Tooth and Claw (2003)

by Jo Walton

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
1,428	91	11,442	(3.87)	204
A tale of contention over love and money - among dragons. Jo Walton returns with a very different kind of fantasy story: the tale of a family dealing with the death of their father, of a son who goes to law for his inheritance, a son who agonizes over his father's deathbed confession, a daughter who falls in love, a daughter who becomes involved in the abolition movement, and a daughter sacrificing herself for her husband. Except that everyone in the story is a dragon, red in tooth and claw. Here is a world of politics and train stations, of churchmen and family retainers, of courtship and country houses ... in which, on the death of an elder, family members gather to eat the body of the deceased. In which society's high-and-mighty members avail themselves of the privilege of killing and eating the weaker children, which they do with ceremony and relish, growing stronger thereby.… (more)

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40
Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope (InfoQuest)
InfoQuest: As Walton notes in the book's introduction, Trollope's Framley Parsonage provides some of the plot and characters for Tooth and Claw and is a very good Victorian novel (of the Barsetshire series, though it can easily stand alone).
40
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (MyriadBooks)
MyriadBooks: For the Victorian setting, with dragons.
30
Soulless by Gail Carriger (MyriadBooks)
MyriadBooks: For Victorian heroines of inhuman nature.
30
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (Herenya)
20
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (octopedingenue)
00
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott (beyondthefourthwall)
beyondthefourthwall: Well-developed thought-experiments about slightly alternative societies, partially satirising Victorian Britain.
11
The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett (Mint.ChocolateOcelot)
Mint.ChocolateOcelot: Tooth and Claw is similar to Magicians & Mrs. Quent because of the Society of it. Things like marrying outside your social class, fancy parties, and where Mr. So-and-so was last night are all issues that characters in both books face. Unless you don't care for books with human characters, I think if you enjoyed Tooth and Claw, you will enjoy The Magicians and Mrs. Quent… (more)

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English (86) Spanish (2) French (1) German (1) All languages (90)

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What a pleasure to read this gem of a satire right after the satirefail of "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen." The satire gods must have taken pity on me that this was the very next title I picked up. (

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sgwordy | Dec 31, 2022 |

What a fascinating book! Just like it sounds -- a period courtroom drama among dragons. Well written and intricate in social nuances. Funny and horrifying -- I think it's much better than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but it has the same narrative effect -- amplifying social dangers to a height perhaps our changed society can better comprehend. It's such a different game when the alternative to propriety is to be eaten. (

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jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |

The story took a while to really get into gear, but this was great. I expected pastiche but this was much more, some interesting worldbuilding! (

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porges | Mar 2, 2022 |

I would give this more stars if I could. I LOVED it. (

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maryellencg | Jan 8, 2022 |

It's just like a Victorian novel, but about dragons! So perfect! (

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jollyavis | Dec 14, 2021 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Walton, Jo	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Dolisi, Florence	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Elwell, Tristan	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Grossman, Howard	Cover designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

Folio SF (643)

Was inspired by

Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope

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Awards and honors

World Fantasy Award (Novel, 2004)

Epigraph

Man, her last work, who seem'd so fair,
Such splendid purpose in his eyes,
Who roll'd the psalm to wintry skies,
Who built him fanes of fruitless prayer,

Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation's final law—
Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shriek'd against his creed—

Who loved, who suffer'd countless ills,
Who battled for the True, the Just,
Be blown about the desert dust,
Or seal'd within the iron hills?

No more? A monster then, a dream,
A discord. Dragons of the prime,
That tare each other in their slime,
Were mellow music match'd with him.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from
In Memoriam AHH, 1850.

She'd like me to bring a dragon home, I suppose. It would serve her right if I did, some creature that would make the house intolerable to her.

Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage, 1859

Dedication

This is for my aunt, Mary Lace, for coming so far down the road towards fantasy for me, and for coming down so many other roads with me, plenty of them real as well as metaphorical.

First words

Bon Agornin writhed on his deathbed, his wings beating as if he would fly to his new life in his old body.

Quotations

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Nielsen Hayden, Patrick

Blurbers

Yolen, Jane

Link, Kelly

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

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Wikipedia in English (1)

Tooth and Claw (novel)

▾Book descriptions

A tale of contention over love and money - among dragons. Jo Walton returns with a very different kind of fantasy story: the tale of a family dealing with the death of their father, of a son who goes to law for his inheritance, a son who agonizes over his father's deathbed confession, a daughter who falls in love, a daughter who becomes involved in the abolition movement, and a daughter sacrificing herself for her husband. Except that everyone in the story is a dragon, red in tooth and claw. Here is a world of politics and train stations, of churchmen and family retainers, of courtship and country houses ... in which, on the death of an elder, family members gather to eat the body of the deceased. In which society's high-and-mighty members avail themselves of the privilege of killing and eating the weaker children, which they do with ceremony and relish, growing stronger thereby.

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Book description

A tale of contention over love and money—among dragons

Tooth and Claw

Jo Walton burst onto the fantasy scene with The King's Peace, acclaimed by writers as diverse as Poul Anderson, Robin Hobb, and Ken MacLeod. In 2002, she was voted the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Now Walton returns with a very different kind of fantasy story: the tale of a family dealing with the death of their father, of a son who goes to law for his inheritance, a son who agonizes over his father's deathbed confession, a daughter who falls in love, a daughter who becomes involved in the abolition movement, and a daughter sacrificing herself for her husband.

Except that everyone in the story is a dragon, red in tooth and claw.

Here is a world of politics and train stations, of churchmen and family retainers, of courtship and country houses...in which, on the death of an elder, family members gather to eat the body of the deceased. In which society's high-and-mighty members avail themselves of the privilege of killing and eating the weaker children, which they do with ceremony and relish, growing stronger thereby.

You have never read a novel like Tooth and Claw.

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