Dracones

Title: Dracones
Authors: Avery Vanderlyle, D.K. Jernigan, E.E. Ottoman, E.R. Karr, Lor Rose, Megan Derr and Tam Ames
Cover Artist: Nathie Block
Publisher: Storm Moon Press
Buy Links: Amazon (and link to Amazon); Publisher (link to the book page on the publisher’s site)
Genre: Urban & Paranormal Fantasy
Length: 7 short stories
Rating: individual ratings

A Guest Review by Larissa

Review Summary: A good collection of stories featuring all manner of dragons

Blurb

Almost every ancient civilization has stories of some form of dragon, from the winged serpents of Asian lore to the traditional Western image of the fire-breathing behemoth. Literature is filled with stories of valiant heroes riding into the jaws of danger to slay the beast and rescue the princess. But sometimes, the knight in shining armor is less interested in the maiden in distress than in the dragon he’s supposed to slay. Dracones brings together seven stories detailing the power and majesty of a dragon’s love.

Dracones includes the following short stories:
Fugue in Gold and Fire — by Avery Vanderlyle
Teller of Tales — by D.K. Jernigan
Weird Magics — by E.E. Ottoman
Chanson Commencante de Guerre — by Lor Rose
Two in the Bush — E.R. Karr
Finding the Rain — Tam Ames
Lukos Heat — Megan Derr

Review
DRAGONS! And in seven different stories no less. I’ve always loved stories about dragons. They are my favorite paranormal species, so I was bouncy happy when Wave offered Dracones to me. (I may have done a little happy dance)

On to the review! Anthologies are not always easy to review. There will always be one or two stories that you don’t like as much as the others. Therefore I have chosen not to give a collective rating to this anthology, but to give each story an individual rating.

Overall, I found that Dracones has a nice variety of stories featuring dragons in various settings. There will be something for everyone in this anthology. The anthology was well edited too, which is always a plus.

Fugue in Gold and Fire — by Avery Vanderlyle
4 stars

The anthology was off to a good start with this story. It has quite the interesting angle. We quite often have humans who turn into animals, but in this story the humans are actually animals in human form. When the Vesti Moon rises every so often their animal forms break free and as you can imagine the chaos that ensues. Especially because they have no memory of who they are and what they were. So it’s deadly if you turn into a fish and are not near any water. Or you turn into a rabbit and your neighbor into a wolf. Nom, nom, chomp, chomp.

Drue and Adri are lovers and fear that they will not remember each other when the Vesti Moon rises. They are very cute together and you can feel their worry as the time draws close. It’s actually an interesting turn of events when it does happen.

The story was quite well written and fit the length. Nothing was left unsolved by the end. I found that I got quite a grasp on the characters.

Teller of Tales — by D.K. Jernigan
2.5 stars

I was less enamored by this little tale. While the angle of the story is interesting – a writer who submits his story about dragons and an editor who becomes both taken and suspicious with it – I couldn’t really connect with this story because everything happened a little too fast for my liking. It may be a short story, but this was a case of instant insta-love.

The dragon angle in Teller of Tales was interesting even if the excuction of it was a little too easy.

Weird Magics — by E.E. Ottoman
3.75 stars

I quite liked this little story. Weird Magics has a little bit of everything: mystery, romance, dragons and action. For such a short story it was nicely done.

Daire is a dragon who suffered from a bite to his shoulder and Cyras – an alchemist – is able to help him heal. There is a definite attraction between the two, but Daire is suspicious of Cyras, especially when one of the fae is found murdered. Daire suspects Cyras, but are his suspicions correct?

This story was both fun and enticing to read. The characters were engaging, even if I didn’t entirely like Daire, the stubborn git erh, dragon. The mystery angle was well worked through even if it wasn’t elaborate. All in all, a fun story to read.

Chanson Commencante de Guerre — by Lor Rose
3.5

Oh now, this was an interesting one! This story featured both dragons and dragon shifters, which is an interesting take. And then there is the feud between the two races. Personally, I thought they should get it over with, but as is the case with feuds, everything spirals out of control.

Central in this story are the ancient dragon Rayvak and dragon shifter Stormy. They are both attracted to each other, but the question is if they can overcome long established differences between their two races?

This story wasn’t easy for me to read because I loathe stories written in the present tense. It was quite a struggle, but despite that this story has a certain appeal. I loved Rayvak’s jaded and sarcastic voice in the story.

The story was well written – if you like your stories in the present tense -but the characters were slightly on the Captain Cardboard side, but in the overall of the story it didn’t bother me.

Two in the Bush — E.R. Karr
2.5 stars

Uhm. Okay. This is some weird shit. After reading this story I mostly went ‘huh?’ And even now I don’t quite know what to make of it or how to explain it:

Two lovers, one psychic, a camping trip, magical forest guardians and the power of a dragon that was bound and must be released. That about sums it up even if I still don’t quite know what it meant.

Reading this, I mostly felt like I missed some key element of the story or maybe the deeper meaning or maybe I just landed in the Twilight Zone.

The writing is not necessarily bad, but the plot just didn’t come to a coherent story.

Finding the Rain — Tam Ames
4.75 stars

Now this story I liked more than I thought I would. Reading the blurb, I thought this was going to be a boring pseudo-fairy tale, but Tam gave her own unique spin to it to make it funny, engaging and mysterious! And it even has a quest, which is quite ambitious for such a little story.

The story is set in ancient China(-like world) where Buwei is set on the quest to bring offerings to the Dragon Lord Shenlong in the hopes that he will end the drought that is ending many lives. Not that he has much choice in the matter.

When he gets to the temple after many days of travelling, he meets Tian, who is one of the Dragon Lord Shenlong ‘s children and Tian is quite taken with Buwei.

Finding the Rain is a very sweet, fluffy and well written story that will have you muttering ‘awwww’ real fast.

Lukos Heat — Megan Derr
3 stars

Weeeeee! This anthology has a Megan Derr story! *bounce* That made me very happy even if I had to read six other stories to get to it.

It was fun to read another of Megan Derr’s dragon stories, even if nothing holds a candle to Sword of the King. The dragon in this story has some of the same characteristic that the dragons from Sword of the King have, but is very much his own stubborn self who refuses to listen to anyone except maybe another equally wild and stubborn werewolf.

Lukos Heat is a well-developed story that may have been a little too ambitious for this anthology. It would have definitely benefitted from a longer length. It quite literally felt like the story ended in the thick of things, which is the reason of my lower rating, despite like the story very much. The mystery, the quest and the characters are all likeable and well developed, but the plot left me wondering where the rest of it was.