Good novels with Dragon Protagonists?

[SkyfireDragoon]

So, ever since I was young, I've had an obsession with Dragons, and as I grew older, fantasy was a natural fit for my voracious reading appetite. I was glad to see dragons appear almost everywhere, I was a little disappointed to see them almost always play the villain, so I went out looking for good guy dragons. I've read pretty much everything I've found since then, and now I need more. So, kind SFF World, can I have your suggestions for Novels or series with dragons as the protagonist? They don't even have to be a protagonist, to give you an idea of what I'm looking for, the ones I've read and enjoyed are:

Dragon Nimbus chronicles
Inheritance cycle
Temeraire

 

[Eddy Gemmell]

The only recommendations I would make is Novik and Hobb (Rainwild Chronicles). Paolini ...really? I can't forgive him for Eragon being a re-write of Star Wars: A New Hope with dragons in it.

 

[gljones]

I like the original set of 6 Dragonlance books. I tried the others, but I'd recommend the original six only based on the "hit and miss" nature of the vast library of stuff that other people wrote in that world.

 

[Siberian]

I remember liking Dragonriders books by Anne McCaffrey as a teenager. Not sure I'd have felt the same now.

 

[chris777]

Yeah with Dragonlance, it is often said to only read the original 6. Unless you become obsessed and need to read more, otherwise the quality is downhill. Dragonvarld by Wies and Hickman is decent. Honestly I didn't find it that great of a series. But I finished all 3 books, so it's at least readable. And the main protagonists are dragons. Some good, some bad.

 

[Jop]

I read one a while back which featured a world ruled by dragons where humans were the slaves, entitled "Bitterwood" by James Maxey. It was an enjoyable read with an interesting twist. I'm not going to say more than that as i don't want to spoil it for you (and actually, I read it this past September and only remember the basic details...) I believe that it is intended to be a trilogy, but I haven't heard anything more on it.

 

[Siberian]

Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw is like a Victorian novel but with the dragon protagonists.

 

[DurzoBlint]

Stephen Deas The Adamantine Palace and the rest of the series features dragons as a protagonist. Otherwise Novik's series.

 

[cgw]

Age of Fire by Knight worked for me (dragons are actually the protagonist instead of just side characters or mounts)

 

[chris777]

I am somewhat interested in this topic. Would like to hear a best-of-list. I see many requests, but none confirms or duplicated.

 

[Ntschotschi]

Of the newer ongoing series I can recommend Novik's series as well. Not all the books are equally good, but I liked the last two books very much. It's also some kind of alternate history story which is quite original.
Robin Hobb's two series settled in the rainwild are some kind of classic for me, it is loosley connected to the farseer series, where dragons don't feature so prominently.
The most interesting ongoing series with dragons at the moment is Stephen Dea's The Memory of Flames series imo. In part it is excellent, although I'm still a bit grumpy about he handled the fate of one of the main characters. I was so upset twith him being so unempathetic towards it and the readers that I wanted to quit reading the series. But I didn't in the end and it's really worth reading.
If you like funny reading and are not avert to a lot of explicit sex scenes and some romance I can heartily recommend G.A. Aiken's series.
It features a lot of kick ass heroines and fighting and funny dialogues. The latter books tend towards more story telling and less sex. Great dragon chracters, great fun to read imo.

 

[Lurker8]

I really enjoyed Seraphina which has a dragon race living in an uneasy alliance with a human race.

Another nod for Age of Fire, although I found the first three novels to be very good - the remaining ones didn't really have the same magic.

 

[wag_epal]

I enjoyed two dragon books last year, both written by the same author, Dave Freer. Dragon's Ring and its sequel Dog and Dragon, despite the title both were really well written and tells a good fantasy, adventure, swashbuckling story. You could also check out Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter and The Dragon of Babel.

 

[Lordwalker]

I've been interested in Adamantine Palace and its sequels for awhile now. Any others read and recommend it?

 

[cgw]

I've been interested in Adamantine Palace and its sequels for awhile now. Any others read and recommend it?

I liked Adamantine Palace and was looking forward the the sequel. Then I bought it (the King of the Crags), read less than a chapter, and could not get into it. It is sitting in my give-it-another-chance-sometime pile now.

