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Dragonsbane

(Winterlands #1)

Barbara Hambly (Goodreads Author)

3.95 · Rating details · 6,301 ratings · 406 reviews

When the Black Dragon seized the Deep of Ylferdun, young Gareth braved the far Winterlands to find John Aversin, Dragonsbane -- the only living man ever to slay a dragon. In return for the promise of the King to send help to the Winterlands, Aversin agreed to attempt the nearly impossible feat again.
With them, to guard them on the haunted trip south, went Jenny Waynest, a ...more

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Paperback, 352 pages

Published May 12th 1987 by Del Rey Books (first published 1985)

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Nov 18, 2012 Bookwraiths rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, own

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.

Dragonsbane is a novel I read upon release back in 1985. Obviously, the world was a different place back then, I was a different person (young teenager) and fantasy was of a different flavor. Even at the time though, I knew that Barbara Hambly had gifted her readers with a refreshingly mature fantasy which would stand the test of time.

In the northlands, Jenny Waynest is a not-so-young-anymore sorceress, half-trained, who splits her time between learning her cra ...more

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Aug 12, 2018 Luffy rated it liked it

Dragonsbane is a fantasy book written by the underrated Barbara Hambly. It covers about 3 to 4 days for most of the book, and the magic in them comes from witches. But the real magician here is the author. She spins her yarn patiently, letting us wait until the things that are simmering come to a boil.

The influence of Tolkien is obvious, although younger readers might find it subtle. But is this book for younger readers? The main characters are grownups with grownup problems. I found Jenny charm ...more

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Jan 26, 2011 Mely rated it really liked it

Shelves: sff

Hambly writes adults, a rarity in the fantasy genre; in particular, Dragonsbane is a depiction of middle-aged regret, of people who because of historical circumstances and personal situations will never achieve what they dream of, and somehow Hambly writes it in a way that's not depressing and that appealed to me even as an adolescent unsympathetic to the failure to achieve. Also, the dragons are cool.

Under no conditions read the sequels. In fact, let us agree that the publishing records lie and ...more

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Feb 13, 2017 Mimi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dragons, 2017, high-fantasy, buddy-read

3.5 stars, though not sure if I should round up for the subversive narrative and character-driven writing style because I feel like I should judge this book by the standards of the time period in which it was written--the 80s--and not judge it by what I normally like/prefer in high fantasy--books written much later in the 90s and beyond.

Even though it's called Dragonsbane and the Dragonsbane is a knight named John Aversin, the whole story is told from the perspective of his mageborn partner, Jen ...more

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Mar 15, 2013 HBalikov rated it it was amazing

I had never heard of Hambly but I am impressed. In the world of sword and sorcery, most authors find it convenient to go the "hack and slash" route with the beautiful maiden thrown in to make the hero "extra-heroic". Few are willing to invest what Tolkien did in creating a whole world that has humans and other intelligent creatures.

Hambly is more than able in this regard, giving us both a deep study of relationships and a threat to the order of the world. Her view of magic is complex and nuanced ...more

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Feb 03, 2008 Wealhtheow rated it really liked it

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, fantasy

When a huge black dragon descends upon the Deep of Ylferdun, young Gareth sets out to find the Dragonsbane, the only man alive who has ever defeated a dragon. But Sir John Aversin is not what Gareth had hoped for—he’s a scruffy academic who is less concerned about honor than he is the health of his villagers’ pigs. And Aversin’s lady love is not what Gareth had expected either: a plain, middle-aged witch, who has borne Aversin two sons out of wedlock and is utterly unapologetic. Swallowing his m ...more

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Dec 06, 2018 Cheryl rated it really liked it

I was advised to read this in terms of: Never mind the blurb, the key hooks are the loving adult relationship of the protags and the 'subversive' take on S&S. I agree with the recommender.

New word: cicisbeo. Lots of unfamiliar words, too.

"her anger had no hate in it, offering him no hold upon her"

"the blood-red and buttercup hues of the palace guards"

I love the horses' names: Battlehammer, Osprey, Moon Horse, Stupid Roan, Stupider Roan, and Cow.

