Pulling the Wings Off Angels
K. J. Parker
Tordotcom
Fiction, Fantasy/Humor
**+ (Bad/Okay)
DESCRIPTION: When a struggling, sinning clerical student gets in deep with local thug Florio, the bully demands an unusual form of repayment: hand over the angel his grandfather is rumored to have trapped and hidden in a place even the Almighty Unconquerable Sun cannot see. It's all just a rumor, certainly. Despite his vocation, the cleric doesn't really believe in physically manifesting epiphanies or angels... until Florio breaks open the hidden vault and they're both standing face-to-face with the impossible. This could be their ticket to the life and afterlife of their wildest dreams... or it could be the sin that reserves their spot in the eternal fires of damnation.
REVIEW: This very short novella was likened to The Good Place in the blurb on back, which was one of my favorite shows of all time; the humor was sharp, the characters flawed but trying, and the ultimate message - that change was possible, that justice could be achieved, that broken systems can be repaired - was hopeful and uplifting. So, despite being an atheist-leaning agnostic myself, and admittedly influenced by the free-to-me price, I decided to give Parker's little jaunt a try.
As one might surmise from the rating, I did not enjoy it.
This novella promises petty cruelty and bullying right in the title, and the book delivers throughout. There's just a mean-spirited nature to the whole story that put me off almost from the start and never went away. Everyone in it is slimy, conniving, selfish, cruel, and utterly unaccountable to anyone but themselves. God is a bully running a rigged system, the angel's a jerk, and the story natters around in theological paradoxes where all the answers end in damnation and hopelessness. Is a world without a supreme deity pulling the strings better than one lorded over by a rat bastard who openly admits there's no way to win His inherently contradictory game? Not really, no, and any justice or vindication is hollow and short-lived. Instead of The Good Place's optimism, I got a bunch of snarky and unpleasant people being snarky and unpleasant and ultimately damned no matter what they do or don't do, so why bother.
Maybe if I were more of a theology student myself and were more personally invested in the religious debates and their histories (which Parker was obviously parodying in this alternate world), I'd have found it more amusing. But I'm not, and I didn't. This one can't go in the giveaway bag fast enough...
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Wish List (Eoin Colfer) - My Review
How to Be Perfect (Michael Schur) - My Review
Envy of Angels (Matt Wallace) - My Review
Saturday, March 21, 2026
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Damsel (Evelyn Skye)
Damsel
Evelyn Skye
Random House
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Media Tie-In
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: The rest of the world may consider the drought-stricken duchy of Inophe to be backwards and worthless, but to Elodie and her father it is beautiful in its own stark, strong way. Despite being noble born, the young woman is not above building shacks or digging latrine ditches if that's what her people need of her; that's what being a leader is, after all, working hard to ensure the success of the people you lead. When her father announces that he's arranged a marriage with Prince Henry of the prosperous island nation of Aurea, she doesn't hesitate but accepts it as her role, her way of ensuring Inophe's survival. Besides, after several months of exchanging letters, it's clear that he's an educated, intelligent young man who respects her, so perhaps the marriage that saves her nation might also spark genuine love. When she and her family arrive at Aurea, they find green forests and purple mountains, great fields of amber barley and scarlet berries, orchards of silver pears, and a gilded castle, plus Prince Henry is every bit as cultured and handsome as Elodie could have imagined. It's so much like a fairy tale it's hard to believe it's all happening to someone like her!
Then, on her wedding night, Henry's mother escorts Elodie to a secret ritual... a ritual that ends in a mountain chasm where a great dragon dwells. The beast's power enables the great bounty of the island, but in exchange it demands sacrifices - and she's just become one.
But Elodie is not the first to be thrown to the cunning, cruel beast beneath the mountain. Those who came before left more than charred bones and melted tiaras; they left markers, maps, and blood that whispers of their thoughts and fears and what they learned in their final days. With their help, perhaps Elodie of Inophe will manage to be the first to escape the dragon's wrath...
Based on the screenplay by Dan Mazeali for the Netflix movie Damsel.
REVIEW: I remember seeing the teasers for the Netflix movie and being intrigued, though mixed reviews and a general lack of time kept me from watching it. But I found this book, an adaptation of the original screenplay, for free at my old work place, and figured it would be worth a try. Having finished it, I don't think I'll be moving the movie into the viewing queue any time soon.
