Dragonfly

Dragonfly by Frederic S. Durbin is a modern fairytale adventure written by an author I met at World Fantasy. I picked up the book out of curiosity and in support. There are no regrets. If I had to classify this book, I’d say it’s a little like Nightmare Before Christmas crossed with Narnia, and a good dose of unique elements.

A young girl is drawn into a world of vampires, werewolves, and monsters from other dimensions when she ignores the warning of her uncle and a mysterious character named Mothkin. Rather than condemning her for following Mothkin when he goes to prevent the break-in between the two worlds, Mothkin’s attitude is more that if she was there, she was supposed to be.

Bridget Anne, or Dragonfly as her uncle dubbed her, show more is amazed to discover the end of the laundry chute in no way resembles her uncles basement, but that amazement turns to terror and then a quiet courage as she learns that this place is full of creatures whose only goal is to turn her world into a massive feeding ground, from emotional vampires who thrive on fear to creatures that use human bodies as hosts for their spirits, this is not a nice place. And whatever her purpose in being there, it does not prevent Dragonfly from capture or loss. She has to grow through the experiences, and move beyond both terror and despair, before she can find her way to the end of the story.

Written in an aware first person narrative, the question of this book is not if she will survive but rather if she will succeed, and who among her allies will make it through as well. The writing is evocative, description reminiscent of Tolkien with elaborate details that still manage to craft a sense of place that seeps into your bones. It’s not a pretty, everything’s perfect in the end, Disney tale, but for every grim moment, something comes from it. The novel was in no way an easy read, it wasn’t popcorn to be crunched in a few short bites, but the journey was worth every bit of the time it took. show less

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Frederic S. Durbin at a local library and traded books with him. I have just finished reading his book, Dragonfly, and it turned out to be an excellent book to read in the weeks leading up to Halloween. It tells the adventures of Dragonfly, a young girl who discovers a phantasmagorical underground realm beneath the basement of her Uncle's funeral home. Sam Hain (as in Samhain, the Celtic Halloween), its evil leader, sends monsters up to steal children and poison the dreams of humanity. It is one of the most original tales I have read in ages, and it stands out from the other fantasy books I have read during the past decade in terms of the author's descriptions of this subterranean world. While the show more author's vision is highly creative and fascinating, it is his descriptions that stand out. He is as much an artist as he is an author; he paints with words, and I find myself somewhat grateful that I read the book in paperback rather than on my usual tablet because I would otherwise have found myself constantly highlighting beautifully crafted phrases, sentences, and paragraphs for future contemplation and enjoyment rather than simply enjoying being immersed in such a wonderful world. Although the heroine of the book is an adolescent girl, readers of all ages should find this a wonderfully fantastic, if frighteningly evil, world in which to while away one's autumn evenings. This book is a rare Halloween treat best savored wrapped in a warm blanket when the moon is full, the naked branches of trees tap upon the windows, and the crackle of the fire competes with the creaks of aging joists and settling staircases. Grab a mug of hot chocolate, settle back in your chair, and enjoy your trip to the dark world of Harvest Moon. show less

This is a book I picked up cheaply, on a whim, several years ago. How very serendipitous - this has turned out to be one of my favourite reads so far this year. It starts with a girl being drawn into the creepy underworld in the basement of her uncle's funeral parlour, and becomes a gripping journey through the land of Harvest Moon, which is a combination of Carnivale and Industrial Revolution-flavoured nightmares (I wasn't surprised to find out that the author lived in Japan while writing this; there's a definite fusion of Western and Japanese modes of horror going on here - Tim Burton meets Silent Hill!). Durbin employs striking imagery (such as the great boiling, fuming malevolent moon that turns out to be a mighty, show more jack-o-'lantern-faced airship) and lush, beautiful prose, and has a real knack for naming things (e.g. Eagerly Meagerly, the child-herder; sparsely, the food the captive children are fed upon; the Tenebrificium, the great dark fortress). While it has some of the flavour of a fairy tale, it's not a pretty one; there's some very dark material here - most particularly in the pervasive misery that the overlord of the Harvest Moon delights in manufacturing (literally) and perpetuating.
I'm finding it very difficult to decide if this should be considered children's, young adult or adult fiction. It seems far too dark for children's fiction, despite the fact it's told from the perspective of a ten-year-old girl (or rather, it's told by the girl in retrospect, from her adult's perspective), and it doesn't have the coming-of-age and finding-one's-place-in-the-world feel that I associate with young adult stories. At any rate, I'll be making this book one of my All Hallow's Read recs this year, for sure. show less

