This collection of fifteen short stories was a bit disappointing. All of them have the usual fairy tale feeling, mysterious magical atmosphere and beautiful writing that the author is known for, but I enjoyed some stories more than others and a lot of them felt incomplete. Most of these stories felt like ideas that weren’t fully fleshed out, which is a shame because I loved a lot of these ideas.

So far, I’ve read “The Riddle Master of Hed”, “The Forgotten Beasts of Eld”, “The Changeling Sea” and “Winter Rose”. This book was the one I liked the least. Short stories are hard to pull off and need to rely on strong themes and writing in order for me to enjoy them. I wonder if the other books of short stories by this author are similar to this one. I want to eventually read all of her works, but I might leave those for last.

This book includes the following stories: The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath; A Matter of Music; A Troll and Two Roses; Baba Yaga and the Sorceror's Son; The Fellowship of the Dragon; Lady of the Skulls; The Snow Queen; Ash, Wood, Fire; The Stranger; Transmutations; The Lion and the Lark; The Witches of Junket; Star-Crossed; Voyage into the Heart; Toad.

“A Matter of Music” was really long and somewhat boring. Now I worry that I will not like the novel the author has about bards since I wasn’t much of a fan of this one.

"The Fellowship of the Dragon" and "Lady of the Skulls" had amazing concepts, but they felt unfinished. I would have preferred a novel dedicated to each of those stories.

My favourites were “A Troll and Two Roses” and “The Stranger”. “The Stranger” reminded me a bit of “The Changeling Sea”. The story “Baba Yaga and the Sorceror's Son" was the most fun.

Since I have been reading this book slowly for a few months I already forgot some of the stories, which means they didn’t leave a big impression on me.

Overall, this was enjoyable, but not the best work I’ve read from the author. ( )

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Title: Harrowing the Dragon
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 185
Words: 86K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.com

"The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath" (from Elsewhere, Vol. II, Nov. 1982) - a young dragon harrower and a girl from a mining village clash over whether the land's long winter is caused by a dragon.

"A Matter of Music" (from Elsewhere, Vol. III, Apr. 1984)

"A Troll and Two Roses" (from Faery!, Jan. 1985)

"Baba Yaga and the Sorcerer's Son" (from Dragons and Dreams: A Collection of New Fantasy and Science Fiction Stories, Apr. 1986)

"The Fellowship of the Dragon" (from After the King: Stories in Honor of J. R. R. Tolkien, Jan. 1992) - Five young women are tasked by their queen with saving her lover, the court harper.

"Lady of the Skulls" (from Strange Dreams, Jul. 1993) - a story of personal transformation requiring a knight to look past what meets the eye.

"The Snow Queen" (from Snow White, Blood Red, Jan. 1993) - retelling the familiar fairy tale in a contemporary setting, highlighting the universality of love, loyalty and desire.

"Ash, Wood, Fire" (from The Women's Press Book of New Myth and Magic, Nov. 1993) - the story of a cinder-girl who has reduced the people around her to their functions as she sinks into her own essence.

"The Stranger" (from Temporary Walls: An Anthology of Moral Fantasy, Oct. 1993)

"Transmutations" (from Xanadu 2, Jan. 1994)

"The Lion and the Lark" (from The Armless Maiden and Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors, Apr. 1995) - a "beauty and the beast" retelling, in which a young woman loves a shapechanger, loses him, and must prove her love through many tests and trials.

"The Witches of Junket" (from Sisters in Fantasy II, Apr. 1996)

"Star-Crossed" (from Shakespearean Whodunnits, Sep. 1997) - the Verona constabulary investigate the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

"Voyage Into the Heart" (from Voyages: The 25th World Fantasy Convention, Nov. 4, 1999) a heartless hunt to acquire a unicorn's horn.

"Toad" (from Silver Birch, Blood Moon, Mar. 1999) - a "frog prince" retelling in which the prince is far from innocent.

My Thoughts:

It did not feel like it had been 13 years since my previous read of this book. While not quite “just yesterday”, if you had asked me point blank and I had to simply rely on my memory, I would have said from 5-8 years ago. How time flies!

This was a real mixed bag in terms of both interest and writing. Some stories were more interesting than others and some of the writing was much better than others. It also felt like McKillip was really experimenting with stuff and figuring out what worked for her and what didn't. Considering the stories were written between 1982 and 1999 I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I wouldn't recommend this as a starting place for McKillip, as I feel that a familiarity with her style is necessary to be able to appreciate some of the very quirky stories told here. For someone with a couple of her books already under their belt, this would be a solid edition to your reading and to be able to experience some of her writing in shorter form.

This was the last McKillip book I had for this cycle of re-reads. I began back in 2017 with a re-read of The Tower at Stony Wood and now I end in 2020 with Harrowing the Dragon. Three years to read 21 of her books is just a win on every single count. I enjoyed them all, I hopefully praised them enough (I really think I did but covering my bases just in case, you know?) and I trust that I dragged at least one person into McKillip's sphere of influence.

So while this particular journey has ended, the road is still there and I know I can re-travel it any time I like. Perhaps in another 10-15 years. The question then will be who I am at that point and will you be around?

★★★★☆ ( )

Some of the stories are great and some are just really confusing, as with all short story collections, I suppose. Most of them were still pretty good. There were only a few were I really had to struggle through it. If you like short stories and McKillip then go ahead. You won't be disappointed. ( )

a collection of her short stories. Interesting. ( )

A collection of fantasy short stories. "Harrowing the Dragon" is a dreamy story about a young man who seeks to free his town from eternal winter. But perhaps the town does not wish to be free. Probably the weakest story. "A Matter of Music" feels like a novel crammed into a short story. A young musician gets involved in a generations-long conflict that is mirrored in the conflict between her friend and his half-blood wife. I think my favorite is "A Troll and Two Roses," in which a lazy troll grows enamored of a magical white rose and ventures out of his bridge to get it. Thereupon he fights a prince, argues with a princess, and defeats a sorcerer. McKillip has always been interested in her own twisting retellings of fairy tales, and each of these stories is an odd reflection of a classic. ( )