In its favor, Damsel reads fairly fast; I polished off nearly half of it during a long wait at the tire shop while my car was serviced, and finished the rest by the next evening. It establishes reasonably strong women, and after a meandering setup (even if I hadn't known the sacrifice "twist" from the movie trailers, the blurb on the cover gives that away, so drawing out the reveal grows mildly tedious as Elodie notes yet dismisses a string of yellow, orange, and finally glaring red flags over Prince Henry and Aurea) it delivers on the horror-like premise of a lone young woman trapped in a cavernous labyrinth with a taunting, teasing monster. Everywhere she goes, she finds marks and bones to remind her how many have tried and failed to survive the wyrm's wrath, how many have been betrayed by the Aurean royal house over the centuries. The terror is heightened when Elodie discovers that touching the bloodstains of previous victims lets her experience memories of their final days... but those stains, along with notes scratched into the walls, also provide a record of everything the previous victims over the past eight centuries have learned in their efforts to elude the dragon. Building on their progress, from mapping the maze of caverns to translating the wyrm's archaic language, Elodie might stand a slender chance of escape... but will getting away from the beast only make things worse? You don't just break a centuries-old system (or aggravate a centuries-old dragon) without significant collateral damage that may just kill you and everyone you love anyway.
There is no easy answer to the problem, not for her or the people of Aurea, many of whom are deeply troubled by the secret of their nation's wealth but haven't had the courage to fight back until now. If the parallel to Ursula K. Le Guin's classic story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" isn't obvious, the book hammers home that point more than once (if not using the words), even as it emphasizes how good intentions and gray areas get smudged into black by small steps and willful blindness compounded over years and generations, no single drop of water willing to take responsibility for, let alone attempt to stop, the rising flood. Even the dragon is trapped in its own way by the bargain made generations ago, though that does not make it an ally of Elodie's efforts to survive the royal family's betrayal; it just makes the beast that much more enraged and dangerous, not to mention that much more experienced in the hunting and killing of problematic princesses.
As for the beast, the dragon draws on elder traditions in the vein of Smaug, a clever yet cruel beast whose rage cannot be reasoned away and whose scales and sheer power have bested fully armed knights, let alone princesses with little but stones and the fraying remnants of their wedding finery. At every turn, it taunts its prey, and Elodie (and, by proxy, the reader) can never be certain when she has truly outsmarted it or when it's merely toying with her by letting her think she's outsmarted it, only to surprise her with flames and sulfurous smoke and terrible threats. This is not a case of every other knight and princess being a total dunderhead or wimp until she comes along; it is very little wonder that nobody else has outwitted or outlasted the dragon's games, making it a truly formidable opponent even to a plucky young woman like Elodie.
Where the book lost ground in the ratings is towards the end, where it started feeling like it was stretching out the tension, only to pull a resolution out of its tail that felt unsatisfactory given all that had gone before. The story also, after going out of its way to establish how it was women who ultimately found empowerment to challenge injustice, then fell back on a tired trope that knocked the legs out from under their independence by essentially intimating that a woman's ultimate drive, whether for good or ill or in between, is dependent on motherhood in some form or another, without exception. (I can't get into more details without spoilers, but it really flattened what had been a batch of strong characters.) It all just felt like such a letdown after everything the characters went through to get there. The earlier promise and the terror of the cat-and-mouse (or dragon-and-princess) chases through the mountain caverns managed to barely keep the rating above a flat three stars, but it was a close call.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragon's Keep (Janet Lee Carey) - My Review
Seraphina (Rachel Hartman) - My Review
Dragon's Bait (Vivian Vande Velde) - My Review
Evelyn Skye
Random House
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Media Tie-In
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: The rest of the world may consider the drought-stricken duchy of Inophe to be backwards and worthless, but to Elodie and her father it is beautiful in its own stark, strong way. Despite being noble born, the young woman is not above building shacks or digging latrine ditches if that's what her people need of her; that's what being a leader is, after all, working hard to ensure the success of the people you lead. When her father announces that he's arranged a marriage with Prince Henry of the prosperous island nation of Aurea, she doesn't hesitate but accepts it as her role, her way of ensuring Inophe's survival. Besides, after several months of exchanging letters, it's clear that he's an educated, intelligent young man who respects her, so perhaps the marriage that saves her nation might also spark genuine love. When she and her family arrive at Aurea, they find green forests and purple mountains, great fields of amber barley and scarlet berries, orchards of silver pears, and a gilded castle, plus Prince Henry is every bit as cultured and handsome as Elodie could have imagined. It's so much like a fairy tale it's hard to believe it's all happening to someone like her!
Then, on her wedding night, Henry's mother escorts Elodie to a secret ritual... a ritual that ends in a mountain chasm where a great dragon dwells. The beast's power enables the great bounty of the island, but in exchange it demands sacrifices - and she's just become one.
