Dragon of Ash & Stars Review

Title: Dragon of Ash & Stars
Author: H. Leighton Dickson
Date Purchased: 8/14/2016
Price Paid: $0.00
Date Finished: 2/25/2021
Rating: 3/5

I don’t always remember why I purchased a book, and I don’t specifically remember with this one either. However, when I read the summary prior to diving in I thought that it sounded like a neat concept. A story about a dragon, told from the dragon’s perspective, in an autobiographical form.

Coupled with the fact that I apparently “purchased” this book for the low, low price of zero dollars? My rationale becomes a little more clear. Of course now the question becomes “was it worth it”?

Although I was being a bit glib by asking if a free book was worth it, we can at least discuss whether the book was worth the time it took to read. Or, as I heard recently, if the juice was worth the squeeze. We’ll start by talking about the book being told from the dragon’s point of view.

Of the hundreds of fantasy books I’ve read in my lifetime, I would say that at least 30% of those had a dragon in them somewhere. The running joke among some of my friends is that I read “dragon books”, but I think 30% is a fair estimate. That being said, of all those books, not once can I remember one told completely from the dragon’s point of view.

I guess in the grand scheme of things it shouldn’t seem like such a neat idea – it’s just telling a story and the character happens to be a dragon. But it was an interesting thing to think about once I stepped back. Think of the fantasy and science-fiction tropes that are out there, and how they are typically just set dressing. It was refreshing to have one of those tropes brought to the forefront.

Overall the story was a decent one, if a bit on the depressing side. This dragon lives a very rough life, and Dickson does a good job of showing how each chapter of his existence colors the next. This makes the dragon a much more complex character, and made me care more about the dragon.

One thing I went back and forth on was the worldbuilding. There are a lot of things that just never get explained to my satisfaction, and at first that bothered me a bit. But as an autobiography of a dragon? It makes sense. The dragon doesn’t care about the minutiae of the human world. Why would we get more details about any of those fine details?

All in all, I found this to be a relatively quick read that was moderately engaging. I saw some reviewers raving about this book, and while I’m certainly not in that category, it was one that at least presented some fresh perspectives.

Final Thoughts: This was a fine book, and a quick read, but nothing I’d actively recommend.