I love that wounds take time to heal and leave scar ...more

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Jun 11, 2015 Andrea added it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fantasy

Occasionally, in discussions of SFF, you'll see readers bemoaning the lack of books that feature (1) older women (2) non-pretty women (3) mothers who get to do things. Dragonsbane has all of these things, in interesting ways and, while it begins by seeming to be a deconstruction of romantic stories of noble knights slaying evil dragons, it is primarily a story of (the limits of) female ambition.

(view spoiler) Occasionally, in discussions of SFF, you'll see readers bemoaning the lack of books that feature (1) older women (2) non-pretty women (3) mothers who get to do things. Dragonsbane has all of these things, in interesting ways and, while it begins by seeming to be a deconstruction of romantic stories of noble knights slaying evil dragons, it is primarily a story of (the limits of) female ambition.

(view spoiler)[We start the book with Jenny, a northern mage, rescuing a would-be noble sprat of a rescuer from bandits, and taking him home to the local lord (and her lover), John. The sprat is seeking John because he's the only known Dragonsbane, and the king has a problem with a dragon.

The ballads have failed to convey John's broad northern accent, his interest in pigs, his spectacles, his lack of courtly graces and, most particularly, that both John and Jenny contributed to the killing of the dragon that earned John his title.

Jenny's role as mage (or witch, as the female mages inevitably get called) is the crux of this story. Her mentor taught her that magic requires a singular devotion, that to become strong she must meditate and focus her all on her power and not – as Jenny has done – take a lover and have children by him.

This is a book about work/life balance, in other words, but where the work is the grand passion and life the thing that keeps dragging you away from it.

Mages being devoted to power above all is rusted into society, so much so that a priest won't perform a marriage ceremony for a mage, because the mage will inevitably abandon family for power. So Jenny is both happy and unhappy – loving John and her children, able to spend a fair amount of time away from them, and yet never enough to fully devote herself to her power.

The sprat (after some time being extraordinarily naïve and idiotic) manages to get John and Jenny south to try to kill the dragon, and here they encounter Jenny's mirror, Zyerne who is also a female mage who is lover to the local ruler (the king).

But Zyerne is beautiful where Jenny is ugly, powerful where Jenny is weak, as cruel as Jenny is kind, and as single-minded in her pursuit of power as Jenny is wavering.

Consequentially, the conflict of the story ends up being between the two women, rather than Dragonsbane vs Dragon. The resolution of this is reasonably well done (although, gosh, I felt like hitting a few people with a clue-bat more than once), and finally becomes a choice for Jenny between love and power.
(hide spoiler)]

So, an enjoyable book, though I have some thoughts about how reading about an established romance rather than the first steps of romance is a little like reading book two of a series.

And more thoughts about the framing of this world, where women can be mages, but even when planning to become an ultimate power, that gaining of power can only be framed as bedding a king, and bearing a son as a puppet - and everything female seems to be called a whore several times over.

And, as ever, there is a vexed question of beauty for women, from the contrast between Jenny and Zyerne to the only time Jenny is called beautiful in the story. Although far from the intention of the story, I did end this reading thinking that it told me that women do best in a family setting, and I wished, as I always do, for more worlds that find it entirely unremarkable to put a woman on the throne, or make it possible to be ambitious and female and happy.
...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Jamie Collins rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

A very nice traditional fantasy story that deliberately throws over a handful of clichés - for instance, our heroes are middle-aged lovers, prosaically named John and Jenny, and the dragon slayer is wry and academic rather than imposing and martial.