But Elodie is not the first to be thrown to the cunning, cruel beast beneath the mountain. Those who came before left more than charred bones and melted tiaras; they left markers, maps, and blood that whispers of their thoughts and fears and what they learned in their final days. With their help, perhaps Elodie of Inophe will manage to be the first to escape the dragon's wrath...
Based on the screenplay by Dan Mazeali for the Netflix movie Damsel.
REVIEW: I remember seeing the teasers for the Netflix movie and being intrigued, though mixed reviews and a general lack of time kept me from watching it. But I found this book, an adaptation of the original screenplay, for free at my old work place, and figured it would be worth a try. Having finished it, I don't think I'll be moving the movie into the viewing queue any time soon.
In its favor, Damsel reads fairly fast; I polished off nearly half of it during a long wait at the tire shop while my car was serviced, and finished the rest by the next evening. It establishes reasonably strong women, and after a meandering setup (even if I hadn't known the sacrifice "twist" from the movie trailers, the blurb on the cover gives that away, so drawing out the reveal grows mildly tedious as Elodie notes yet dismisses a string of yellow, orange, and finally glaring red flags over Prince Henry and Aurea) it delivers on the horror-like premise of a lone young woman trapped in a cavernous labyrinth with a taunting, teasing monster. Everywhere she goes, she finds marks and bones to remind her how many have tried and failed to survive the wyrm's wrath, how many have been betrayed by the Aurean royal house over the centuries. The terror is heightened when Elodie discovers that touching the bloodstains of previous victims lets her experience memories of their final days... but those stains, along with notes scratched into the walls, also provide a record of everything the previous victims over the past eight centuries have learned in their efforts to elude the dragon. Building on their progress, from mapping the maze of caverns to translating the wyrm's archaic language, Elodie might stand a slender chance of escape... but will getting away from the beast only make things worse? You don't just break a centuries-old system (or aggravate a centuries-old dragon) without significant collateral damage that may just kill you and everyone you love anyway.
There is no easy answer to the problem, not for her or the people of Aurea, many of whom are deeply troubled by the secret of their nation's wealth but haven't had the courage to fight back until now. If the parallel to Ursula K. Le Guin's classic story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" isn't obvious, the book hammers home that point more than once (if not using the words), even as it emphasizes how good intentions and gray areas get smudged into black by small steps and willful blindness compounded over years and generations, no single drop of water willing to take responsibility for, let alone attempt to stop, the rising flood. Even the dragon is trapped in its own way by the bargain made generations ago, though that does not make it an ally of Elodie's efforts to survive the royal family's betrayal; it just makes the beast that much more enraged and dangerous, not to mention that much more experienced in the hunting and killing of problematic princesses.
As for the beast, the dragon draws on elder traditions in the vein of Smaug, a clever yet cruel beast whose rage cannot be reasoned away and whose scales and sheer power have bested fully armed knights, let alone princesses with little but stones and the fraying remnants of their wedding finery. At every turn, it taunts its prey, and Elodie (and, by proxy, the reader) can never be certain when she has truly outsmarted it or when it's merely toying with her by letting her think she's outsmarted it, only to surprise her with flames and sulfurous smoke and terrible threats. This is not a case of every other knight and princess being a total dunderhead or wimp until she comes along; it is very little wonder that nobody else has outwitted or outlasted the dragon's games, making it a truly formidable opponent even to a plucky young woman like Elodie.
Where the book lost ground in the ratings is towards the end, where it started feeling like it was stretching out the tension, only to pull a resolution out of its tail that felt unsatisfactory given all that had gone before. The story also, after going out of its way to establish how it was women who ultimately found empowerment to challenge injustice, then fell back on a tired trope that knocked the legs out from under their independence by essentially intimating that a woman's ultimate drive, whether for good or ill or in between, is dependent on motherhood in some form or another, without exception. (I can't get into more details without spoilers, but it really flattened what had been a batch of strong characters.) It all just felt like such a letdown after everything the characters went through to get there. The earlier promise and the terror of the cat-and-mouse (or dragon-and-princess) chases through the mountain caverns managed to barely keep the rating above a flat three stars, but it was a close call.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragon's Keep (Janet Lee Carey) - My Review
Seraphina (Rachel Hartman) - My Review
Dragon's Bait (Vivian Vande Velde) - My Review
Monday, March 16, 2026
Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Matt Dinniman)
Carl's Doomsday Scenario
The Dungeon Crawler Carl series, Book 2
Matt Dinniman
Ace
Fiction, Fantasy/Humor/Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Coast Guard veteran Carl and his cat companion, Princess Donut, along with Donut's new dinosaur pet Mongo, have made it to the third level of the dungeon in the "game" that will determine humanity's fate on the planet they used to call home. They, and the diminishing number of other "crawlers", now have to decide which race they'll transform into (if they don't opt to remain human) and pick a class, decisions that may directly affect their odds of survival. But Carl and Donut both know by now that many of the choices in the game mean little when the powers behind it, and the greater field of galactic politics, are really pulling the strings. Even as they have no choice but to play out their roles, fighting monsters and gaining levels and figuring out the ever-evolving game mechanics, Carl and Donut are still determined to do everything they can to hold onto their decency and, if possible, break the system that's trying so very hard to break them.
