SciFi/Fantasy Anthology Review: The Book of Dragons edited by Jonathan Strahan and Featuring Peter S Beagle, Zen Cho, Kate Elliott and Many More

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Book of Dragons, Edited by Jonathan Strahan https://t.co/MGVYkWvQW4

Short Review: 8.5 out of 10
1/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) June 16, 2020

Short Review (cont): An anthology of SF/F stories featuring dragons of all kinds- mechanical, imaginary, real, transforming, etc -features a tremendous cast of writers resulting in some really great stories and only one story that I felt didn't work. A really enjoyable read 2/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) June 16, 2020

Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on July 7, 2020 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.


The Book of Dragons is the latest SciFi/Fantasy Anthology put together by Editor Jonathan Strahan, featuring a large number of short stories - and a few pieces of poetry - all based upon a common theme: the presence of Dragons.  The anthology format is a tricky one to review - since stories within the same collection can vary greatly in quality - but in this case it allows its cast of writers to write a variety of stories that deal with the subject - Dragons - in many many different ways: you have technological dragons, eastern dragons, western dragons, draconic spirits, dragons that are illusionary or imaginary, etc.

And WHAT a cast of writers, ranging from classic SF/F favorites like Peter S Beagle and Patricia A. McKillip to more modern favorites like Ken Liu, Kate Elliott, Aliette de Bodard, and more....I could go on and on.  The quantity of award winning authors involved here is frankly astonishing, and the results are more often than not damn good.  They produce stories and poems that hit practically every possible tone, from bittersweet to inspiring, and features far more hits than misses.  If you are looking for a collection of stories to read, this is a damn good one.

TRIGGER WARNING:  Several stories feature spousal or child abuse within, usually via emotional abuse, but at least one instance of recalled physical abuse is also mentioned.  Please be advised.

In a prior review of a similar themed anthology (Robots v Fairies), I started my review with a quick one sentence summary of every story in the anthology.  There are 30 stories and/or poems in this anthology, which Amazon list at 576 pages and very definitely feels like it, so I'm not going to do that.  Also I'm not really the greatest lover of poetry so I'm not going to comment too much on the five poems included here, even though they seem very enjoyable - Theodora Goss' "The Dragons" really was great for me, but that may be because the last line really hit my personal background.

Obviously the common theme here is "Dragons" and the anthology is very liberal about what that means.  In fact Ellen Klages' story is non-fictional about a childhood trip to Chinatown (and its dagon statues) in San Francisco. And then we have mechanical dragons, imaginary (or possibly) imaginary dragons, spirits which may or may not be dragons, eastern dragons, etc.  In some of these stories the dragon in question is an actual character; in others they're just an aspect of the setting.  I should note that least two of these stories take place in existing worlds' of the author, but I never felt lost without prior knowledge of those worlds (and indeed may have missed that a story or two took place in such a world).

To be more review-oriented here, the anthology features an absolute incredible cast of writers, many of whom I've read before and loved and it absolutely shows.  There's only one story I think is a real miss -  "Matriculation" by Ellen Katharine White which just seems to end as if it's part of a larger story but without any further context it just falls flat (and I can't find any prior stories in that world from google, so I was really confused).  Other than that there's a lot of highlights, but to name just three:

"Hikayat Si Bujang, or, The Tale of the Naga Sage" by Zen Cho is the fun tale of a Naga in the modern world who left home to try and seek enlightenment on his own and is compelled to come home when his father is dying....without realizing the effect his actions - and his natural ability to cause rain and storms - has on other people.

"The Long Walk" by Kate Elliott: A strong story in a fantasy world where unwanted (old or barren) women who can't pay bribes to the priests must make the "long walk" to their supposed doom at the hands of dragons and the new widow, formerly emotionally browbeaten by her husband, deciding to make her own destiny along that path.

"We Don't Talk About the Dragon" by Sarah Gailey: The story of a girl who grows up with a dragon in the barn, which she's tasked with feeding but cannot tell anyone about or complain about or her controlling father will get mad - a story with clear allegorical implications that ends on a strong triumphant note.

The Elliott and Gailey stories are among the ones I highlighted the trigger warning above btw, though there are a number of excellent other stories without such, and a few pure fun ones instead if you want that instead of ones with potentially bitter backstories.   It's an absolute great collection and I would definitely recommend it.