We Need More Dragon Books | Reading Update 1.27.21

Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog! 

It's been a good, strong month for reading, which you will see for yourselves in the next few days in my wrap-up. However, I just wanted to come on and talk about something that's been bothering me: how come there are so few books about dragons?

Okay, don't get me wrong, there are actually plenty of books about dragons. What I mean is, where are all of the modern dragon books? I'm sure you've all seen how publishing goes through trends. In the early 2000s, it was vampires, then in the 2010s it was dystopias, and now we're into fae. But when was the last time we had a resurgence of dragon media? There was Eragon by Christopher Paolini in 2002, but that was nearly 20 years ago (oh my god that was nearly 20 years ago). A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan was published in 2013, and Novice Dragoneer by E.E. Knight was published in 2019. There doesn't seem to be a defined wave of dragon books. 

I suppose one could argue that it doesn't need a "defined wave" since dragons are a popular creature, but if that's the case why aren't we getting a wave of dragon media? I want more dragons, dammit! 

Okay, this is all because I'm reading two dragon books at the moment, and every time I do read a dragon book I just want more in my life. Currently I'm reading the second book in the Burning series, The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter, and the first book in the Dragoneer Academy series, Novice Dragoneer by E.E. Knight. But as I was reading last night, I looked around my room at my bookshelves and counted every dragon book/series I own, and it's really not a lot. And that bothers me, because without a doubt dragons are my favorite plot device in a story. So, when I went on Goodreads to see how many books are centered around dragons, I was pretty upset that most of them are decades old. And based on the synopses of a good amount of them, they didn't age well, if you understand what I'm saying. 

So, this is a call for aid! I want more dragon books! The books/series I own are as follows:

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter (The Burning Series)
Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton (The Dragonslayer Series)
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (I'm not sure what this series is called but you get the idea)
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

And that's it. I'm ashamed. 

Of course I've read a lot more than I own, because as I said before, dragons are my favorite, but in the grand scheme of things I really don't think I've read that much. I'm hoping that dragons will be the next big thing in publishing so we can get some modern dragon stories. Can you imagine some of the writers today with dragon stories? I want Maggie Stiefvater to write a dragon story. I want Victoria Schwab, and Brandon Sanderson (does he have dragons in his books? Please let me know) and Laini Taylor and Katherine Arden to write dragon stories. Just give me all the dragons!

Okay, I think I'm done ranting. Comment below or tweet at me @AllyEmReads if you have any suggestions for dragon books. 

Until next time!