This book also contains the second installment of "Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret", an ongoing bonus story set elsewhere in the dungeons.
REVIEW: I never expected to enjoy the first book in this series as much as I did, and happily the sequel both lives up to the promise of the first one and builds on it brilliantly. Carl and Donut have both changed since they first ventured down the stairwell into the first level. Donut's intellectual evolution since gaining the ability to speak continues, as her thoughts grow more sophisticated, though there are still several blind spots, particularly regarding Carl's ex Bea (whom Donut still hopes will turn up someday and they can all be a family again, even as Carl knows the truth). Mongo, Donut's new pet, is also growing and leveling, becoming a useful asset to their little team. Their trainer Mordecai finds his role transformed from a mere trainer to someone who can provide more support, though he still has secrets related to his own run as a dungeon crawler and he may have his own agenda. And Carl himself struggles to juggle the many hats and obligations foisted onto him: celebrity dungeon crawler, co-conspirator with Mordecai, object of a creepy foot fetish by the dungeon-running AI (which might be going rogue), and (hopefully) survivor of a system so rigged that not a single "crawler" from a single species subjected to the cruel and twisted death gauntlet of the dungeons has ever succeeded and won the promised sovereignty of their home worlds back. He also picks up a few new allies and - naturally - more rivals, both within the game and without.
The level itself manages to not repeat the first floors too much, as Dinniman introduces new game mechanics and twists. The third floor brings not only the potential to permanently change species, but also quests and the dangerous "elite" class of non-player characters - which are, in true dungeon fashion, part of much larger franchises and interests, running semi-independently of the whole death-gauntlet-for-humanity main event; becoming entangled in one of their ongoing story arcs can make things infinitely more complicated and dangerous, but it might also lead to certain advantages if a crawler manages to play their cards right, and Carl and Donut both have clued into the need to play the game outside the dungeon at least as keenly as they play the one inside. The end lives up to the title, setting up even more explosive problems for the third installment.
As for the serialized bonus story, this one continues the tale as it explores some of the behind-the-scenes manipulations and mechanics, foreshadowing even greater problems in the making should any crawlers live long enough to encounter them. Even the NPCs are victims in the dungeons, only given enough tools and freedoms to develop a hatred of crawlers and both the willingness and ability to kill them.
The very slight dip in the ratings is simply due to the fact that this time I knew what I was getting when I picked it up, and didn't have that extra kick of surprise. It also flirts with excessive entanglements with all the players, species, factions, galactic powers, and other forces and their various complicated histories, all of which become increasingly important to Carl's and Donut's survival. It remains a very readable and highly enjoyable book, with much more to it than one might expect.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Game of Sunken Places (M. T. Anderson) - My Review
Dungeon Crawler Carl (Matt Dinniman) - My Review
Otherland: City of Golden Shadow (Tad Williams) - My Review
The Dungeon Crawler Carl series, Book 2
Matt Dinniman
Ace
Fiction, Fantasy/Humor/Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Coast Guard veteran Carl and his cat companion, Princess Donut, along with Donut's new dinosaur pet Mongo, have made it to the third level of the dungeon in the "game" that will determine humanity's fate on the planet they used to call home. They, and the diminishing number of other "crawlers", now have to decide which race they'll transform into (if they don't opt to remain human) and pick a class, decisions that may directly affect their odds of survival. But Carl and Donut both know by now that many of the choices in the game mean little when the powers behind it, and the greater field of galactic politics, are really pulling the strings. Even as they have no choice but to play out their roles, fighting monsters and gaining levels and figuring out the ever-evolving game mechanics, Carl and Donut are still determined to do everything they can to hold onto their decency and, if possible, break the system that's trying so very hard to break them.