More typical is Gareth, the indignant court messenger who comes seeking a hero out of a ballad and finds a man as much involved with pig farming as lording. Also, the beautiful yet evil witch who has enthralled the king is a predictable villain. But I ...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Algernon (Darth Anyan) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

My first Barbara Hambly book, and it is an entertaining discovery. An epic fantasy without huge armies clashing , without an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it threat , without bloated descriptions of dresses or foodstuff. It has instead a couple of mature and reluctant heroes, with a convincing loving relationship, it has a focus of personal introspection and painful life choices, it has a well done dragon - alien in body and mentality.

the book works well as a standalone, and deserves to be conside ...more

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Jun 20, 2018 Allison ☾ rated it it was amazing

"Do not be a fool, Jenny Waynest. All the knowledge of the dragons, all their power, is yours, and all the years of time. You will forget the loves of the earth soon and be healed. The diamond cannot love the flower, for the flower lives only a day, then fades and dies. You are a diamond now.”

“The flower dies,” Jenny said softly, “having lived. The diamond will never do either.”

It’s hard for me to describe this book because I felt like much of the story was meant to be allegorical. Like one ...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 4-stars, best-10-books-read-in-2014, standalone-fantasy, awesome-fantasy-by-women

Hey, this is really good! It doesn’t beat out The Ladies of Mandrigyn as my favorite Hambly, but that’s because Mandrigyn is awesome; this is a strong second. Please ignore the cover and blurb, though, as they appear designed to fool you into thinking this is a different sort of book from what it actually is. You’d never guess that Jenny is the main character, for instance. I’m not sure why the deception, as this will be immediately obvious to anyone who opens the book.

Jenny and John are not you Hey, this is really good! It doesn’t beat out The Ladies of Mandrigyn as my favorite Hambly, but that’s because Mandrigyn is awesome; this is a strong second. Please ignore the cover and blurb, though, as they appear designed to fool you into thinking this is a different sort of book from what it actually is. You’d never guess that Jenny is the main character, for instance. I’m not sure why the deception, as this will be immediately obvious to anyone who opens the book.

Jenny and John are not your typical fantasy couple. She’s 37, he’s a couple years younger, and they have two young sons. John is a minor lord and renowned dragon slayer, but we first meet him knee-deep in pig muck and the dragon slaying wasn’t romantic either. Jenny is a witch, and lives apart from her family to better practice magic, but the time she’s devoted to family and community has still hindered her development of her talents. Yep, it’s family vs. career, but unusually, Jenny is far more bothered by the magical potential she’s sacrificed for love and family than the other way round.

The plot is fairly straightforward: a starry-eyed young messenger, Gareth, begs John to come kill a dragon, and the trio sets out to do so, though the ugly political situation will turn out more dangerous than the dragon itself. It is a fun plot, satisfyingly wrapped up at the end of the novel (there are sequels, but they were written many years later and apparently aren’t up to snuff). There is a bit of journeying, but it doesn’t go on too long, and if the action scenes sometimes seemed a bit drawn-out to me, I say that as someone who isn’t looking for action-based fantasy anymore.

What I do look for in fantasy are great characters, and this book has them. It is a very small cast, with only a few secondary characters in addition to Jenny, John and Gareth, but the principals are interesting, textured, and well-developed, such that it’s easy to believe these are real people. Often in fantasy novels heroics inspire no more than a shrug from me; the standard fantasy hero is courageous in such a knee-jerk, pre-programmed way that it’s hard to be moved once you’re over age 16 or so. But such is not the case in Dragonsbane: this is a mature fantasy novel (in the best sense of the word, not the “full of gore and sex” sense), with mature heroes who are heroic in a real and believable way.

Speaking of heroics, this is one of those fantasy novels that takes pains to distinguish the myth from the reality; Gareth, a lover of dragon-slaying ballads, is perhaps intended as a stand-in for the typical fantasy reader, whose illusions are shattered as the story progresses. Today, with the market swamped with “gritty” fantasy, this is nothing new, and Hambly’s use of realism for shock value may seem a bit dated. Presumably when it was published in 1985, the practicality and realism actually was subversive. But it doesn’t go over-the-top in grittiness either; the reality is more prosaic and more complex than Gareth expects, but heroism still exists. And some of the subtle commentary on fictionalization is just as relevant today. For instance, in the ballad, John rescued “maidens” from the dragon. In reality, it was a boy and a girl (though really just a boy, because the girl was already dead). This is exactly what we do in real life! I remember being shocked – shocked! – to learn that 2/3 of murder victims in the U.S. are male; in fiction it’s skewed at least as heavily the other way, because Victims Are Female.

