How Not To Fall In Love With A Dragon

A couple of suggestions for anyone looking to dive into this story: The magic system, and how the dragon’s powers interact with his illness, is incredibly well done. What starts out as what appears to be a simple “find the healing spring” type of quest actually is a much deeper and very creative story. The dragon’s illness warps around his draconic mana, and in turn his mana warps around his illness in rather interesting ways. So what might seem to be a simple spell to heal another character in the story would likely put the dragon in great risk of life and limb. Because of his illness the dragon has to use his human intellect to find very creative ways to apply the magic that is so freely available in this world. The survival tactics that the dragon uses are very deeply integrated into the story and the world that it takes place in. It’s very very satisfying.

For me, finding free books is half the fun. I follow various hashtags such as #DragonRomance and #FreeBook on Twitter (or X as it’s now called), and in addition to many indie authors posting information about their e-books on their own websites, there are often free download days on Amazon e-books. All of these e-books are fully complete and have been edited professionally – even if they are only free for a limited time. BookBub is another service that can inform you of various free e-books, and I have alerts set up for ‘Fantasy Romance’ and ‘Free’ deals. With great patience, I have been able to build up a large digital library of dragon shifter e-books.

I’ve seen tons of people online wax poetic about how much they love fanfiction for really popular fantasy novels, and honestly I can see why. For one, the A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) fandom is HUGEnormous, and so there are thousands of stories about Daenerys and Jon Snow, as well as all sorts of original character/dragon rider pairings. But most particularly, within that huge and dedicated fanbase, there are also tons of really passionately-written novel-length fics that follow the many, many characters in the series through all sorts of scenarios, not least of which is the huge pool of political marriage tropes. I went to Archive of Our Own and searched for the tag “Arranged Marriage” within the A Song of Ice and Fire category, and oh. My. God. There are some seriously, seriously well-written novels there. These writers are operating completely within the parameters of the existing story, and thus are able to be totally immersed in the world and its politics, to craft scenarios that feel completely natural to the characters and the universe in which they reside. And the best part? It’s free. You can read them for yourself, and can see for yourself the incredible amounts of passion and love that the writers have put into these stories.

I didn't go into this expecting it to be completely perfect, and of course there are still some hints of political tension left in this story, but for the most part that's handled well, and individual side characters aren't given completely fairy-tale endings. However, the core relationship of the story is given a beautiful, stable, loving ending, and the main characters have developed absolute trust in each other by the end. It's a really satisfying read, and one of the happier endings I've read – it's really about finding your person and your home, and the two main characters in the story manage to achieve both of those things unequivocally.

Make up a cover story for any reason you have for knowing something. For medicine, tell people your grandmother was a healer. For advanced math, say you found an old scholar's notes or something. Never say "in my world" (it sounds suspicious). Make up a story for why you are the way that you are, and stick to it. People will look for inconsistencies in your story, so practice it until it feels natural, and until you can conjure up appropriate emotions to go along with the story (i.e. you feel a pang of nostalgia when thinking about your grandmother teaching you to make potions, or you scowl in frustration whenever you think about losing that notebook with all your math problems in it). Your cover story is your first line of defense against inquisitive mages and suspicious nobles.

Yes, there are many steamy moments in this book. The majority of the time is spent revealing the intimate tension between the two main characters. Their chemistry drives the story, therefore all of the romantic moments are logical to the plot. I’d rate this book about an 8 out of 10 on the sensual level. (I rate books on a scale of 1-10, and provide a description of what that rating means to me, for those who are curious.) The author describes EVERY intimate moment in great detail and with much passion. If you are looking for lots of romantic interludes between action and politics then this is your book. Be prepared for many blush-worthy moments as well.

The ending of The Golem and the Jinni is comparable to the ending of another fantastic work of literature, The Last Unicorn, or even The Dark Tower series. All of these works are marked by a sense of cyclical completion, with ambiguous transformation at their core. If you’re a fan of those works, you’ll probably appreciate this one too. But if you detest those works, then you’ll probably detest this one as well. Not every ending is for every reader, after all. This one demands a lot from its readers: they have to be willing to fill in blanks, to sit with uncertainty, and to appreciate a work largely through mood rather than by resolution of plot points. In short, this ending is a litmus test of your reading preferences.

I also really appreciated the cost to the dragon of this happy ending. When he finally has the human in his arms as a human, his hands are shaking. This creature who was able to hold up mountains in all their dragonous size and power was shaking. I loved this. It wasn’t about losing power. It was about trading one kind of strength for another. And then the reader got to see just how rich and full this quiet life was of simple joys that he had never even known to want before – like seasons changing, growing his own food, the gossip of the neighbors. This was all so wonderful and it validated the life he had chosen as being just as full and as meaningful as his life in the crystal palace.

But the real closing is for the secondary characters as well. His gruff second-in-command weeps uncontrollably as he leaves, as if he has lost a brother. The learned friend of Elara the scholar puts together the definitive treatise on dragon-human relations in memory of them. The closing of the story of this one creature has the ripples of the central story, but it also has the outer rings of change in the world that this creature and this woman have brought about. It is not a closed ‘The End’ but the opening of a new, better world for them. That is why I consider this a hopeful, tearful ending.

Of course, any relationship depends on consent and context, but in the darker tales like The Wolfman, such love ends tragically and sustains the monster archetype. However, most recent adaptations of classic monsters offer a contrarian view and, by making the beast’s exterior simply another layer to peel, evoke ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ like scenarios in which the relationship feels inevitable, much like two jagged puzzle pieces that inevitably click into place. And that’s the dream: finding someone to whom you are perfectly suited – fangs and all.

I love the small emotional moments of closure here. Flint's grumpy pride, Tanis' relief that Laurana was his choice, Caramon's worry for Raistlin. Really, this is less a story of saving the world than of saving each other. And they do end up being more tightly knit than ever at the end of this book. I worry for them in the coming “Dragons of Winter Night”.