This book also contains the second installment of "Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret", an ongoing bonus story set elsewhere in the dungeons.
REVIEW: I never expected to enjoy the first book in this series as much as I did, and happily the sequel both lives up to the promise of the first one and builds on it brilliantly. Carl and Donut have both changed since they first ventured down the stairwell into the first level. Donut's intellectual evolution since gaining the ability to speak continues, as her thoughts grow more sophisticated, though there are still several blind spots, particularly regarding Carl's ex Bea (whom Donut still hopes will turn up someday and they can all be a family again, even as Carl knows the truth). Mongo, Donut's new pet, is also growing and leveling, becoming a useful asset to their little team. Their trainer Mordecai finds his role transformed from a mere trainer to someone who can provide more support, though he still has secrets related to his own run as a dungeon crawler and he may have his own agenda. And Carl himself struggles to juggle the many hats and obligations foisted onto him: celebrity dungeon crawler, co-conspirator with Mordecai, object of a creepy foot fetish by the dungeon-running AI (which might be going rogue), and (hopefully) survivor of a system so rigged that not a single "crawler" from a single species subjected to the cruel and twisted death gauntlet of the dungeons has ever succeeded and won the promised sovereignty of their home worlds back. He also picks up a few new allies and - naturally - more rivals, both within the game and without.
The level itself manages to not repeat the first floors too much, as Dinniman introduces new game mechanics and twists. The third floor brings not only the potential to permanently change species, but also quests and the dangerous "elite" class of non-player characters - which are, in true dungeon fashion, part of much larger franchises and interests, running semi-independently of the whole death-gauntlet-for-humanity main event; becoming entangled in one of their ongoing story arcs can make things infinitely more complicated and dangerous, but it might also lead to certain advantages if a crawler manages to play their cards right, and Carl and Donut both have clued into the need to play the game outside the dungeon at least as keenly as they play the one inside. The end lives up to the title, setting up even more explosive problems for the third installment.
As for the serialized bonus story, this one continues the tale as it explores some of the behind-the-scenes manipulations and mechanics, foreshadowing even greater problems in the making should any crawlers live long enough to encounter them. Even the NPCs are victims in the dungeons, only given enough tools and freedoms to develop a hatred of crawlers and both the willingness and ability to kill them.
The very slight dip in the ratings is simply due to the fact that this time I knew what I was getting when I picked it up, and didn't have that extra kick of surprise. It also flirts with excessive entanglements with all the players, species, factions, galactic powers, and other forces and their various complicated histories, all of which become increasingly important to Carl's and Donut's survival. It remains a very readable and highly enjoyable book, with much more to it than one might expect.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Game of Sunken Places (M. T. Anderson) - My Review
Dungeon Crawler Carl (Matt Dinniman) - My Review
Otherland: City of Golden Shadow (Tad Williams) - My Review
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
The Dragon Quintet (Marvin Kaye, editor)
The Dragon Quintet
Marvin Kaye, editor
Tor
Fiction, Anthology/Fantasy
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Five short novels by top writers explore the wonders and dangers of dragons:
"In the Dragon's House", by Orson Scott Card: A storied Victorian house bedecked in gables and gargoyles holds a secret within its ancient wiring, a heartbeat and a whisper and waking dreams that speak to one orphaned boy.
"Judgment", by Elizabeth Moon: The human villager Ker doesn't know what to think when he spies the rocks that looked like eggs scattered along the path, but suspects they belong to the other folk, the people of stone or song, and are thus best left alone. When Elder Tam breaks one open to discover crystals within, a dark change overtakes the people... and only Ker and his mother seem immune.
"Love in a Time of Dragons", by Tanith Lee: An enslaved young woman lives a cold and brutal life until she glimpses her true love in the autumn forest, shortly before a warrior arrives to confront the drakkon that's plagued the area for centuries.
"Joust", by Mercedes Lackey: After dragon-riding invaders conquered his nation and turned the people into slaves or serfs, young Vetch has been filled with anger. But then a rider selects the boy as a new servant, to tend the needs of himself and his dragon... giving Vetch an unexpected opportunity for both freedom and, perhaps, vengeance.
"King Dragon", by Michael Swanwick: In a faerie world of magic and malice, young orphan Will is enthralled by the great iron war dragons that scream overhead... until one crashes in the nearby woods and becomes the cruel overlord of his village, recruiting him as its ambassador.
REVIEW: I found this anthology, originally published in 2004, for a very good (cheap) price at a local thrift store, so even though I have some mixed opinions on a few of the authors, I figured it was worth a try because dragons usually are worth a try. I shouldn't be too surprised that I had a mixed reaction to the stories within.