Dragonfly is a great read. The premise is nothing new--a child has adventures in a mystical realm. But unlike Dorothy, Meg Murry or the Pevensie children, Bridget Anne (also known by the nickname Dragonfly) heads down to a dark realm--the essence of Hallowe'en. Not quite hell, but much closer than any other "faerieland" of which I've read. But it's not all blackness, either. There is love and hope and faith amidst the suffering and death. Mr. Durbin does a very good job of bringing the story to life, weaving together the plot and characters. Nothing is wasted--details that I just thought of as embellishment suddenly turn out to be important to the plot. One of the folks who reviewed Dragonfly at Amazon.com said that the book reminded show more him of Ray Bradbury. Me, I was reminded of C.S. Lewis, partly because of the basic premise, partly because of the underlying Christianity of the heroes. (And partly because the only Bradbury I can recall reading is Farenheit 451.) But despite Mr. Lewis' skill in portraying good and evil characters, his fiction comes across as a weekend gardener--a tad dirty, but still very prim and proper. Dragonfly, to continue the metaphor, is more like a real farmer, for whom sweat and dust are a part of daily life. I really enjoyed reading this and I'm going to put it on my shelf so I can read it again. I suspect it will only get better the second time around.
--J. show less

Probably no better example of Arkham House in its death throes, Dragonfly starts out well but then jettisons its own Halloween premise to try to tell some other holy message that doesn't work. Somewhere between Bradbury and Gaiman but without the magic and certainly no nod to Halloween fun.

The fact that Arkham House would be forced to accept and publish a book this amateur, or just have the lack of judgement to see how out of line it was with the press's entire legacy, shows how far things had fallen since [a:August Derleth|20598|August Derleth|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1263314065p2/20598.jpg]'s untimely demise.

I found this while browsing in a bookstore and I must admit that the arresting cover caught my eye. Upon a closer look, the cover would seem to appeal to a Young Adult audience but an even closer inspection revealed that to be misleading. (There's a moral here somewhere.) From the back cover: As Hallowe'en approaches, young Bridget Anne ("Dragonfly," to her friends) begins hearing strange things coming from the basement of her uncle's funeral parlor — peculiar noises and odd voices speaking of a stairway... a stairway that is almost complete. Uncle Henry, suspecting sinister forces may be at work, summons his mysterious friend Mothkin to investigate. Mothkin goes down the laundry chute for a look. And Dragonfly stubbornly follows him — show more into the strange and spooky underworld known as Harvest Moon...In addition to that were various blurbs that described the book thusly: "Children's fears become real in this intriguingly odd, old-fashioned dark fantasy of a world beneath ours..." and "think of an even more twisted version of a A Nightmare Before Christmas" and "A classic, epic, action-adventure fantasy, chronicling the struggle between good and evil... imaginatively dark with gruesome creatures... " and so forth. Well, it was as advertised. This imaginative, original story gets cracking from the very first pages. The imagery is lush and painted with a rich vocabulary. There's nothing cutesy about the story (thank God) and it manages to include all sorts of beasties. Vampires, werewolves, gypsies, and other various ghouls all make an appearance in this unpredictable tale. And when the action is really moving it brings to mind thrills you might find in a summer blockbuster. Good times. show less

Starts out as a nice, atmospheric Halloween tale but gradually turns into a thinly veiled screed against the holiday and everything associated with it. Not a celebration of the season.

Also, a complete swipe of [b:Something Wicked This Way Comes|248596|Something Wicked This Way Comes|Ray Bradbury|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255682215s/248596.jpg|1183550].