Heroika 1 Dragon Eaters with its fantastic writing and characters makes this one of the most interesting fantastic books ever. I'm glad to have received it to offer my review.

What does it mean to be a hero? This book sets out to tell us, using dragons as its heart. There were so many interpretations and presentations that I was equally wowed by all of them. A wonderfully imaginative book with many incredible takes on an old tale, making it feel fresh and exciting..

Great book. A must read!

This was an interesting collection. The variety of narrative, time and space represented kept me engaged more or less throughout. I don't know that I would pick up it's like again, but lovers of myth and dragon lore are definitely likely to enjoy the read..

'Dragon Eaters' is a collection of 17 original short stories which all have 1 thing in common: dragons. Each story written by a different author which also means not every story will fit your style, but in the end you'll be satisfied to read different viewpoints on dragons and humanity, their co-existence in every day life.

Those dragons are good and bad, fly and swim, eat or are been eaten. Prepare yourself for a wonder journey along with your favorite dragon.

A collection of short stories is always harder to review than a novel because each story has different strengths and weaknesses. Heroika engaged me more than I expected, however, as usually I enjoy stories where the dragons are the good guys and on the side of righteousness rather than being defeated in every story. The characters in the majority were strong enough that I was rooting for them.

My favourite story was Against the Sky Tomb of the Earth Kings by M. Harold Page. This story had many aspects of fantasy included: ghosts, dwarves, dragons and flying castles to name but a few. It was the classic tale of someone getting caught up in something far beyond them but becoming determined to save the day regardless. There wasn’t as much focus on the dragon as on the other fantastical elements and the clash of characters between Lazward and the Duchess gave the story some entertainment.

In fact, if I think about it, all of the favourites followed this pattern. A group of people determined to see a mission through because it meant protecting those they loved, regardless of the consequences. They were the stories with the obvious lessons and morals.

My least favourite was The Old Man on a Mountain by Jack William Finley. Not because the writing lacked any quality but because the whole story seemed pointless. It recounted an old battle and a man’s desire for revenge – all very well and good. But the man literally died metres away from his victory of old age and a few injuries. There was no message of will power overcoming anything, just the idea that you could fall short of your dreams at the very last hurdle.

Overall, I thought this was an interesting premise. A lot of the stories involved Gods – whether fantasy ones or ones with roots in our culture – and their battles against the beasts. A lot also involved teams of desperate men overcoming great odds, and we all know that makes a good story.

If you like dragons or are interested in the different takes authors have, then I would recommend this book as one to read.

An excellent anthology of dragon tales in which the dragon does not come off best. All well-written, by excellent authors. My only (fairly small) reservation is that, despite the varied historical and fantastic settings (I particularly liked the one featuring Roland and Holger Dansk), a faint feeling of satiation with all things draconian creeps in towards the end. I note that this is called Heroika I. Would it be too much to hope that Heroika II deal with some other aspect of fantasy heroism?