Orson Scott Card's tale is a long walk of a setup to a somewhat vague payoff in a way that makes me suspect that it was intended more as some manner of allegory or sermon than a story in and of itself. It takes a long time to get to even a hint of a dragon (save a gargoyle that dumps water on the sidewalk in front of the house after every rainstorm), and the boy Michael doesn't really do much or have much agency as he comes to understand his unusual bond with the old house and the energy humming through its walls. Much of the wordcount is devoted to the aging homeowners' love of theater and plays and how they take in foster children (Michael being one), but that all becomes so much wasted word count by the end. The dragon itself is an interesting concept, but generally too vague to really invest in.
"Judgment", set in a world of primitive villages and fae beings (and, of course, dragons), delivers a stronger story. Young Ker initially only hopes to earn the goodwill of the respected elder Tam, whose daughter Lin he intends to marry, but the moment he spies the peculiar "rocks" he knows they're bad luck, while Tam reveals a selfish, greedy streak at the thought of the "pretties" that may be within. This is a world where magic and luck aren't just abstractions, and there are very real reasons for the superstitions that abound in the people's lives, very real and powerful entities about that might take offense and inflict real harm. A fair bit happens, though the ending feels a little unfinished, as though Moon intended to expand it or write more. (I'm not familiar enough with her works to know if she ever did, or if this was a spinoff of an existing world or series.)
Tanith Lee's entry paints a vivid portrait of desperation, cruelty, and almost otherworldly wonder and danger in the tale of Graynne, who has been used and abused terribly in her young life, and finally takes a desperate chance to chase love and freedom by following a handsome would-be dragon slayer... but not all is as it initially seems. It feels somewhat long for the tale it's telling, wallowing at several points rather than progressing, and there's something dark and twisted but also cathartic at its heart. Lee uses language brilliantly here, particularly in the descriptions and in the last parts as she evokes a time jump with subtle terminology shifts.
With an Egyptian-flavored fantasy setting, "Joust" should've been more interesting, but everything seems to work out forever in Vetch's favor despite lip service given to long odds and difficulties, robbing the story of its tension. Yes, he starts out a serf to a cruel landowner (the first of many flat characters), but he's quickly plucked away by the world's kindest and most understanding dragon rider, who has a coincidentally unusual backstory and philosophy that basically hands Vetch a blueprint for his own freedom on a silver platter, and despite being new to the world of dragons and being ostracized by other dragon-boys he excels at everything he puts his hands on. It struck me quite early on that it felt familiar somehow, and then I realized that, in essence, Lackey had just given a light massage to the basic story of Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon books - in which an enslaved boy steals a dragon egg from his master, training it in secret for the pit fights that are the only path out of poverty on his desert world, only Jakkin faced steeper odds and setbacks and took far greater risks - with a light touch of Pern and a dash of Dick King-Smith's children's book The Cuckoo Child, about a bird-loving boy who steals an ostrich egg from the zoo to raise at the family farm (only again, the boy Jack Daw and ostrich Oliver encounter more obstacles and stumbles than Vetch). Lackey later expanded the idea of this novella into a series, but if this story is any indication, I've already read it all elsewhere. Even the titular dragon "jousting" barely enters into it. There are a few nice descriptions along the way, and maybe if I hadn't read the other books it borrowed so heavily from I'd have been more invested (or if something had actually gone wrong or been complicated enough to create genuine tension), but overall I found it too derivative to be interesting.
I have only read one book by Michael Swanwick, The Iron Dragon's Daughter, which shares a universe with this tale. I did not like The Iron Dragon's Daughter, despite some intriguing ideas, but it was a long time ago when I read it; perhaps, I thought, I just wasn't ready for the story he was telling. Perhaps it was a younger me that felt so utterly repulsed by the ugly subtexts of his world and its hateful, sadistic, monstrous dragons. Well, if it was just me then, it's still just me now. While Swanwick weaves a suitably surreal fairy realm - the sort that hearkens back to older, stranger, colder ideas of fae magicks and ways - I was just plain sickened by much of what occurred there, and did not like anyone or anything I encountered in it, least of all the beastly dragon (let alone Will)... and that's not even getting into the unsubtle rape themes. This is a world that can kiss a basilisk full on the lips and burn to ash and probably be a more pleasant place for it.
