The "Stars of..." series is a feature I'm doing here at Epic (Chocolate) Fantasy to highlight the best books in different areas of the fantasy genre. Say you want a book about shapeshifters or wizards or mythology, or maybe you want to read some political or heroic fantasy. Stop by here every Thursday, and I'll have recommendations for you! Click on the book covers for links to the first book in the series and on the series name for a list of the books in it on Goodreads.
If you think there's something I missed in this category, feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments! I haven't read everything out there, obviously, and I'd love some recommendations myself.
Series are alphabetical by author.
Stars of Dragons
I was born in the Year of the Dragon. I'm not sure which came first, learning that or being obsessed with dragons, but I've always loved them and, like Hagrid, have always wanted one. There are many books about dragons out there – I have an entire shelf of them, though those are mostly Anne McCaffrey's Pern books. Since I sort of ran out of epic fantasy sub-genres and dragons bridge all sorts of genre gaps, I decided to make this week about my favorite mythical creatures.
Anne McCaffrey
Robin McKinley
Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey
Naomi Novik
Stars of Dragons
I was born in the Year of the Dragon. I'm not sure which came first, learning that or being obsessed with dragons, but I've always loved them and, like Hagrid, have always wanted one. There are many books about dragons out there – I have an entire shelf of them, though those are mostly Anne McCaffrey's Pern books. Since I sort of ran out of epic fantasy sub-genres and dragons bridge all sorts of genre gaps, I decided to make this week about my favorite mythical creatures.
Elizabeth Haydon
6 books, completed
Symphony of Ages stars Rhapsody, a Singer looking to escape her old life. When she falls in with a pair of criminals, she finds that her escape takes her much farther than she ever expected. SoA is a highly engrossing epic fantasy series with some great characters and an interesting world.
Mercedes Lackey
4 books
Raising a baby dragon, you guys! I love baby dragons the best. This lighter epic fantasy has a lot of wonderful friendships and love. And dragons.
Anne McCaffrey
17 books
This was one of my first dragon series, and it's actually scifi! It seems more like fantasy, especially in the first few books, but it's a very interesting take on dragons, and I still want a green of my very own.
Robin McKinley
Stand-alone
More baby dragons! This book is much more rambling than action-packed, but I love it anyway, and I love how different and mysterious the dragons are.
Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey
3 books
In this series, dragons are (mostly) good and elves are (mostly) evil. Shana, a girl who grew up with dragons, has to find her home, and in the process manages to turn the whole world upside down. This is another one of my comfort series, and I definitely recommend it.
6 books, ongoing
The Temeraire books are about the Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons. They're quite adventurous stories that take you all over the early nineteenth century world, and though they're occasionally a bit slow, they're definitely worth checking out. And they have dragons.
Patricia C. Wrede
4 books, completed
This probably was the first dragon series I read. Cimorene is probably my all-time favorite princess, as she is as un-princess-like as it is possible to be. These books are both fun and brilliant, and I recommend them to all ages.
Have you read any of these? Do you have any other suggestions? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Check out previous "Stars of" posts:
I haven't read any of these *hangs head in shame*. I love love love dragons so I think I check out some of these books. I've wanted to read Anne McCaffrey for a while. Maybe you can do a stars post about villians or something? The ones you hated most or the greatest villians in fantasy. I'm sure there'd be a few! :)
ReplyDeletehttp://lostinthought-becca.blogspot.co.uk/
Ooh dragons, good theme! I need to read some of these!!!
ReplyDeleteGosh, everyone likes dragons! I'm adding some of these to my tbr.In YA, there's Flying Blind about dragon shifters, VERY fun stuff, and there's the Thea Harrison, if I'm not mistaken.
ReplyDeleteOh, and of course, Allyson James' Stormwalker has a dragon shifter as a love interest. yum. :D
Great post, Kate!
I love Temeraire and the Enchanted Chronicles! I've read five or six Pern books but I think I liked the idea more than the writing (sorry). I really should get Dragonhaven.
ReplyDeleteOther dragon books:
Tolkien's Hobbit is an obvious one. I can't wait to see it on the big screen!
Dragonlance by Weiss and Hickman has a multitude of dragons, although most of them are the bad guys.
Various Forgotten Realms books have dragons, too, such as Elena Cunningham's Elfsong.
Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw has nothing but dragon characters in pseudo-Victorian society.