Dragon Quintet Book

I started each story wary of its manner of responding to the story-about-dragons prompt. But each story flouted my low expectations and left me pleasantly surprised.

I found Orson Scott Card's modern-day story to be atmospheric and full of endearing characters. The pace of "In the Dragon's House" was slow, and at first I was irritated by the seeming absence of any dragon. But the story rounded out nicely and left me kind of loving the people and the house and even the dragon that had initially irked me.

Coming after Orson Scott Card's story. Elizabeth Moon's "Judgement" felt almost too action-packed. But the medieval-esque fantasy world pretty much set the tone for the rest of the stories. And it didn't conform to the happily-ever-after conclusion I thought I saw coming.

"Love in a Time of Dragons" was the most polarizing of the stories for me, with all its twists and surprises. It kept writhing out of the judgments and definitions I tried to place on it. At first it seemed grossly un-feminist, then like a pandering bit of shock-for-shock's-sake convention defiance, but then it got kind of lovely and ultimately became something which--though I'm reluctant to say I liked--impressed me. As in, it left me with...impressions.

Mercedes Lackey's "Joust" just kept reminding me of Jane Yolen's pit dragon trilogy. I really have nothing else to say about it except that I read Yolen's trilogy first and therefore like it better.

Aaaand the last story. The "King Dragon" novella. It was...odd. Not a conventional oldie-timey-mythical-land setting. Not a contemporary tale either, really. But it still drew on modern-day machinery (steampunk? not quite...) as well as mythical/fey conventions (the power of names, truth-telling hags, scrying and magic and a "fey" world where magic is normal and normal mortals are aberrations...). The atmosphere of the story reminded me of The Stones Are Hatching, and I felt a similar sort of ambivalence about "King Dragon" upon first reading it.

Maybe I'll end up re-reading these stories? I definitely don't feel like I've ruminated on them enough to pass my final judgment. And I feel like lingering more on each story would solidify my opinions on them all one way or another. But at the moment I just--as they say in England--can't be assed.