At the end, editor Marvin Kaye discusses more dragons in various media... but he not only confesses ignorance about one of the most popular draconic franchises of the time (Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, still classics to a degree), and further mentions a couple movies just because he dislikes them, but then he provides a selection of recommended dragon media that is... quite eclectic. For instance, 1962's Harryhausenesque (but not actually the work of stop-motion FX master Ray Harryhausen) family fantasy romp Jack the Giant Killer (which I've seen brilliantly riffed by the Rifftrax crew - highly recommended, and the movie's entertaining enough, of a bit goofy and thin on logic, to keep one interested on its own) barely features a dragon at all. The websites are, as one might expect more than twenty years after this book was published, largely defunct, save "urbandragons.com", which appears to be a fossil site that hasn't been updated in quite some time. There were many great dragon websites back in the day I would've recommended over this one, though most have long gone to the Wayback Machine.
In any event, having only paid a couple of bucks, I can't say I'm too disappointed in my reading choice here. The five stories did, at least, all feature actual dragons (not "pseudo-dragons" or "dragons within" or other dodges I've seen passed off as dragon stories in other anthologies), and they each are distinctive in their own ways, even if I wasn't fond of the tales themselves. Some of the imagery does linger. But I still found myself wishing for better...
You Might Also Enjoy:
We Three Dragons (Bill Fawcett, editor) - My Review
A Diversity of Dragons (Anne McCaffrey with Richard Woods) - My Review
Here, There Be Dragons (Jane Yolen) - My Review
Marvin Kaye, editor
Tor
Fiction, Anthology/Fantasy
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Five short novels by top writers explore the wonders and dangers of dragons:
"In the Dragon's House", by Orson Scott Card: A storied Victorian house bedecked in gables and gargoyles holds a secret within its ancient wiring, a heartbeat and a whisper and waking dreams that speak to one orphaned boy.
"Judgment", by Elizabeth Moon: The human villager Ker doesn't know what to think when he spies the rocks that looked like eggs scattered along the path, but suspects they belong to the other folk, the people of stone or song, and are thus best left alone. When Elder Tam breaks one open to discover crystals within, a dark change overtakes the people... and only Ker and his mother seem immune.
"Love in a Time of Dragons", by Tanith Lee: An enslaved young woman lives a cold and brutal life until she glimpses her true love in the autumn forest, shortly before a warrior arrives to confront the drakkon that's plagued the area for centuries.
"Joust", by Mercedes Lackey: After dragon-riding invaders conquered his nation and turned the people into slaves or serfs, young Vetch has been filled with anger. But then a rider selects the boy as a new servant, to tend the needs of himself and his dragon... giving Vetch an unexpected opportunity for both freedom and, perhaps, vengeance.
"King Dragon", by Michael Swanwick: In a faerie world of magic and malice, young orphan Will is enthralled by the great iron war dragons that scream overhead... until one crashes in the nearby woods and becomes the cruel overlord of his village, recruiting him as its ambassador.
REVIEW: I found this anthology, originally published in 2004, for a very good (cheap) price at a local thrift store, so even though I have some mixed opinions on a few of the authors, I figured it was worth a try because dragons usually are worth a try. I shouldn't be too surprised that I had a mixed reaction to the stories within.
Orson Scott Card's tale is a long walk of a setup to a somewhat vague payoff in a way that makes me suspect that it was intended more as some manner of allegory or sermon than a story in and of itself. It takes a long time to get to even a hint of a dragon (save a gargoyle that dumps water on the sidewalk in front of the house after every rainstorm), and the boy Michael doesn't really do much or have much agency as he comes to understand his unusual bond with the old house and the energy humming through its walls. Much of the wordcount is devoted to the aging homeowners' love of theater and plays and how they take in foster children (Michael being one), but that all becomes so much wasted word count by the end. The dragon itself is an interesting concept, but generally too vague to really invest in.
"Judgment", set in a world of primitive villages and fae beings (and, of course, dragons), delivers a stronger story. Young Ker initially only hopes to earn the goodwill of the respected elder Tam, whose daughter Lin he intends to marry, but the moment he spies the peculiar "rocks" he knows they're bad luck, while Tam reveals a selfish, greedy streak at the thought of the "pretties" that may be within. This is a world where magic and luck aren't just abstractions, and there are very real reasons for the superstitions that abound in the people's lives, very real and powerful entities about that might take offense and inflict real harm. A fair bit happens, though the ending feels a little unfinished, as though Moon intended to expand it or write more. (I'm not familiar enough with her works to know if she ever did, or if this was a spinoff of an existing world or series.)
