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

In this book, The Dragon Book by Jack Dann, dragons come alive in many countries. Twenty-one of our young adult writers wrote these short stories for us to read and enjoy, and enjoy you will. Even though the stories are all different, they all have the same idea... DRAGONS! In one of the stories a young dragon asks his mother how they came to be, and she talks about an evil knight. In another story, a young lady is special... but not in a bad way. She can talk to dragons, and she even has her own personal dragon! So, as you can see, these stories are different and individual in there own ways, yet they are about one of my favorite things, dragons. Do you love dragons? Well I do, and that is the main reason I chose this book in the first place. When I first started to read this book, I wasn't so sure I made a good choice in my selection. Just like with any collection of short stories some stories are better then others. In this particular book you must read a few confusing stories. But a couple stories in, I realized how great the stories were. Each author's style was unique, so I got a taste of how each author writes and how their imaginations are working. All of the authors reached their goal which was to talk about dragons. Every time I closed my eyes I could imagine dragons soaring or helping out a new friend, and when I finished that story and would go on to the next, I could imagine the two dragons and the people from both stories forming a whole other book. Even though it wasn't the greatest book I've ever read and had some flaws such as the titles of some of the stories, and how confusing some of the stories were with their plots. It was really good, and I hope I will be able to read some of these amazing authors works again sometime soon. Reviewed by a young adult student reviewer Flamingnet Book Reviews Teen books reviewed by teen reviewers

Comments: This collection of 19 never previously unpublished short stories by mostly well-known authors is written for an "all ages" audience, meaning for adults but an acceptable cross-over for older teens. The book is entirely language and s*x free, though the themes keep the book form being suitable for anyone younger. There were a couple of stories I didn't appreciate but for the most part I rated the others 4s or 5s. I really enjoyed that this book of short stories contained one longer almost novella sized story along with several lengthy 30 page stories along with the shorter short stories, making for a wide range of reading, with the longer stories letting the reader become quite involved in the story. I certainly had my appetite whetted for some of the others here I hadn't read before, which was shamefully quite a few. Of the 19 authors, I had heard of 12 (even owning books by most of them), of those 12, alas, I had read only 8. A very engaging collection of stories with an amazing array of dragons: good, bad, those who fly and those who swim, with wings and without, those who breath fire, those who breathe ice. Plus the stories are told from all sorts of points of view including that of the dragon itself. A very enjoyable collection of stories. Recommended! 1. Dragon's Deep by Cecelia Holland - I really enjoyed this story of a fishing village that the Duke visits one day and tells them their taxes are now doubled. Not knowing what else to do they venture into the dangerous waters called "Dragon's Deep" to fish where they are attacked by a dragon and one girl, Perla, is accidentally taken away by the dragon. The story shows that a beast can learn to love through human tenderness and that humans can turn to beasts when they forget human tenderness. 4/5 2. Vici by Naomi Novik - An enjoyable and funny story with a quirky ending set in Ancient Rome of a man presumably sentenced to death when his punishment is to single handedly kill a dragon. Pure luck makes him successful and he comes home rich with the dragon's hoard and an egg, presumably is dead. When the egg hatches the man's life takes a turn for adventure and will never be the same again. Quite humorous while rather violent at the same time. 4/5 3. Bob Choi's Last Job by Jonathan Stroud - A dragon hunter goes out on a hunt has an encounter with a couple of dragons. Didn't really get this one. Well, I "got" it but wasn't that entertained. 2/5 4. Are You Afflicted with Dragons? by Kage Baker - This was a fun, clever romp of a man who owns a seaside hotel and has a bunch of small dragons come to roost on his roof. After trying the usual pest control measure for ridding oneself of these wyrmin pests he encounters a man who specializes in the job and promises to rid him of his troubles forever. A clever, humorous tale. 4/5 5. The Tsar's Dragons by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple - Much longer than the other stories at 35 pages this is the story of the beginnings of the Russian Revolution

I ejoyed The Dragon Book because it had stories by so many first rate fantasy writers. I originaly wanted the book for the story by Tamora Pierce. It was a lot of fun to have a story from Kit's viewpoint.

With nineteen entries by a virtual who's who of fantasy, fans will enjoy this themed collection that look deep into the eyes of Dragons; as the editors explain in the preface: "by far the most potent and widespread of all mythological beasts". The entries are widespread in terms of time and place so various background brings freshness to the anthology. Especially strong contributions are "Vici" by Naomi Novak in the time of Caesar, the mother and son team of Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple who write of "The Tsar's Dragons, the "Oakland Dragon Blues by Peter S Beagle with no Raiders involved only a traffic problem, and "A Stark and Wormy Knight" by Tad Williams. None of the compilation are bummers as each of the writers soar with this version of the mighty dragon who kick military butts (Garth Nix's "Stop") or freeze you with their eyes ("The Dragon's Tale" by Tamora Pierce) or their heartbeat ("The War that Winter Is" by Tanith Lee). The key to this strong thematic short story collection is the wide diverse range of the authors as each makes flying with Dragons a fun fantasy collection. Harriet Klausner