I never set out to write a book about dragons. Hell, I never had any ambitions to write at all until just recently. But you may recall from this post that I have a project in the works about dragons in an alternate-history Germany. Because of this, I have been researching dragons - by that, of course, I mean reading a whole bunch of books with dragons.
In this post I will review not the books themselves, but the dragons they contain.
'THE GREAT ZOO OF CHINA' by Matthew Reilly gives us dragons in the modern world. How? Okay, they are actually several species of very territorial dinosaurs who laid their eggs in the same place under a massive zinc deposit, protecting them from the cataclysm that killed the rest of the dinosaurs. What I liked about Reilly's dragons is his vivid detailed descriptions of what they look like, how their sensory organs are similar to other reptiles, and how they behave.
But the way they were named (a minor detail, sure) was wrong. These dragons were part of a zoo that was to make China the cultural capital of the world. But did they get Chinese names? No, they were names after existing animals - the Eastern Grey, Red-Bellied Black and Yellowjackets for example. They came in different sizes as well, Prince dragons (as big as a 4WD) King dragons (as big as a bus) and Emperor dragons (as big as a plane). And only the biggest could breathe fire. Now that's all well and good for dragons, but these are meant to be dinosaurs, and there's no evidence whatsoever of dinosaur groups working like that. Oh, also they could talk. I mean, through a computer translator and earpiece thing, but yeah.
'DRAGON HEART' by Cecelia Holland was about a sea dragon in a rich fantasy world. What was compelling about this story is the main character, a princess, was unable to talk to other humans. She was smart, and could understand them, but when she spoke only unintellegible animal noises came out. But after sinking the boat she was travelling on and killing the crew, when she was trapped by the dragon on an island she and the dragon could talk to each other. The dragon wanted her to tell him stories. Honestly, it's very weird. Most of the time the dragon keeps to itself, hunting and resting, like your regular monster of the deep. The folk on land don't even know that such a creature exists. Yet it has the intelligence to speak to the princess, to understand the stories she weaves, and has an element of sexual attraction for her and even assaults her. I know, right? What's going on there? Anyway after escaping the dragon and returning to her family's castle, which is under seige from a powerful army, she calls out to the dragon to rescue her and her family. Which he does, and then the princess goes off with the dragon.
'DRAGON KEEPER' by Robin Hobb is something different again. This book is set in a fantasy world, and for something different, has one of the novel's several points of view being that of a dragon. This shows us not just what the dragon looks like and does, but also what it thinks, feels and remembers from it's past lives. The dragons in this world have many points of difference, one being their life cycle. The book starts with Sisarqua, a sea serpent, struggling up the river to their ancient cocooning grounds. After, well frankly insufficient time in the cocoon, it hatches and the dragon Sintara emerges. What is done really well is the dragons' memories of its past lives, when it emerges it expects itself to be fully formed, ready to hunt, ready to fly. So she is horrified to find that she - and the other hatchlings - are stunted, weak, and incomplete. This gives us a great, yet heartbreaking glimpse of the majesty of what she should be compared to the disappointing reality of what she is. Normally proud and peerless in the air, on land and underwater, the hatchlings who remain misshapen and incapable of flight become a burden on the human community that supports them. The humans re-assess their perception of dragons, and the dragons struggle to accept their dependence on humans. The dragons can understand human speech, but not all humans can understand dragon speech, in an interesting twist.
And now the 'EARTHSEA' cycle by Le Guin. These are the dragons that first come to my mind. They are an ancient, integral and magical part of the world. I won't spoil the amazing 'THE OTHER WIND' - the last book in the series - but it's a must-read. It's hard to talk about *just* the dragons here, because to understand them, you need to know that the whole magic system is based upon knowing the true names of things, the Old Language which was used in the making. Magicians spend decades learning this ancient lost language, and know only fragments. But dragons, they know the Language of the Making inherently. They are old, wise, and neither good nor evil by human standards, they are true to themselves and are very dangerous.
So what have we leaned from these books? Most of them deal with the typical dragon or wyvern, four legs, wings, and the ability to breathe fire, with the exception of 'DRAGON HEART' which deals with a wingless sea dragon. Regardless, they are all extremely dangerous, act act upon their own wild impulses. That's not to say they aren't intelligent, there are instances where they communicate with humans in every book.
Next time, I will summarise the dragons from 'SERAPHINA' 'TOOTH AND CLAW' 'PERN' and 'THE DRAGON DIARY'. Feel free to suggest other dragon novels I should grab as well!
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