Tanith Lee's entry paints a vivid portrait of desperation, cruelty, and almost otherworldly wonder and danger in the tale of Graynne, who has been used and abused terribly in her young life, and finally takes a desperate chance to chase love and freedom by following a handsome would-be dragon slayer... but not all is as it initially seems. It feels somewhat long for the tale it's telling, wallowing at several points rather than progressing, and there's something dark and twisted but also cathartic at its heart. Lee uses language brilliantly here, particularly in the descriptions and in the last parts as she evokes a time jump with subtle terminology shifts.
With an Egyptian-flavored fantasy setting, "Joust" should've been more interesting, but everything seems to work out forever in Vetch's favor despite lip service given to long odds and difficulties, robbing the story of its tension. Yes, he starts out a serf to a cruel landowner (the first of many flat characters), but he's quickly plucked away by the world's kindest and most understanding dragon rider, who has a coincidentally unusual backstory and philosophy that basically hands Vetch a blueprint for his own freedom on a silver platter, and despite being new to the world of dragons and being ostracized by other dragon-boys he excels at everything he puts his hands on. It struck me quite early on that it felt familiar somehow, and then I realized that, in essence, Lackey had just given a light massage to the basic story of Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon books - in which an enslaved boy steals a dragon egg from his master, training it in secret for the pit fights that are the only path out of poverty on his desert world, only Jakkin faced steeper odds and setbacks and took far greater risks - with a light touch of Pern and a dash of Dick King-Smith's children's book The Cuckoo Child, about a bird-loving boy who steals an ostrich egg from the zoo to raise at the family farm (only again, the boy Jack Daw and ostrich Oliver encounter more obstacles and stumbles than Vetch). Lackey later expanded the idea of this novella into a series, but if this story is any indication, I've already read it all elsewhere. Even the titular dragon "jousting" barely enters into it. There are a few nice descriptions along the way, and maybe if I hadn't read the other books it borrowed so heavily from I'd have been more invested (or if something had actually gone wrong or been complicated enough to create genuine tension), but overall I found it too derivative to be interesting.
I have only read one book by Michael Swanwick, The Iron Dragon's Daughter, which shares a universe with this tale. I did not like The Iron Dragon's Daughter, despite some intriguing ideas, but it was a long time ago when I read it; perhaps, I thought, I just wasn't ready for the story he was telling. Perhaps it was a younger me that felt so utterly repulsed by the ugly subtexts of his world and its hateful, sadistic, monstrous dragons. Well, if it was just me then, it's still just me now. While Swanwick weaves a suitably surreal fairy realm - the sort that hearkens back to older, stranger, colder ideas of fae magicks and ways - I was just plain sickened by much of what occurred there, and did not like anyone or anything I encountered in it, least of all the beastly dragon (let alone Will)... and that's not even getting into the unsubtle rape themes. This is a world that can kiss a basilisk full on the lips and burn to ash and probably be a more pleasant place for it.
At the end, editor Marvin Kaye discusses more dragons in various media... but he not only confesses ignorance about one of the most popular draconic franchises of the time (Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, still classics to a degree), and further mentions a couple movies just because he dislikes them, but then he provides a selection of recommended dragon media that is... quite eclectic. For instance, 1962's Harryhausenesque (but not actually the work of stop-motion FX master Ray Harryhausen) family fantasy romp Jack the Giant Killer (which I've seen brilliantly riffed by the Rifftrax crew - highly recommended, and the movie's entertaining enough, of a bit goofy and thin on logic, to keep one interested on its own) barely features a dragon at all. The websites are, as one might expect more than twenty years after this book was published, largely defunct, save "urbandragons.com", which appears to be a fossil site that hasn't been updated in quite some time. There were many great dragon websites back in the day I would've recommended over this one, though most have long gone to the Wayback Machine.
In any event, having only paid a couple of bucks, I can't say I'm too disappointed in my reading choice here. The five stories did, at least, all feature actual dragons (not "pseudo-dragons" or "dragons within" or other dodges I've seen passed off as dragon stories in other anthologies), and they each are distinctive in their own ways, even if I wasn't fond of the tales themselves. Some of the imagery does linger. But I still found myself wishing for better...
You Might Also Enjoy:
We Three Dragons (Bill Fawcett, editor) - My Review
A Diversity of Dragons (Anne McCaffrey with Richard Woods) - My Review
Here, There Be Dragons (Jane Yolen) - My Review
Saturday, February 28, 2026
February Site Update
February's over already? For a short month, it sure was far too Eventful... Anyway, the main Brightdreamer Books site has been updated, with February's three reviews archived and cross-linked to related titles. (Yes, apparently the new job has had a negative effect on available reading time.)
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)