Dracopedia Field Guide: Dragons of the World from Amphipteridae to Wyverne
The Dracopedia series
William O'Connor
Impact
Fiction, Art/Fantasy
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: The world is full of dragons, from the legless wyrms and multiheaded hydras of ancient legends to the hovering garden feydraons and domestic dragonette breeds. This field guide compiles numerous species of dragons and relatives, with notes on behavior and conservation status.
REVIEW: This field guide was intended to be part of author/artist William O'Connor's series of Dracopedia art books, blending art instruction and technique with invented field notes on "living" dragon species studied in the wild. Unfortunately, shortly after this project was started in 2018, O'Connor unexpectedly passed away, leaving this book to be finished by a collection of friends and collaborators for one last outing of his remarkable beasts. The "guide" rehashes some dragons from previous books (such as the Great Dragons, the largest species of "living" dragons) along with newer inventions of his artistic muse. Unlike previous volumes, there is nothing about how to draw or compose art in this volume; the art must speak for itself as inpsiration, along with the text, which frankly invites skimming (and seems like it could've used some stronger editing, as some passages felt clunky or repetitious). I almost clipped it the extra half-star for this, but O'Connor's dragons are so detailed and memorable that they ultimately earned it back, even if relies a bit much on recycled material. I sadly couldn't help wondering what the original plans for this field guide were, especially if they were to contain as much in the way of art notes as previous Dracopedia installments...
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