Title A Diversity of Dragons Series --- Author Anne McCaffrey & Richard Woods Illustrated By John Howe Publisher HarperCollins - 1997 First Printing HarperCollins - 1997 Category Mythology Warnings None Main Characters Anne McCaffrey, Epiphanius Tighe, Sean Evans Main Elements Dragons

Who better to ask about dragons than Anne McCaffrey, whose million-copy bestsellers about the Dragonrider of Pern appear regularly on the New York Times list, and her academician friend, Richard Woods, the dragon taxonomist par excellence.

A Diversity of Dragons - a fascinating exploration of dracomachy, dracocides and dragonsbanes through the ages, with magical illustrations by John Howe. Soar on imagination's wings and see them all: from the ancient legends to the modern creations; from the firebreather that battled Beowulf to the delightful beasts of Jane Yolen and Terry Pratchett.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the most fabulous creatures ever to inhabit our collective memory is here, and more, snorting fire and phosphine gas and ploughing the waters of primordial chaos. The Babylonians knew him, the Sumerians, the ancient Egyptians. He is found not only in the Bible but in China, in the Norse sagas and the lost myths of the Americas.

Drawing on sources from myth, folklore, and novels, the authors offer a compendium on dragons--similarities and differences, the dragon of the hero quest, humorous dragons, cuddly dragons, and more.

But Anne McCaffrey is a storyteller, not an encyclopedist; and dragons are wary of dry and dusty places, like lecture rooms and libraries. So this book begins (as must all good tales) with a mysterious visitor and ends (as do all true dragon encounters) with an adventure almost too wondrous for words to tell.

This is an absolutely gorgeous book. John Howe did an amazing job catching the essence of all the different types of dragons covered in this book, from those of classic mythology to those of modern myth like the Pernese dragons or Morkeleb the Black from Dragonsbane...or even that little one that shoots fire out its backside from some Terry Pratchet book! So many artists can draw dragons in one way and one way only, their creations being immediately recognizable as their own flight of fancy. But Howe managed to capture the what the different authors had in mind.

Once you find yourself able to stop flipping through the pages and stop to actually read the text you find this is no normal collection of dragon myths and legends. First of all, there's the setting in which all these tales are being told, we have Anne McCaffrey herself acting as host to a couple of guests, one, a young man desperate for some reason to know more about dragons (you'll find out why as you go along), and an eldery neighbour who knows more than your usual mortal about dragons in all their forms. We get to enjoy dragon tales from around the world, from the Middle East and Asia, to Russia and Europe and of course several from England and even some from Ireland (where McCaffrey lives, and of the most concern to Sean). Now I'd just come to the end of a full year of reading nearly nothing but books featuring dragons and there were still a lot of stories I had not come across before! Dragons can truly be found in every culture and in every time period. Some are creatures of fire, others of water. Some hoard gold, some eat princesses, and on rare occasions, choose to help the mortals that come their way.

We also get to read snippets from more modern classics such as Pern, Dragonsbane, The Dragon and the George, and the Pit Dragon Trilogy, among many others. And again, even after a year of reading nothing but dragons I found I missed some key ones. I'd be interested in knowing what tales they would have included if the book were published today, I suspect Temeraire would have a place within these pages.

And at the end of the book is a list of even more dragon books they recommend to read...there's enough there to keep me going probably another couple of years of just dragons! This creature has clearly fascinated us far more than any other mythological creature, even the unicorn doesn't come close to the number of books featuring them. Between the dragon's fire, its ability to fly, its compulsion to hoard, its ability to speak, to use magic, and just be terrifyingly beautiful and horrifically powerful, it's hard not to be drawn to this creature in all its varied forms.

Keep in mind, this isn't a reference book and isn't intended to be one. You don't pick it up to find out more about "Chinese Dragons", you pick it up to be exposed to a diversity of dragons. To follow threads through their legends and myths to the modern day, seeing how dragons evolved from beings associated with water to those that breath fire. From those that would steal princesses to those that would hoard gold. From evil dragons, to those that are merely beasts simply following their instincts, to those that outright bond with humans. There's no real organization to the tales, it's more a stream of conciousness, as a question asked by one character leads to the next tale.

Admittedly I was a little disappointed as to the "wrapping" of the tales, the reason why Sean was coming to learn about dragons, it wasn't a particulary engaging tale in itself, but then I wasn't reading this as a novel either. It is neither a story book nor a reference book but something in between.

I highly recommend this book, it's a treasure to add to any library.