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Dragons in Fantasy

© Debbie Ledesma

Dragons are one of the most popular mythical creatures of the Fantasy genre. They grace the covers of many books and play important roles in them. Fantasy authors use dragons in their works in various ways as villains, heroes or in other roles. They are one of the most important aspects of the Fantasy genre, adding a formidable symbol to the books.

Author Gordon R. Dickson created an interesting, sometimes humorous series of books with dragons. In A Dragon and His George, a man from our world travels to a fantasy world where he ends up in the body of a dragon. In this world, dragons call humans Georges. Jim Eckert becomes Gorbash and must learn ho to use his dragon body. He gets help from other characters as he tries to save his love interest. The story continues next in The Dragon Knight and through several other books.

Tea With the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy is a combination Mystery and Fantasy. The main character is an imperial Chinese dragon living as a human in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a private detective. A woman hires him to solve a mystery and becomes a love interest for him. This book was followed by a sequel, Twisting the Rope.

Author Joel Rosenburg created an interesting dragon character for his "Guardians of the Flame" books. Fantasy role players from our world end up in a Fantasy world of many dangers. During part of their adventure, they free the dragon from being used an incinerator in the city garbage dump. The dragon helps his liberators during the rest of the books.

Some authors create their worlds to revolve around dragons. This creates clashes between the dragons and humans. Richard Knaak does this in his "Dragonrealm" books. Dragons of different colors rule different parts of the realm. Humans have increased their population and want to be free of the more evil dragons. The many books of this series are full of adventure. Fire Drake is the first one in the series, which is very long.

Barbara Hambly invokes the powerful nature of the creature in her books. Dragonsbane introduces a complex story of humans and dragons. Morkeleb has all the characteristics of a dragon from mythology. He is powerful, enigmatic, intelligent and dangerous. She has continued the sometimes tragic stories with other books.

Recently, newer authors have done different things with dragons, adding new dimensions to the creature. Song in the Silence by Elizabeth Kerner tells of a romantic relationship betwen a human girl and a dragon. (See previous book review.) Joanne Bertin created a rich world of humans that are dragon shape shifters dealing with unique problems. Dragonlord and Dragon and the Phoenix are the first two books of this series with more to follow.