As for the writing, in general it’s better than most fantasy, though Hambly’s sentences still sometimes trip me up. It is nicely visual, with good imagery. The point-of-view is a bit odd, though. We spend the book in Jenny’s head, but in the first couple of chapters, many of the observations are Gareth’s: the village is squalid, John is a yokel, the boys are urchins. This weirdness fades after the beginning, but there’s still the occasional description requiring familiarity with a place that Jenny doesn’t know. This too may be a result of changes in the genre; authors today stick tightly to their POV character’s head, making deviations jarring.

Overall, I really liked this book – fantasy that can be enjoyed by thinking adults, with strong, believable characters and an intriguing take on dragons. Definitely recommended. ...more

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Feb 17, 2017 Beth rated it liked it

Shelves: buddy-reads, 1980s-sff-by-women, previously-owned

If you only read the back cover of Dragonsbane, or even the teaser excerpt before the title page in the paperback version of the novel, you might think it was all about John Aversin, the Dragonsbane, and his quest to kill the dragon, Morkeleb. Man vs. monster, a tale as old as tales are. But it won't be long before you realize that Jenny Waynest, a witch frustrated in her search for magic power (and also lovers with John, and the mother of their two children), is the sole point of view.

Jenny dea If you only read the back cover of Dragonsbane, or even the teaser excerpt before the title page in the paperback version of the novel, you might think it was all about John Aversin, the Dragonsbane, and his quest to kill the dragon, Morkeleb. Man vs. monster, a tale as old as tales are. But it won't be long before you realize that Jenny Waynest, a witch frustrated in her search for magic power (and also lovers with John, and the mother of their two children), is the sole point of view.

Jenny deals with a conflict that many women face: family, or furthering her career, which in this case is the pursuit of magic. She values her solitude while she practices magic, and often wonders whether her love for her family is holding her back from a greater power. When she meets Zyerne, a much more powerful sorceress--and young, attractive, and seductive to boot--she grows envious. This whole inner conflict between love and ambition feels very modern to me, not something someone from a fantasy land would be likely to need to deal with. In the 21st century, one possible resolution would be "Lean In! You can do both!" In her dealings with Morkeleb, Jenny makes a different decision, both conscious and conscientious, that opens her up to a new future.

Jenny and John are both in their 30s, rapidly approaching middle age. They're a settled couple who have a habitual and loving relationship that has lasted ten years. Their relationship has its tensions, to be sure, and that, too, makes it convincing and easy for me to empathize with. John is hugely funny, especially while he's dealing with Zyerne, whose wiles have absolutely no effect on him. His levity is a good foil for Jenny's self-reproaching and deadly-serious approach to nearly everything. John's humor made me regret his virtual absence through a good chunk of the second half of the book, though I completely understand why Hambly took him not only out of the spotlight, but out of commission, for a while.

Prince Gareth is the third major character, the one who initiates the whole thing by enlisting John's aid in dealing with Morkeleb. Over the course of the story, he goes from a silly naif to someone who realizes that legends aren't all they're cracked up to be--they're both less, and more--and who is better equipped to handle life as an adult.

And then, of course, there's Morkeleb. At first he's presented as all but a giant animal, a predator who must be dispatched. Later we see that he's the sentient style of dragon, capable of direct communication with humans, though possessing an alien consciousness. (view spoiler) In the end he represents, to Jenny, all that she could be, if only she'd leave that frail, mortal family of hers behind.

Even for a book of less than 350 pages, at times Dragonsbane moves slowly. The descriptions are quite cool, the combats and court intrigue are exciting and dramatic, but then there are times while things chug along at a snail's pace as a few pages of "world-building through dialogue" is dealt with, or the next action-y set piece is set up. I'm absolutely not someone who either wants or expects constant battle sequences--stories that never let up on the acceleration pedal are, perhaps paradoxically, boring. This one, however, sometimes sits in "park" for noticeably too long. There's also lots of repetition in the descriptions of Jenny and John. Jenny has rough, long, black hair. John wears spectacles whose lenses reflect light. Yep, got it. And the conflict with Zyerne is 100% predictable, down to its conclusion.

