interest. Unfortunately I can't recommend it. -
There was a lot going on here. Some of it was fantastic, but a lot of it was dreck. I'm going to try to sort them out here.
Stable of Dragons - Peter S. Beagle - Poetry. No. 1 star.
The Rule of Names - Ursula K. Le Guin - Decent, but nothing to write home about. 2 stars.
The Ice Dragon - George R. R. Martin - One of the better stories in this collection. I love Adara, and even though the narrative follows Martin's usual formula, I did like this one very much. 4 stars.
Sobek - Holly Black - This was just plain weird and not enjoyable. Can't Ms. Black write anything without a trite "romance" in it? 2 stars.
King Dragon - Michael Swanwick - Convoluted and odd. Sort of steampunk-meets-fantasy. Better than some of these, though. 3 stars.
The Laily Worm - Nina Kiriki Hoffman - I liked this story. A fairy tale with dragons is always welcome. 4 stars.
The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath - Patricia A. McKillip - This short story seemed like an abridgment of a longer tale, and suffered for it. The system of magic made little sense to me. 2 stars.
The Bully and the Beast - Orson Scott Card - I loved Bork. This story is sad and not at the same time. I loved it. 5 stars.
Concerto Accademico - Barry N. Malzberg - Er, what? 1 star.
The Dragon's Boy - Jane Yolen - One of the better stories in this collection. A sort of Arthur prequel retelling, I think? 3 stars.
The Miracle Aquilina - Margo Lanagan - A decent if confusing story. I hated the ending, though. 3 stars.
Orm the Beautiful - Elizabeth Bear - This was a beautiful story and I like it very much. Orm the Beautiful is a great character. 4 stars.
Weyr Search - Anne McCaffrey - This story is the one that made reading this collection worthwhile, although it caused my TBR to grow considerably. I've never read the Dragonriders of Pern series, but this story has made me want to very much. 5 stars.
Paper Dragons - James P. Blaylock - I couldn't even read all of this one. No stars.
Dragon's Gate - Pat Murphy - This one was pretty good, if a little predictable. I liked Al. 3 stars.
In Autumn, a White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River - Naomi Novik - An extract, I think, from the
His Majesty's Dragon series. Interesting but not my favorite. 3 stars.
St. Dragon and the George - Gordon R. Dickson - Weird. Man to dragon transformations and time travel. 1 star.
The Silver Dragon - Elizabeth A. Lynn - I liked this story. The ending is sad, but I supposed most endings are. I liked this weredragon love story. 3 stars.
The Dragons of Summer Gulch - Robert Reed - Gritty and Westernish. Not terrible, but kinda meh. 2 stars.
Berlin - Charles de Lint - This seems like it should have been a much longer story, and then maybe it would have made sense. 1 star.
Draco, Draco - Tanith Lee - Interesting, and an unexpected ending. 3 stars.
The Dragon on the Bookshelf - Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg - Very, very strange. Not bad, but didn't make a whole lot of sense. I do like tiny dragons, though. 3 stars.
Gwydion and the Dragon - C. J. Cherryh - I liked this story quite a bit. It reminds me of fables and fairy tales but with a new light. 4 stars.
The George Business - Roger Zelazny - Meh. 2 stars.
Dragon's Fin Soup - S.P. Somtow - Weird. I don't know the background of tales that went into this, and I didn't particularly enjoy it. 2 stars.
The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule - Also weird and incomprehensible. 1 star.
Altogether this wasn't one of my favorite anthologies, which is a shame, because I do love a good dragon story. I am glad I read it, because I discovered a whole new series that I am really looking forward to. If I ever get to it.
2 stars. -
Maybe it's just because I like dragons, but this was one of the best short story collections I've ever read (and I read a fair number in the mystery and fantasy genres). The stories are diverse, but all magnificent. I'll reread it many times.
-
A huge book of reprints. Some of my favorite stories - Weyr search, St dragon and the george, The george business - are here and welcome rereads. Others were new to me and more of a mixed bag. Overall this is a good place to spend some time.
-
********
Masterpiece ---
6:22pm -
Read only (Temeraire #2.5) In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over The Wide River by Naomi Novik.
Interesting, but rather annoying. Lien is such a diva and a bitch. -
The dragon theme was very loose, and the writing styles and subject matter were too diverse to be as enjoyable as I'd hoped.
-
I only read In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River by Naomi Novik.
It's part of the Temeraire series about Lien, the white dragon. -
I'm not really a big dragon story reader, but was very delighted by this collection.
My favorites were:
"Stable of Dragons" by Peter S. Beagle
"The Ice Dragon" by George R.R. Martin
"King Dragon" by Michael Swanwick
"The Dragon's Boy" by Jane Yolen
"The Miracle Aquilina" by Margo Lanagan
"Paper Dragons" by James P. Blaylock
"Dragon's Gate" by Pat Murphy
"The Silver Dragon" by Elizabeth A. Lynn
"The Dragons of Summer Gulch" by Robert Reed
"Draco, Draco" by Tanith Lee
"Gwyndion and the Dragon" by C.J. Cherryh
"The George Business" by Roger Zelazny
"The Man Who Painted the Dragon" by Griaule Lucius Shepard
...and by far the best for me was "Dragon's Fin Soup" by S.P. Somtow
That makes over half the collection worth a read in my opinion, which is better than most. -
Still reading... So far, some stories I liked, some stories I didn't. I guess that's how it goes with anthologies. I'll try to comment soon on some of the stories I've read so far.
[UPDATE]
The Rule of Names: Cute. Interesting.
The Ice Dragon: Good, though I was expecting more. Ice Dragons remained a mystery.
King Dragon: Couldn't get through the first few pages.
The Laily Worm: Liked it.
The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath: Good start, disappointing end.
The Bully and the Beast: Loved the beginning; the end was OK.
A few stories are missing in the list. I couldn't think of anything to say about them.
[UPDATE]
Read a few more stories. I'm kind of disappointed. Maybe I'll resume reading this book someday... -
I love books about dragons, and so the next best thing for me is an entire anthology of different stories by different authors all about dragons. I enjoyed reading this book sooooo much, it's amazing to see all the writing styles of the different authors. Also, it's just a fun book to read, with so many elements of surprise. This book will make you look at dragons in a new way, a way that you have never seen them before. Whether it's an ancient dragon struggling to survive, or a modern robot dragon, or even a lost civilization or world we don't know about that's FULL of dragons!!! I think anyone above age 10 could read this book, since sometimes the language and plot are a little hard to understand. I wholeheartedly recommend Wings of Fire to anyone 10 and up. ;)
