Dragons in Fantasy

Dragons are a big part of fantasy novels. They’re also a big part of mythology from several cultures, especially Chinese. There’s even the real life komodo dragon. But what are some of the best novels and novel series that feature dragons?

I’ve read quite a few. One that’s quite prominent is the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. However, I classify that as science fiction, not fantasy. There’s also Temeraire by Naomi Novik. And who can forget Smaug from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit? And then we have the dragons of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. Although I haven’t read them, we can’t forget the Dragonlance novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

What are some of your favourite fantasy series with dragons?

Extensive Multi-Author Universes

Fantasy and science fiction are known for having long series based in very detailed fictional worlds.  On TV, the biggest is probably Star Trek.  It’s probably rivaled only by Japan’s Gundam universe.  But in literature, there are some that have several different authors.

Let’s look at fantasy first.  I recently started reading R. A. Salvatore’s Homeland, the first book of The Dark Elf trilogy.  I’ve already read The Icewind Dale trilogy, though that was a few years ago.  Forgotten Realms is based on Dungeons and Dragons, and has a very extensive universe.  There are more than 200 books at the moment. Another series is the Dragonlance series.  This is also based on Dungeons and Dragons.  It also has more than 200 books.  I have yet to read any of them, but I am interested.

On the science fiction side of things, let’s take a look at the two big ones.  First is Star Trek.  This consists of episode and movie novelisations, as well as original stories based on the characters and series.  There are more than 500 novels, some canon, others not.  That is huge.  I do have one novel, but it’s a novelisation of one of the movies. I should be reading it very soon, actually.  The other big one is Star Wars.  Again, I haven’t read any of them, but this is another multi-author universe that’s become big.  It has more than 200 novels.

I’ve only read three of the Forgotten Realms books, though I’m reading one now.  I haven’t read any of the other series.

Out of all of these series, which have you read, and how many?  Which ones do you prefer?