Anthologies aren't really my thing, and dragons aren't really my thing. So why pick up The Book of Dragons, you ask? Simple, fantasy is my thing, and this book includes short stories written by some of my favorite fantasy authors - R.F. Kuang and Garth Nix among them. In the process of making my way through the anthology, I discovered a lot of familiar names whose books I've yet to read - but whose writing hooked me and made me want longer stories (including Seanan McGuire and Sarah Gailey).

The anthology is wonderfully diverse in both authors and stories - you aren't going to find over 20 different versions of Smaug from The Hobbit here (not hating on Smaug, that's just the dragon that seems to have captured my imagination in childhood). You will get dragons that are mechanical, imaginary, manifestations of emotions, threats to society, shapeshifters, and more. You will get stories that are heartfelt, scary, unnerving, ethereal, adventurous, and challenging. There was only one story that I found myself having a really hard time getting through - "Yuli" by Daniel Abraham, which did not have a clear storyline, and centered on a war vet that was itchy for a new fight.

Here are the stories that were highlights for me:
--"A Whisper of Blue," Ken Liu (The story centers around dragons that make or break community success based on how many of them there are - their breath produces energy)
--"Pox," by Ellen Klages (A super cute story regarding a girl wandering through Chinatown in San Francisco, eating food, making some magical purchases, and thinking a lot about Ursula Le Guin!)
--"The Nine Curves River," by R. F. Kuang (Not directly related to The Poppy War trilogy, this is still an instantly engaging read about two sisters trying to navigate their relationship in the midst of an unknown and doomed future for one of them)
--"Lucky’s Dragon," by Kelly Barnhill (This story had me on edge! A girl makes a dragon in science class and her neighbor that nobody else seems to see takes an interest and reaches out to help)
--"La Vitesse," Kelly Robson (Fast paced and super fun, a dragon is chasing a school bus full of children and the driver tries to figure out how to outrun her regrets and the dragon)
--The Long Walk," Kate Elliot (Women are exiled to a land of dragons after their husbands die, effectively becoming "ghosts" themselves. On the journey, cooks to help her fellow women survive and seeks to learn what else is beyond her small world)
--"We Don’t Talk About the Dragon," by Sarah Gailey (A girl is sent to feed metal to a dragon in the barn each week, providing a temporary escape from the harsh realities of her home life)

If you are looking to get a taste of the writing by some of the biggest names in fantasy and are willing to give dragons a shot, this is a great book to gift or pick up! I'm excited to see what illustration are included in the final copy. Thank you to NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I read this because I love dragons, however I will say I am always wary when it comes to anthologies. This book fell into the same issues I have with anthologies in that I liked some stories and others I did not. This isn’t to say that the authors who wrote the disliked stories were bad in anyway, just not my cup of tea. All in all I think this is a good book for dragon lovers!

So I love dragons and I certainly found some of these stories more intriguing than others but that is to be expected with anthologies. Overall if you like dragons give this book a try.