His father is a veterinarian, so he has some idea about how to treat a dragon as if it’s an animal. Prolific children’s author Bruce Coville brings humor and a touch of realism to the story of young Jeremy buying a dragon’s egg and raising the hatchling. Part of the “boy and his dragon” genre, this is a particularly charming children’s book. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (1991) By Bruce Coville But its genre-bending world-building, its confidence in portraying the giant fighting dragons and small, gregarious fire-lizards, and the pure longevity of the series earn it a place on this list. These genetically-modified dragons live in specialized fortresses on an alien planet and bond psychically with their human riders.įor all their wonder, the books tend to be over-long and dry, and the human characters never shine as much as the dragons do. With dozens of novels in Anne McCaffery’s series and almost a dozen more co-authored by McCaffery and her children, there are plenty of books to choose from.įor me as a teen, they combined the wonder of fantasy dragons with the classification systems and lore of science fiction or Pokemon. This sprawling series featuring “alien” dragons is a staple of science fiction. But for readers who are just getting a taste for dragon stories, it’s a colorful start.ĭragonriders of Pern (1967) By Anne McCaffrey As a visual concept it’s beautiful (look at that cover!), and the dragons are convincingly ferocious, unpredictable, and half-domesticated. The main problem is that the beginning of this story is slow-a war in the background stays in the background for a while-and the setting depends on your tolerance for “special enslaved teen makes his escape” tropes. Joust is an odd beast: brightly colored dragons that act like real animals are used as war horses in a non-specific, quasi Ancient Egyptian fantasy setting. Mercedes Lackey is a powerhouse of fantasy books of varying quality. The size of these dragons and their presence in a historical time period rather than a completely fantastical world set them apart. In Britain they are functionally animals or warships, almost all utilized by humans, while in China and other countries, they are treated as citizens. These dragons are intelligent enough to speak, and treated differently by different human societies. One dragon can carry a crew of dozens of men. In an alternate Napoleonic War, sailors ride dragons instead of ships. The nine books in this series take the idea of dragons as weapons of war literally. They can also sculpt humans into new shapes: it’s a major revelation in the book to discover just how much humans change when a dragon decides to metaphorically take them under their wing. The dragons in this series are unique individuals, sometimes standoffish and particular. They can create a psychic bond with humans, but dragons use it to coerce people as much as to befriend them. Robin Hobb’s dragons have several unique traits: they are born as sea serpents and spin cocoons before emerging as what most people think of as dragons. While the Rain Wild trilogy is part of another sprawling series, these three volumes focus primarily on dragons and the people who travel with them. Subscribe The Rain Wild Chronicles (2009) By Robin Hobb
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