As many quibbles as there are in the previous paragraph, on the whole I liked this book. The characterization, the descriptions, the main couple's relationship, and the conflicts both personal and interpersonal, were well done. The last couple of chapters could have gone either of two ways, and I confess I got a little misty-eyed when I saw what Jenny decided, both for what she gained and for what she lost. A good ending will nudge up the star rating, sometimes. ;)

While Dragonsbane is self-contained, the series continues for three more volumes. It does so well as a single story that I wonder where Hambly might take the characters from here. I wouldn't mind catching up with them later.

Thanks for the buddy read, Mimi. I'd be happy to do another one! ...more

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Oct 03, 2007 Eh?Eh! rated it it was amazing

Shelves: babble-added, weep, dear-diary-what-book, i-blame-disney-and-these

Probably cheesy to some but an escapist gem. Maybe I love it because I first read it when I needed escape. Very easy to lose myself in Hambly's beautiful writing. Also, you know that musical phrase, that sunset on an empty beach, that gesture that can bring tears to your eyes? This book had many of those for me. Poignancy? Beauty? Romance in the sense of the movement, not the checkout counter paperbacks?

Plenty of action, psychological metaphors, humor. Still love this tale. ...more

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Apr 26, 2010 Margaret rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-and-science-fiction, authors-gh, 2006-read

Lord John Aversin is known as "Dragonsbane", for the dragon he killed long ago; when another dragon threatens the kingdom, Lord Gareth goes north to the Winterlands to find John and ask him for help. When Gareth and John go south, they are accompanied by the witch Jenny Waynest, John's lover and mother of his two sons, who has long been torn between her desire for more magical power and her love for John. Their encounter with the dragon, Morkeleb the Black, is only the start of the challenges th ...more

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May 20, 2009 Lorena rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Really terrific. This is my first Hambly book, and I was so impressed. I had to put the book down for a moment at page 172, and I was amazed to find that so much had been conveyed in so few pages, and yet the pacing never felt rushed, and the characters and the world they lived in seemed so fully fleshed out. The focus on "mature" lovers/adventurers was also a refreshing change from so much of fantasy, and the exploration of the internal war between the idealized self and the mundane self was th ...more

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May 25, 2009 Spider the Doof Warrior rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 07, 2020 Maija rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-high-epic, own-ebook

3.5 stars

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Oct 12, 2015 Jacob rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: from_library, fantasy

Mentioned by Brandon Sanderson as the book that got him interested in reading and set him on his ultimate career path, he noted it's not a traditional fantasy. For a non-traditional fantasy, it sure has some standard elements: an enchantress, a witch, a warrior, courtiers, gnomes, and, of course, a dragon. These elements are all done well, though, so they are enjoyable. I've read Barbara Hambly before (Children of the Jedi), but this was better. The descriptions are enough to give you a really g ...more

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Jun 02, 2008 Matt rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Anyone who likes fantasy or romance

Shelves: fantasy

In this, one of her more recognizable works, Barbara Hambly demonstrates her great potential as an author and that she perhaps deserves more respect and recognition than she gets. 'Dragonsbane' is a well written, imaginative, and mature (in all the best and truest senses of the word) fantasy story with well drawn and complex characters. Additionally, Hambly spends a good deal of time demythologizing her mythology and the mythology of the faerie story and heroic epic in general, but manages to av ...more

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May 15, 2014 Katherine Harbour rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This is my favorite fantasy series about dragons. Barbara Hambly's medieval world is so detailed, you feel like you're there. Jenny Waynest is a woman who was taught a sort of backwoods sorcery and her lover John Aversin is the only man ever known to have slain a dragon. These two world-weary characters are invited to the king's court by an awkward but well intentioned prince named Gareth...only to find the court under the spell of a seductive sorceress named Zyerne. The characters are beautiful ...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Rachel Brown rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

Fifteen years ago, Jenny Waynest and John Aversin slew a dragon. Now they're middle-aged, with kids... and called upon to save the world when another dragon appears.

