i dont mind a romantic subplot, id actually prefer if there was a hint of romance, but i want the world building and plot to lean more towards a classic fantasy novel since ive been really craving stuff like that for a while.
I have read the Rain Wilds Chronicles (LOVED) and im currently reading the Soulbound Saga (onto the second book, i relly enjoyed the first half of the first book and the second half was nice but i was really busy when i read it so it was hard to properly immerse myself), i also gave So Let Them Burn a crack but the dragons were a bit too plain for my preference….
I like it when the dragons are kinda assholes but fleshed out characters in their own right, but anything would be good.
by Dazzling_Whereas6723
27 Comments
The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
Dragonriders of Pern
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton. Basically, what if every character in a Dickens or Jane Austen novel was a dragon, and there were biological dragon-like reasons for all the strict 1800s societal rules? I adore this book. Some romance included.
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley is my favourite fighting a dragon novel. Holds up well.
The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon
Pern
They’re older, and most of the dragons don’t have wings (they’re more like smaller kaiju, walking on two legs and wearing armor/wielding swords), but there was a series of books I read growing up by Christopher Rowley that were fun. First one was called Bazil Broketail
The Iron Dragon’s Daughter, like nothing you have ever read or would ever expect but it checks all the boxes you mentioned
Eragon.
**Dragonsong** by Anne McCaffrey
Part of the Dragon riders of Pern series, there are multiple ways to start the series, but I think Dragonsong is a nice entry book since there is no romance, and we are introduced to fire lizards, mini dragons that can teleport. The big dragons are telepathic and emotionally bonded to their rider for life. It’s SciFi fantasy, and the awe in describing dragon hatching is well done. The dragons in this series are sassy and a bit smug.
**Dealing with Dragons** by Patricia C. Wrede
A lighthearted read, about a princess who volunteers to be “kidnapped” by a dragon, in order to get out of an arranged marriage. The dragons in this book tend to squabble amongst themselves like an old group of friends.
**A Natural History of Dragons** by Marie Brennan
What if dragons were discovered in the 1800s? Steam trains, royal societies, and propriety. Our female MC is a naturalist obsessed with dragons, and goes on a good old expedition. If you like Jules Verne style adventures, this is the one for you. The dragons in this series don’t have personality — but you do get a lot of biology!
**The Wandering Inn** by Pirateaba
This is a very long series, and the dragon in this book is a pivotal side character that appears throughout. He is one of my favourites. He switches between dragon form and old wizard form, is incredibly scary, magically powerful, and assholey. Over time he softens, and there is a very fun section of him teaching wizarding school around book 5 or 6.
I assume you’ve been through Pern?
Have you tried Mercedes Lackey ‘s Joust series?
Rhapsody, Haydon
Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series. The first trilogy is light on the dragons but the second one has a lot more. I can’t speak past that because I only just started the third trilogy.
The dragons definitely have a superiority complex 😆
The Bloodsworn Saga series has a dragon that is very much an asshole. It’s dark and specially cool if you like Norse mythology.
The dragon and the George and sequels by Gordon Dickson
Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea trilogy and then Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, and The Other Wind.
“But the dragons speak: they speak the True Speech, the language of the Making, in which there are no lies, in which to tell the story is to make it be!”
Baking Bad. I’m only 52% through it and its more of a mystery but there are dragons.
so far the dragons van be considered a little bit of assholes. they are definitely causing some chaos.
Of Blood and Fire by Cahill
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and its sequels
Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
A Natural History of Dragons
Something different, Unconventional Heros series by LG Estrella. The dragon hatches at the end of book 1 I believe. His adoptive mother is absolutely a kinda asshole, the dragon is a “good dragon” but due to his mother and being a child, can be an asshole in the way kids or cats can be assholes
How about Bildungsroman for older kids? Gail Carson Levine’s A Tale of Two Castles is utterly delightful.
The audiobook is a hoot — we listened to it on a road trip as a family and my now-YA offspring still laugh every time I start the grill up, asking if we will be having “SKYEWWWWWERS” for dinner.
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. Standalone, short, and entirely unexpected.
ASOIAF of course!! Well worth it
A little less frequent a recommendation, but I recall really liking the Eon/Eona duology. Disabled girl disguises herself as a boy in order to be chosen by a dragon, enters court politics and intrigue is the short summary
The dragons may or may not be fleshed out enough for your tastes, but ymmv- they’re definitely more fleshed out than in some books, and have proper sentience, but part of the plot consists of the MC being unable to communicate with the dragon, so it isn’t necessarily the most prominent aspect iirc
*When Women Were Dragons* by Kelly Barnhill.
It’s a very, very different kind of dragon book:
>Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.
>Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and
watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.
>In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.