The Dragon Quintet

However the entertainment level rates on the other stories in this book, there are two words to describe "King Dragon" that people are just dodging around, but readers should probably be aware of before diving in. Those words are: dragon porn. This is not literal of course. The dragon isn't exactly a dragon and the protagonist does not actually have sex with it. However, the scene of the mind melds reads as one giant innuendo for paragraph after paragraph. One can dance around this with words like "dark" and "metaphor", and it IS a well written tale...but I'm sorry, I just could not enjoy reading this when all I could think of was "This is porn!!" However, if you have the right sense of humor about mature audience narrative, you might find it funny. All of my friends sure did.

Overall, I thought this was quite a good collection of stories, and I found the majority of it interesting. Unfortunately, the first story in it, by Orson Scott Card, was a tad dull, and I kept putting it down because it was just not gripping enough to hold my interest. It wasn't really bad, but then it wasn't really great. The dialogue between characters in the story was excellent, though, and I think the author should have featured more of that in the story, rather than some of the dry, uninteresting, even slightly confusing bits. I disliked the ending of the story, too. This made me wonder, would all of the stories in the book be similarly bland and unappealing? Thank God the second story in the book, by Elizabeth Moon, was so utterly gripping! I could NOT put the book down during this story, it was so wonderful. It [...] me in right from the first paragraph, and I would have to say to any potential readers, buy the book if only to read this story. Tanith Lee's contribution to the book is unusual but absorbing, and the story has a delightful twist that makes it very intriguing. It is typical of Ms Lee's work: it's edgy, unusual, confronting, and does not mince words. If you like Tanith Lee, you'll like this one. The fourth story, 'Joust', by Mercedes Lackey, was the DULLEST in the book, but I'm still glad I read it because now I know not to waste my time buying the novel she wrote of the same name, which is an even longer version of this same story. Lackey mostly just rips off storylines from Anne MacCaffrey's dragon books, but with a lot less finesse than the original works. Given how innovative and unusual all of the other stories in this book are, this one really let down the team by being predictable and unoriginal. Blah! But if you like your stories formulaic and [...], not to mention non-confrontational, you'll probably like it. The fifth of the stories is by Michael Swanwick, and it's the most unusual, so much so that it's hard to describe. It's never a comfortable story -- there's no sugar-coating on this one -- but it's absolutely original, and pushes all the boundaries. I've read nothing quite like it before. It was like one of those trippy dreams you get when you're running a raging fever. It didn't leave me feeling happy inside at the end of it, but I was nonetheless still satisfied, and glad that I read it. A word of advice: don't give this book to the kiddies to read. These are stories for grown-ups, or at least maturish teens.

I had a slightly different opinion that the other 2 reviewers. In particular, I thought the entire collection was well written and interesting. All five tales were filled with magic. They were well written, had interesting characters, and really great story-lines. I would highly recommend this collection to anyone looking for a great set of stories. What I really liked about the set, was that each author did something different. They took what we know or are used to with dragons and did something new and different. The result, in my humble opinion, was an exciting page turner. While a few of these stories did have a darker feel to them, I think it was done well and made each a more interesting and realistic read. Of the five stories in this book my favourite was Elizabeth Moon's "Judgement". I have not read any of Ms. Moon's other work but, based on this story, I think I will do so soon. Her story deals with misunderstanding and the rush to judgement which sometimes comes with it. Perhaps my second favourite tale was "King Dragon" by Michael Swanwick, who is one of my favourite writers of short fiction. His tale was decidedly darker than the others in the collection, but was extremely well written and you really hate the characters you are supposed to hate. The stories by Orson Scott Card ("In the Dragon's House") and Mercedes Lackey's "Joust" were both fun little tales. Mr. Card's tale was a little slow in parts but filled with beautiful imagery and interesting characters. I really wanted to know what was behind that locked door. Ms. Lackey's tale was just plan fun. It was a well written and inspiring. A fun tale about someone who refuses to accept his position and strives to be something more. The final story in the collection was Tanith Lee's "Love in the Time of Dragons." This was my least favourite but was still a good tale. My one complaint with the story was it was a bit graphic in parts when it did not seem necessary.