One of my very favorite fantasies. Wonderful characterization, witty dialogue, poignant personal and moral dilemmas, and a fantastic dragon.

It was written as a stand-alone, and has a perfect ending. Some terrible, depressing sequels were written 15 years later. Ignore them. ...more

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Aug 25, 2011 Natalie rated it it was amazing

I know it's a cliche, but I love how Hambly creates engaging women characters in her fantasy books. ...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Jennavier rated it it was amazing

Surprisingly awesome!

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Jan 22, 2018 Alexandra marked it as to-read-own

Shelves: own-on-audible, unread-own-on-audible, own-on-kindle, 2007-to-read-own

1/2/18 $1.99 for Kindle.

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Mar 15, 2011 Adam rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm a bit torn about this book. On the one hand, I recognize that the magic in it is the very definition of "soft magic" with few to no actual defined rules and no real magic "system" at all. Hambly approaches magic as a very ethereal, mystical thing, which I suppose is appealing for some people. However, when your POV character is a middle-aged (read: experienced) witch/sorceress/wizard woman (she is referred to as all three of those terms by herself and others in the book), then the non-existe I'm a bit torn about this book. On the one hand, I recognize that the magic in it is the very definition of "soft magic" with few to no actual defined rules and no real magic "system" at all. Hambly approaches magic as a very ethereal, mystical thing, which I suppose is appealing for some people. However, when your POV character is a middle-aged (read: experienced) witch/sorceress/wizard woman (she is referred to as all three of those terms by herself and others in the book), then the non-existent rules and methods of magic in this world become annoying rather than intriguing. It opens up the doors for Deus Ex Magica, which is always the least appealing way to twist the plot. A soft magic system, however, does not automatically mean a lousy book, but man, are there times when this book toes that line precariously.

Despite my feelings about the vagueness of the magic system, the story itself is interesting. There is no "chosen one" boy who grows up to defeat a dark lord, there is no "gallant knight" to protect anyone, and there is no Gandalf/Dumbledore/Belgarath "wise old wizard" to be mysterious and quietly super-powerful. There is a quest to kill a dragon, but the people who go on that quest buck many of the stereotypical fantasy roles. I liked that about the book. The plot itself has a fairly satisfying pace, even if the plot twists are easily foreseen.

That is probably my biggest gripe about this book. Hambly doesn't foreshadow things or drop hints so much as she slaps you upside the head with Really Important Tidbits That You Should Remember Later constantly. I knew what Zyerne was up to LONG before Jenny puzzled it out.

Jenny's character arc was ultimately satisfying, though annoying at times. The constant self-doubt and jealousy of others' power angle was really clumsily used. You can portray a character as flawed, self-conscious, and unsure of their abilities without having that character constantly repeat those statements to herself via inner monologue. And then to have her suddenly level-up to Super Witch, but somehow she herself doesn't realize it right away? Seriously? A character who constantly whines to herself about wanting to be more powerful doesn't immediately recognize when she does a bunch of stuff that is WAY beyond her own oft-lamented weak powers? Come on.

In the end, the book left me with a profound "meh" sort of response. This book won't make you hate it, but you won't be scrambling for more books by Barbara Hambly any time soon. ...more

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Aug 17, 2014 Kathleen rated it liked it

Shelves: magic-fantasy, audio, dragons

3.5 stars for this fantasy, which I listened to (good narration).

The "Dragonsbane" is the hero of song and story, about whom bards sing ballads. He's the great warrior who slew a dragon ten years ago.

Gareth, a young nobleman from the king's court, is fond of dragon ballads. Idealistic -- and desperate — Gareth comes north to seek aid in killing a new dragon ravaging the king's southern territories. However, he is surprised at what he finds, for the legendary warrior — bane of the dragons — is 3.5 stars for this fantasy, which I listened to (good narration).

