Harrowing the Dragon
by Patricia A. McKillip
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 169)
Read in January, 2008
I feel that this book wasn't worth the £6.50 I paid for it, which was disappointing. Some of the stories were definitely better than others. The Lion and the Lark - the story I bought the book for - luckily turned out to be my favourite. Other enjoyable reads included: A Troll and Two Roses (so cute!), The Fellowship of the Dragon (interesting, but it felt like it had been cut off too soon), Lady of the Skulls (I guessed what "the most precious thing in the t...more
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Read in September, 2007
A collection of fantasy short stories. "Harrowing the Dragon" is a dreamy story about a young man who seeks to free his town from eternal winter. But perhaps the town does not wish to be free. Probably the weakest story. "A Matter of Music" feels like a novel crammed into a short story. A young musician gets involved in a generations-long conflict that is mirrored in the conflict between her friend and his half-blood wife. I think my favorite is "A Troll and Two Ro...more
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Read in July, 2007
McKillip has an elegant, poetic writing style. Some of the short stories in this collection are amazing, five-star gems. My favorites are "The Fellowship of the Dragon" and "The Lion and the Lark." Other stories are weaker due to thin characters or incoherent plots. It was well worth the $2.99 I paid for it on the bargain table, but not one I'll be carrying around the rest of my life.
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Read in August, 2006
Collection of short stories by McKillip. As usual I feel like I am in the middle of an etherial dream when I read her works. I enjoyed all the stories here, but the one I seem to remember most is The Fellowship of the Dragon, where 5 lady knights; each with her own set of skills and personalities, set off together to rescue a queen's favorite from a dragon, with interesting results.
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Read in September, 2008
A collection of short stories, some very good. One of the things I really like about Patricia A. McKillip is how her prose sort of just takes me somewhere else. But in this collection, none of the stories were quite long enough for me to really "get there".
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Read in August, 2008
This was a collection of short stories by Patrica McKillip. Some were pretty good, others were so obtuse I couldn't get through them and skipped ahead.
This set of stories was a nice "filler" until I found a better novel to read.
This set of stories was a nice "filler" until I found a better novel to read.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in March, 2007
McKillip writes lovely, elegant prose, but her work really shines best in her novels, rather than in this collection of short stories. There were several gems, but several duds as well.
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I liked some of the short stories better than others. The Snow Queen and the one about the woman stuck in the cursed tower, for example.
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Read in June, 2008
One of the blurbs on the back of this book said that "Of all the fantasy writers still alive, Patricia McKillip comes the closest for me to capturing the real flavor of fairy tales." There's very little I have to add to that statement to express the pure awesome that is much of this book (or rather this collection of short stories) except maybe that she tends to be vague and inconclusive, and I've noticed a feministy vibe in the stories that definitely isn't traditionally fairy-tale-es...more
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Read in March, 2008
A book of short stories from one of my favorite authors.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.81 (113 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.74 (108 ratings) number of reviews: 11
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quote
"The young gentlemen who came calling seemed especially puzzling. They sat in their velvet shirts and their leather boots, nibbling burnt cakes and praising Diamond's mind, and all the while their eyes said other things. <i> Now, </i> their eyes said. <i> Now. </i> Then: <i> Patience, patience. </i> 'You are flowers,' their mouths said, 'You are jewels, you are golden dreams.' Their eyes said: <i> I eat flowers, I burn with dreams, I have a tower without a door in my heart, and I will keep you there... </i>"
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