 

[KatG]

You might find this thread helpful:

http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?16371-Best-Dragon-Books

Otherwise, there are about 8 million fantasy novels with dragons, most of them not villains. Here are some, besides those mentioned already, that you can check out:

Chris d'Lacey -- Last Dragon Chronicles
Jessica Day George -- Dragon Slippers
J.A. Pitts -- Black Blade Blues
Chris Bunch -- Dragonmaster
Donita K. Paul -- Valley of the Dragons, Dragonkeeper Chronicles
Gary Gentle -- A Time For Dragons
Patricia C. Wrede -- Enchanted Forrest Chronicles
Susan Fletcher -- Dragon Chronicles
Melanie Rawn -- Dragon Prince
Bryan Davis -- Dragons in our Midst
Jackie French Koller -- Dragonling
J.R. Ward -- Seraphina
Christopher Rowley -- Bazil Broketail
Gordon R. Dickson -- Dragon Knight
Tamora Pierce -- The Immortals
R.A. MacAvoy -- Tea with Black Dragon
Daniel Hood -- Fanuih
Joanne Bestin -- Dragon & Phoenix
Harry Turtledove -- Darkness
Barbara Hambly -- Dragonsbane
Gerald L. Durnell -- The Talking Parcel
Laurence Yep -- Dragon
Jane Yolen -- Pit Dragon
Mercedes Lackey -- Dragon Jousters
Keith Baker -- Eberron
Robin Wayne Bailey -- Dragonkin
Christopher Pike -- Alosha
Gareth P. Jones -- Dragon Detective Agency
Robert Asprin -- Dragons Wild
Janet Lee Carey -- Dragons of Noor
C.D. Sutherland -- Chronicles of Susah
E.E. Knight -- Age of Fire
Alison Goodman -- Eona
Lucinda Hare -- Dragonsdome Chronicles
Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell -- Wyrmeweald

 

[chris777]

Based on the two threads I purchased the first 3 books of Age of Fire series. I am curious to have a dragon POV. I am reading Allow of Law right now, but once I am done I will start this series and update with my thoughts!

 

[chris777]

Halfway through Dragon Champion, the first book in the series. I really like it. I've never read a book where the dragon is the POV. And it's not like some new dragon dominant world. It's a world that we are used to, with Men, Elves, Dwarves, and goblin type creatures. And they hunt dragons and defend from dragons as we are used to as well. So far so good.

EDIT: So rather than making new posts and talking to myself I'll just edit this one.

I just finished the first book in Age of Fire. It started off really good, somewhat tapered off and slowed towards the end. Was still good. It is odd to try and picture a full grown dragon reading a book and drinking a glass of wine...seems a little silly. I like his prose, not too flowery. Medium brow kind of stuff. Good plot, but you can tell there's more to it that we will find out about later. I won't go into a lot of detail, but the gist is the first book is about Auron, the champion of his nest. After a tragedy he is forced to find his own way. It's about how he grows(both mentally and physically), makes friends, and is caught in the middle of a war that forces him to make some tough decision. Was pretty good. I wouldn't say it ends on a cliff hanger, but you want to know WHAT HAPPENS NOW?! Unfortunately, the second book does not start out as the continuation of the first. Auron has a couple sisters. Since they were involved in the initial tragedy, the second book is about one of the sisters and her life afterwards. It's pretty good so far too!

For those of you who have read the first book and a half...

Spoiler

AuRon now basically has controll over a dominion of dragons and a multitude of eggs and young dragons. Potentially has his own army of dragons, who of course he won't force to fight for him, but they will more than likely choose to follow. He wants no war though. On the other hand, it appears his sister Wistala does want war. Wants revenge. I don't know what she does, but I imagine their two lives collide at some point while AuRon is wanting to defend man and dwarves, and Wistala is wanting to wipe them out. While maybe there's a 3rd faction, a more evil faction. Led by the COPPER brother. Of whom we do not know his name, and apparently he doesn't either. As he asked Wistala what his name was right?

 

[chris777]

So just an update. I'm now on the 4th book of this series. When I first started this book I really liked it, and often wonder if this was going to challenge First Law for the top spot on my favorite series list. Not to say that the books have gotten poor, I have just lost that elated feeling I initially had. I now often find myself skipping a lot to try and get to points that further the plot.

So, again, with out spoiling too much, since you can speculate this information from each book cover. Each of the first 3 books is about the life of one of the 5 hatchlings. First is AuRon, the "champion of the nest". Second is Wistala, the stronger female dragon. And third is the Copper, the outcasted male. The one thing I find annoying is that at this moment in book4 there are no central plot lines. There's not really anything substantial they are fighting against, besides life itself. There is no large army gathering(that we know of yet), or some EVIL WIZARD(you'll see what i mean), or anything that they have to fight against besides the day to day trappings of being a dragon in a world with men, dwarves, elves, blighters(a mix of the 3), and other random creatures. Each dragon had their own path, and now I am hoping their paths cross and there is something substantial coming. Which I would assume there is, since there are 6 books total. We will see. I still think it is a fun read.

 

[Lurker8]

I liked the first 3 books, the 3 books following it, its like the author had no idea what to write and was just spewing stuff on the page. I can remember the events and stories of the first three books, but I cannot for the life of me remember what happens in the latter 3 books. I ended up keeping the first 3, am considering them to be stand-alones, and chucked the other 3 into the nearest used book store. (Usually I am obsessive about keeping my collections whole but I just couldn't consider the latter 3 books as part of the series).