Only read: In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River, by Naomi Novik.

This book was wonderful! It contains short stories from some of science-fiction's best authors. My favorite stories were Stable of Dragons, by Peter S. Beagle; Orm the Beautiful, by Elizabeth Bear; The Bully and the Beast, by Orson Scott Card; The Dragon on the Bookshelf, by Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg; Draco, Draco, by Tanith Lee; Berlin, by Charles de Lint; Concerto Accademico, by Barry N. Malzberg; Dragon's Fin Soup, by S.P. Somtow; and King Dragon, by Michael Swanwick. The other aut...

I like the fantasy genre once in a while, and I like short stories as a format for introducing ideas or character portraits. This was a very nice collection of stories, all of which involved dragons in one way or another. It isn't my normal fare, but the stories were generally excellent and I enjoyed it very much.

Admittedly not finished with it yet, but I love the random mix around the theme of dragons. I grabbed it off the shelf to see what George R. R. Martin had added, but it's pretty awesome. Trying not to spoil anything, but every time I read another piece, I get more ideas for my own writing. It's harsh enough to keep me invested, but light enough to set it down for a day or two. Really liking the mixture of tone and length in the arrangement.

As with any collection, it's hit and miss. The hits, though, are great. I'm inspired to look for more from Tanith Lee and Roger Zelazny.

Rating & reviews reflect the three stories that interested me:The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath by Patricia A. McKillipVerdict: ****Harrowing is as much about atmosphere as it is about story, and McKillip's language -- heightened and timeless -- unfolds vistas of frozen plains and jagged crags. She understands rhythm. The timing of each word is perfect: sentences roll of the tongue, word after word. Her imagery is universal, elemental (ice, mountains, warmth) but also precise in delinea...

It took me a long time to finish this book. Most of the stories were okay, a few were great, and a few more were confusing and/or disappointing. I found myself reaching for other things to read instead of this book, which is unusual for me once I start a book.

A collection of stories about dragons. I thought too many were old, from collections or novels published long ago. I wanted more stories that were new to me and to the world."Stable of Dragons," Peter S Beacle. A not very good poem (in the sense that it seems to be prose with line breaks) about a breeder of dragons who hopes to have a half-dragon son someday."The Rule of Names," Ursula K LeGuin. Mr.Underhill is the only wizard on Sattins Island. He's not particularly powerful, and in fact he's a...

I don't like dragons.This is probably not the first sentence you'd expect to find in a review of Wings of Fire, an anthology devoted exclusively to dragon stories, but I thought it best to get it out of the way right from the start.There's nothing inherently wrong with dragons. They're just terribly overused, one of those tired genre mainstays that people who typically don't read a lot of fantasy will expect in a fantasy novel because they were practically unavoidable for a long time. To this da...

Finally finished reading this collection of short stories about dragons! My favorites were Anne McCaffrey's "Weyr Search", a beautiful and emotional story, and Pat Murphy's "Dragon's Gate", which was just a really good story. Overall, a great collection, it just took awhile to get through it.

There was a lot going on here. Some of it was fantastic, but a lot of it was dreck. I'm going to try to sort them out here.Stable of Dragons - Peter S. Beagle - Poetry. No. 1 star.The Rule of Names - Ursula K. Le Guin - Decent, but nothing to write home about. 2 stars.The Ice Dragon - George R. R. Martin - One of the better stories in this collection. I love Adara, and even though the narrative follows Martin's usual formula, I did like this one very much. 4 stars.Sobek - Holly Black - This was

Wings of Fire is a dragon anthology. As such, its difficult to rate the book as a whole. Instead, I'll give a brief review of each entry in the collection.Stable of Dragons: A poem that includes dragon sex. Creepy but enjoyable. The Rule of Names: Earthsea story. Satisfying read, if a reprint.The Ice Dragon: Simple, sweet, and solid.Sobek: Urban fantasy dragon. Dark YA style, enjoyable but hard to suspend belief at times.King Dragon: This motherfucking story. This fucking short story is reason e...

I'm not a fan of short stories and I only read them if they are part of a series, or in George R.R. Martin's case because I've read some of his books. So the rating is only for 2 of the stories in this book.The Ice Dragon - George R.R. MartinVery dry, boring story... it didn't even feel like a story but more a dry account of life events of a girl who meets an ice dragon. - 1 starIn Autumn, a White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River - Naomi NovikThis short story is set in the Temeraire series. Sadl...

Some stories I loved; others were odd; some I plain skipped.

It only took me, what, six months to read this giant thing? I feel pretty stupid taking this long to realize the agenda of a book of short stories: leave all of the good ones for the end -_-I trudged through the first half of this book because the stories were pitiful. Boring, unimaginative, tedious. But when I got to the second half, great stories shone through, enough to bring my originally given two star rating to a four star.Overall, it was worth the read. And I might pursue some other books...

This is a surprisingly large collection of short stories, all with the subject of dragons. The range of interpretations of the theme is immense, from dragons as guardian spirits in a broken borderland town to a tiny otherwordly creature that falls in love with a woman in San Francisco. My favorite two were a funny one about St George and the Dragon, where it is revealed just how St George got his reputation, and the second was a story about Lien in France by Naomi Novik. I also picked up a few a...

2 "it was okay" stars. I picked this up because it was an anthology full of dragons, but didn't enjoy it that much. Some of the stories didn't really have dragons at all! Like with all anthologies, it seems, my enjoyment of each story varies wildly.Stable of Dragons: 1.5/5 stars. Poetry. Did not like this one. Nasty and confusing.The Rule of Names: 3/5. The beginning is slow and the twist is not hard to guess, but the end is entertaining.The Ice Dragon: 4/5. Like all of Martin's other books I've...

A huge book of reprints. Some of my favorite stories - Weyr search, St dragon and the george, The george business - are here and welcome rereads. Others were new to me and more of a mixed bag. Overall this is a good place to spend some time.

Maybe it's just because I like dragons, but this was one of the best short story collections I've ever read (and I read a fair number in the mystery and fantasy genres). The stories are diverse, but all magnificent. I'll reread it many times.

Read only (Temeraire #2.5) In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over The Wide River by Naomi Novik.Interesting, but rather annoying. Lien is such a diva and a bitch.