Wednesday, January 13, 2016

BOOKISH BEASTS: Dragons


Another day, another beast!  Please give Chrissy of Punk's House of Books a warm welcome, as she is here to talk about a classic favorite . . . DRAGONS!!

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Fire cannot kill a dragon. 

We are all familiar with that saying now, thanks to Game of Thrones. Dragons have been a part of literature since well…forever. They are steeped deep in mythology and cultures around the world. They are even mentioned in the Bible. And most importantly, they are my all-time favorite fictional beast. 

One of the best things about dragons is that they can’t be pigeonholed like other fictional creatures. Trolls tend to be ugly and slow, vampires are usually charming and extremely good looking (my love of that is a whole other article). Dragons though, they can be anything. Just look at pop culture right now. I wouldn’t want to come face to face with any of the dragons from Game of Thrones but I would love to play fetch with Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon. 

Dragons can be intelligent and brutal tricksters. They are beautiful even when they are “ugly”. They can be cruel or protective, depending on the mythology the author uses. They can have wings or not. They can live in mountains, in water, or your pocket (this is a thing that happens in the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead which only increased my love of dragons and made me want my own pocket dragon). 

How can anyone not love dragons? They are the heart of most fantasy books. Which was why is was extremely difficult for me to pick just one book that illustrated my love of these majestic creatures. So I chose two. 

The Inheritance Cycle is probably the one I love the most. 


The story follows Eragon and how much his life changes after he discovers a strange stone that is actually a rare dragon egg. When the dragon is born, she is bonded to Eragon and together they fight the King. If you are unfamiliar with this series it is ALL about dragons. All kinds of dragons. Good dragons, bad ones, old as time dragons and new baby dragons. The dragons and their humans share a special connection in the series that I really enjoyed. It’s more than the connection between the dragons and their riders in How to Train Your Dragon but still a traditional take on dragons and that is just as great too because hello, it’s kind of what made me love dragons in the first place. 

The other series I love is unfortunately not finished though I believe a book is planned for later this year. This one is different and I suppose at the other end of the spectrum of dragon stories. The Sweetest Dark series features a girl that can turn into a dragon. 


Besides that totally awesome part (I would love to be able to turn into a dragon!) the writing is beautiful and it takes place in England (love!) and just everything about this series is amazing. The author also has a more adult series that has a similar plot with dragons and I’m eager to get into that. 

Now that I’ve gushed about my dragon feelings, how do you feel about these magical beasts?

4 comments :

  1. Being a dragon sign I developed a fondness for all things dragon. Eragon is epic!

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  2. My first dragon experience was watching the cartoon version of "The Hobbit", I think, and it made dragons seem incredibly powerful. Then I watch the "Flight of Dragons" which then made them feel like complete characters without needing to be monsters. Plus it put me on what was I think about a 5 year mission to find the book it was based on until I did find it! ;)

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  3. I love, love, love dragons!! I've read the first three in The Inheritance Cycle. I gotta read the final one, but I need to probably remind myself what happened in the other books first. And, I'm going to check out the other series you mentioned. I haven't heard of that one before.

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