The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy (2009)

A good anthology: a number of names called to me from the shop shelves, in particular [a:Diana Wynne Jones|4260|Diana Wynne Jones|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1193516584p2/4260.jpg]'s (as I had actually only gone to the shop to try to buy her latest book). In the event DWJ's story was slightly disappointing for its briefness and downbeat outcome - she seems so often to have a downer against mothers, painting them as strangling smotherers. [a:Naomi Novik|8730|Naomi Novik|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206646770p2/8730.jpg]'s story was a delight, showing a possible starting point for the Aerial Corps; and there were some good stories that took us away from the typical sort of fantasy dragon inspired by Western cultures ([a:Tanith Lee|8694|Tanith Lee|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1218895130p2/8694.jpg]'s ice dragon and Andy Duncan's hillbilly devil-and-dragon-and-witch story). [a:Tamora Pierce|8596|Tamora Pierce|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1209044273p2/8596.jpg] was also someone I took note of from the cover and enjoyed, though I thought the story (featuring Kitten, a character from the Wild Magic sub-series of the Tortall books) was a bit overly pat in the ending.

Overall, lots of good stuff that kept me reading quickly and keenly. ( )

Charming collection of short stories featuring all manner of dragons and the people who come in contact with them. Among the authors who contribute are Naomi Novik, Gregory Maguire, Jonathan Stroud, and Tomora Pierce.

These stories are written for younger readers and many have a wonderful snarky way of writing. There is only one small questionably appropriate event in all of the stories. Many of the central humans are teenaged and some of the dragons are young. The locales for the stories are varied. Most are fantastic but two are more known - downtown Oakland and the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. Some dragons are friendly and some are menacing and some communicate with humans.

Recommended for young fantasy fans. ( )

Overall, this was a decent collection of fantasy stories all centered around that favorite of fantasy beasts, the Dragon. As usual, with a collection of this sort, there are some really good tales and some really not-so-good ones. But overall I was impressed with the diversity and range amongst the stories and enjoyed reading stories by some fairly big name fantasy authors who to this point I had not yet read any of their other more well known fair.

If you enjoy short story collections in general, I'd rate this one as slightly above average. There was a really nice variety of styles and types of stories included in the collection. Not all of the stories are the set in what most would consider to be the typical fantasy setting. As a matter of fact, most of the tales manage to have a twist or two that put them firmly outside of the box of the ordinary. In many cases this worked great, but in several it was just plain odd.

All in all, I don't feel that I wasted my time on The Dragon Book and would recommend it to others who,like myself, enjoy a collection of short stories to shake things up a bit. ( )

Here are the stories I recommend you read first:

Are You Afflicted With Dragons? by Kage Baker--if you are, in this universe you have two choices: hop on down to the hardware store for some Dragon-Away, or hire yourself a dragon-catcher!

Bob Choi's Last Job--by Jonathan Stroud--this story had a real cyberpunk feel, as a dragon detective stalks the streets, finding clues about dragons in hiding, having taken human form.

A Stark And Wormy Knight--by Tad Williams--Hilarious! A mother dragon tells her draklings bed time stories about their grandsire. DO NOT MISS THIS STORY. It's a HOOT!

The War That Winter Is--by Tanith Lee--extraordinary, the kind of story that makes you forget the real world.

Overall, the book was fine. Some of the stories were really fun to read and highly entertaining (Vici by Naomi Novik, The Dragon's Tale by Tamora Pierce, Are You Afflicted with Dragons? by Kage Baker), and some were a drag to get through (Ungentle Fire by Sean Williams, The War That Winter Is by Tanith Lee). Maybe I just don't have the patience, but I think there were a few too many stories. It's worth it for the good ones. ( )