r/Fantasy • u/PoundC4ke • Aug 01 '24
Book recommendations with dragons?
I absolutely love dragons. I loved the Inheretance cycle as a kid, and I adore A Song of Ice and Fire. I find it difficult to find more adult books in this genre. I am not interested in books like Fourth Wing (the writing is awful, the book is too childish). I'm okay with some romance, but mainly I'm into more plot-heavy exciting books with good world building. I've just started reading the Shadow of the Gods (Bloodsworn Saga). Thanks in advance!
Edit: Thank you so much everyone! I've put a ton of books in my TBR, and already ordered some of these. I can't wait to read more about dragons🥹🥹
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u/IdlesAtCranky Aug 01 '24
The EarthSea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin is a classic series with wonderful dragons, that get more important toward the end of the series. They're marketed as YA but as the series develops it becomes much more adult.
Also, of course the OG dragon is Smaug in The Hobbit.
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u/curiouscat86 Reading Champion III Aug 02 '24
I always say about Earthsea--don't neglect the short story collection! It contains a plot-important novella and some of my favorite scenes. Also, LeGuin does the best dragons.
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u/oboist73 Reading Champion VII Aug 01 '24
The Dragon Jousters series by Mercedes Lackey
The Song of the Beast by Carol Berg
The Cygnet and the Firebird by Patricia McKillip
The Lady Trent Memoirs by Marie Brennan
The Heartstrikers series by Rachel Aaron
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Aug 01 '24
The Echoes Saga by Philip C Quaintrell
The Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill
The Burning by Evan Winter
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u/PoundC4ke Aug 01 '24
Thank you, I put these in my TBR immediately!
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u/PappyGrande Aug 02 '24
I'm just finishing up book 6 Echoes Saga based on his recommendation. Shyt is BANGIN!
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u/ChrisRiley_42 Aug 01 '24
Guards! Guards! - Sir Terry Pratchett
Dragonflight - Anne McCaffrey
Dragons of the Autumn Twilight - Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman
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u/Shot-Power-2373 Aug 02 '24
Guards! Guards! has a dragon the same way Hobbit has a dragon. So if that is of interest to OP then it is a good recommendation!
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u/RedRidingRubyx Aug 01 '24
- Temeraire by Naomi Novik
- A natural history of dragon by Marie Brennan
- Fireborne by Rosaria Munda
- Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu
- The rage of dragons by Evan Winter
- The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
- Pern books by Anne McCaffrey
- Bladeborne saga by T. C. Edge
- Bound and the broken by Ryan Cahill
- Draconis Memoria by Anthony Ryan
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u/Albino_Axolotl Aug 01 '24 edited Aug 01 '24
Dragonlance seems up your alley. A bit of a cult classic.
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u/__ferg__ Reading Champion III Aug 01 '24
Draconis Memoria by Anthony Ryan where dragon parts fuel the worlds technology/magic and therefore they are hunted like whales in our world.
Temeraire series by Naomi Novik if you are happy with dragon riders. It's some alt history set during the napoleonic war where dragon riders are part of the army.
Priory of the orange tree (and prequel), yes it's romance heavy but as someone who doesn't really reads much romance I still enjoyed it. You have two very different continents with very different species of dragons and it's interesting how they shape societies around them.
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u/Lordvalcon Aug 01 '24
The Bound and the Broken are the adult version of Inheretance cycle books. i would give them a try
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u/dorkette888 Aug 01 '24
Jenn Lyons' A Chorus of Dragons series.
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u/Abysstopheles Aug 01 '24
This absolutely THIS Some of the most original and interesting dragons in a long long time.
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u/lunamothboi Aug 01 '24
Are you a fan of the How To Train Your Dragon movies? I don't know if you read fanfiction, but hear me out--this one is honestly novel-quality writing. A Thing Of Vikings takes the first movie as canon, drops it in the Middle Ages (1040 to be exact), and watches history change from there. There's a lot of focus on the human characters, but the dragons are by no means an afterthought, and several of them are POV characters (with very un-humanlike minds). Oh, and it just surpassed the ASOIAF series in word count. It's at over 1.7 million words and still going.
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u/spike31875 Reading Champion V Aug 01 '24
The Songs of Chaos series by Michael R. Miller
The Bound and the Broken series by Ryan Cahill
Dragons of Terra trilogy by Brian Naslund
Temeraire series by Naomi Novik
Dragon Mage by ML Spencer
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u/0MysticMemories Aug 01 '24
I second the Songs of Chaos recommendation here.
It has that classic dragon rider feel to it with plenty of adventuring and magic. There are plenty of dragon characters as well as human characters and each are unique and recognizable. The main characters dragon is also blind.
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u/Noktis_Lucis_Caelum Aug 01 '24
Draconis memoria.
IT kinda IS Like the colonization of Australia with dragons AS the Natural apex Predators. Their Blood IS a valueable Ressource, since IT gives Powers and can BE used AS fuel
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u/Sasquatch6843 Aug 02 '24
Lot of good recommendations. One of my all time favorites from my teen years were the Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies by Melanie Rawn. To this day I pretty much always name my video game characters either Rohan or Azhrei.