The "Dragonsbane" is the hero of song and story, about whom bards sing ballads. He's the great warrior who slew a dragon ten years ago.

Gareth, a young nobleman from the king's court, is fond of dragon ballads. Idealistic -- and desperate — Gareth comes north to seek aid in killing a new dragon ravaging the king's southern territories. However, he is surprised at what he finds, for the legendary warrior — bane of the dragons — is simply John Aversin, bespectacled, bookish, plain-speaking, hard-working lord of the north, caring deeply for his people, carving a hard-won life from the winter lands, the hinterlands.

Gareth also finds Jenny, a witch, the love of John's life, the mother of his two young sons. But not his wife.

Although Gareth and John play key roles, as does the dragon himself (cool creature, great characterization) and the villain (a credible cretin, and so very vile), this book is primarily about Jenny's journey of discovery.

Across the chapters, she discovers her powers ("the heart of magic is magic. A Mage does magic"). In the end, she discovers her heart.

For some reason, her dawning realizations didn't deeply engage my own mind or tug on my heart. Maybe she thought too much, repeating herself, leaving little interpretation or guesswork for me. Maybe it's because her sons were never brought to vivid reality, so I couldn't care enough about them. I thought Jenny should know her heart better by now, and if she didn't, why should I?

This is a fantasy, complete with kings, wizards, gnomes, dragons, and treasure, but there's a touch of romance. Almost a lover's triangle, in some scenes.

Great narration by Derek Perkins, except he made John sound like a country bumpkin — which he is according to the text, and by his own frank admission — but I couldn't fall in love with him because of that portrayal.

This book brought to mind Raven's Shadow and Raven's Strike, a duology by Patricia Briggs. An emperor seeks help from a country farmer and his mage-born wife in ridding his lands of a shadow. Compared to Dragonsbane, I liked the Raven series more, because I grew to care more about the characters.

...more

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Jan 23, 2018 Bruno rated it really liked it · review of another edition

If you like dragons, magic, awesome female protagonists and antagonists and male characters outside the hegemonic masculinity, you'll enjoy this book. On a side note, I could definitely feel the final conflict of the protagonist. ...more

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Jan 17, 2016 Edward Rathke rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was pretty great. I preferred it a great deal to the other Hambly novel I read.

This takes a lot of fantasy tropes and doesn't so much subvert them as much as it twists them into very interesting new directions. The novel is also structured in a peculiar way, kind of always twisting away from what you think it's going to be.

But ultimately it's a love story between two reluctant heroes. One just wants to do right by the people he's responsible for. The other is caught up in her search and des ...more

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Nov 24, 2014 Mothwing rated it it was amazing

Shelves: female-role-models, manly-men, abuse-and-bullying, fierce-femmes, favorites, fantasy, female-heroine, fighting-ladies, male-role-models, my-teenage-self-loved-this

I can't even say why, whether it's the magic, the world, the fact that the main character is a middle-aged witch who's trying to balance her life as a mother and her career in magic, the magic with its olfactory and msucial components, the fact that our manly hero is as much knight of the realm as pig farmer, the fact that our gallant prince valiant is a bookish short-sighted boy, the fact that our princess is tough and can handle herself in spite of her girlishness - I think it was everything. ...more

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About Barbara Hambly

Barbara Hambly

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aka Barbara Hamilton

Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.

"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone ...more

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Winterlands (4 books)

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Quotes from Dragonsbane

“But that was the first thing I had to learn about her, and maybe the hardest I’ve ever learned about anything—that she is her own, and what she gives me is of her choosing, and the more precious because of it. Sometimes a butterfly will come to sit in your open palm, but if you close your hand, one way or the other, it—and its choice to be there—are gone.” — 13 likes

“Dragonsbane, they called him.

Slayer of dragons.

Or a dragon, anyway. And, he'd later found out, not such a very big one at that.” — 7 likes

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Dragonsbane

(Winterlands #1)

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