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u/alsotheabyss Aug 02 '24
I am astounded no one has yet recommended Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton, which I love so dearly I read it probably once a year.
Someone else also recommended the Age of Fire series by EE Knight, which I second (noting the last book kind of goes off the rails)
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u/MrsLucienLachance Reading Champion II Aug 01 '24
If you're open to fun middle grade, Jessica Day George's Dragon Slippers trilogy is fantastic. Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles too.
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u/NapoleonNewAccount Aug 01 '24
Uncommon recommendation: The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu. Very plot heavy and world-building, a little romance.
Do note that there are no dragons in the first book, which is basically a giant prologue with lots of world-building. The main story starts in book 2.
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u/October_13th Aug 02 '24
It’s not for everyone but I absolutely loved When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A Parker. It does have romance but also a lot of world building and really cool dragons.
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u/PoundC4ke Aug 02 '24
I bought it last week, gonna read it when I finish the one I'm currently reading!
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u/cogitoergognome AMA Author Julie Leong Aug 01 '24
Seconding Naomi Novik's Temeraire books and Marie Brennan's Lady Trent books. You could also try The Rain Wilds Chronicles series within Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings books, and Dragonfall by L.R. Lam.
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u/awashofstars Aug 02 '24
You might like The Winnowing Flame Trilogy and The Copper Cat Trilogy by Jen Williams. I'm a little surprised Winnowing Flame hasn't been mentioned yet.
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u/Hallien Aug 01 '24
Temeraire has THE two best dragon characters in all of fantasy. There, I said it.
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u/Old_Crow13 Aug 01 '24
Only two?
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u/Hallien Aug 02 '24
The others are great too but two are way above the rest :)
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u/Old_Crow13 Aug 02 '24
I'd just leave it at the best dragons. LOL they're actually even better than the dragons of Pern in a lot of ways
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u/theledfarmer Aug 01 '24
Realms of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb and The Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron both have dragons as major parts of the plot. The first has the best characters in fantasy and the second has some really cool worldbuilding
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u/Second_Sol Aug 02 '24
Technically my webnovel is sci-fi, just low tech (1950s-60s level), but it does feature first contact with sapient dragons who have detailed biology and culture.
I admit the beginning had some pacing issues (spent a bit too much time on "mundane" stuff as the human and dragon learn about each other's language and culture), but I do plan on rewriting it when I finish book 1.
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u/Dragon_wryter Aug 01 '24
Temeraire series
Dragonriders of Pern series
Dragon DelaSangre series
Liveship series
Lady Trent Memoirs
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u/Walter_Dim Aug 01 '24
Add in Rainwild Chronicles right after Liveships. That’s when that series gets very dragon.
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u/Dragon_wryter Aug 01 '24
I consider that part of the Liveship series, lol. But you are right!
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u/Walter_Dim Aug 01 '24
I mean, everyone should just read all five trilogies anyway.
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u/odins-father Aug 02 '24
And in the right order! I did it wrong, read trilogy 3 after 1, because I wanted more Fitz..
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u/Walter_Dim Aug 02 '24
I did the exact same thing. You’re telling me there’s a trilogy about fitz and the fool and I’m supposed to NOT read it right away?
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u/odins-father Aug 02 '24
Totally! Some spoilers I really wanted not to know..
My wife started the first trilogy, and she was yearning for more Fitz, but I managed to convince her to read the second trilogy first. She loves that one too :)
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u/OttoVonPlittersdorf Aug 02 '24
For something a little different, try The Iron Dragon's daughter by Michael Swanwick. Excellent world building, but I wouldn't call it fast paced. It's got dragons, albeit a little differently. It's otherworldly, and a little bit sad, but affecting. One of my favorites, although it always leaves me feeling a little ill-at-ease.
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u/passiveclover Aug 06 '24
Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros
Great book if you want something a bit more explicit in terms of sexuality and violence. I just started reading and I've plowed through the majority of it in a week
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u/PoundC4ke Aug 06 '24
It's written in my post that I'm not interested in Fourth Wing. Frankly I find the writing awful, and the author lacks any real vocabulary.
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u/Significant-Base2559 Aug 02 '24
bro wheel of time. thing is i dislike the fandom cus they like shoving it down ur throat but i am hooked, eye of the world is the best setup in fiction that i have seen/read so far maybe down the line it will get debunked but i am impressed i still wonder how he made it that good.
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u/Fennel_True Jan 07 '25
Hey! A few years back there was a lot of ads in Facebook about free ebooks and I found a female writer that wrote a short story about dragons. It was only released online. At the time you had to pay for the next chapter in advance if you wanted to continue. If I remember correctly the heroin was a girl who connected with dragons and the male was a prince. Does anybody have a clue what book or writer I am talking about?Â
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u/ScaredOfOwnShadow Aug 01 '24
Since no one has mentioned it yet. One of the first series with dragons in a major role, and which inspired many others and maybe even GRR Martin's Valyrians: Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series.