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Tooth and Claw Paperback – 6 Jan. 2009
A tale of contention over love and money--among dragons
Jo Walton burst onto the fantasy scene with The King's Peace, acclaimed by writers as diverse as Poul Anderson, Robin Hobb, and Ken MacLeod. In 2002, she was voted the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Now Walton returns with Tooth and Claw, a very different kind of fantasy story: the tale of a family dealing with the death of their father, of a son who goes to law for his inheritance, a son who agonizes over his father's deathbed confession, a daughter who falls in love, a daughter who becomes involved in the abolition movement, and a daughter sacrificing herself for her husband.
Except that everyone in the story is a dragon, red in tooth and claw.
Here is a world of politics and train stations, of churchmen and family retainers, of courtship and country houses...in which, on the death of an elder, family members gather to eat the body of the deceased. In which society's high-and-mighty members avail themselves of the privilege of killing and eating the weaker children, which they do with ceremony and relish, growing stronger thereby.
You have never read a novel like Tooth and Claw.
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSt. Martin's Press
- Publication date6 Jan. 2009
- Dimensions13.97 x 1.88 x 21.59 cm
- ISBN-100765319519
- ISBN-13978-0765319517
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Product description
Review
"Utterly sui generis...It's a rare book that leaves me wishing it were twice as long, but Tooth and Claw is one such." --The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
"A delight. On a basic level, Tooth and Claw works much the same way that Watership Down worked...Highly recommended for anyone who loved the books of Austen, or Heyer (or Laurie Colwin's more contemporary novels, for that matter), and wishes that someone was still writing social comedies that were just as sharp and just as pleasurable." --Kelly Link, author of Stranger Things Happen
"Jo Walton writes with an authenticity that never loses heart." --Robin Hobb
"The Pride and Prejudice of the dragon world... I love this sly, witty, fast-paced, brilliant little book." --Jane Yolen
"Plot strands come together just as they should, with delightful triumphs, resolutions, revelations, and come-uppances." --Locus
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Tooth and Claw
By Jo Walton, Patrick Nielsen HaydenTom Doherty Associates
Copyright © 2003 Jo WaltonAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7653-1951-7
Contents
Cover,Title,
Copyright Notice,
Dedication, Thanks, and Notes,
1 The Death of Bon Agornin,
2 Some Far-Reaching Decisions,
3 The Sisters' Vow,
4 Leaving Agornin,
5 Exalt Benandi's Demesne,
6 Affairs in Irieth,
7 The Dinner Party,
8 The Writ Is Received,
9 The Picnic,
10 The Choice of Associates,
11 A Maiden's Love,
12 High Society,
13 Deepwinter at Benandi,
14 Coming to Irieth,
15 Affairs Draw Together,
16 Rewards and Weddings,
Tor Books by Jo Walton,
Copyright,
CHAPTER 1
The Death of Bon Agornin
1. A CONFESSION
Bon Agornin writhed on his deathbed, his wings beating as if he would fly to his new life in his old body. The doctors had shaken their heads and left, even his daughters had stopped telling him he was about to get well. He put his head down on the scant gold in his great draughty undercave, struggling to keep still and draw breath. He had only this little time left, to affect everything that was to come after. Perhaps it would be an hour, perhaps less. He would be glad to leave the pains of the flesh, but he wished he had not so much to regret.
He groaned and shifted on the gold, and tried to feel as positive as possible about the events of his life. The Church taught that it was neither wings nor flame that gave one a fortunate rebirth, but rather innocence and calmness of spirit. He strove for that fortunate calm. It was hard to achieve.
"What is wrong, Father?" asked his son Penn, approaching now that Bon was still and putting out a gentle claw to touch Bon's shoulder.
Penn Agornin, or rather the Blessed Penn Agornin, for young Penn was already a parson, imagined he understood what troubled his father. He had attended many deathbeds in his professional capacity, and was glad to be here to help ease his father into death and to spare him the presence of a stranger at such a time. The local parson, Blessed Frelt, was far from being his father's friend. They had been at quiet feud for years, of a kind Penn thought quite unbecoming to a parson.
"Calm yourself, Father," he said. "You have lived a good life. Indeed, it is hard to think of anyone who should have less to fret them on their deathbed." Penn admired his father greatly. "Beginning from very little more than a gentle name, you have grown to be seventy feet long, with wings and flame, a splendid establishment and the respect of all the district. Five of your children survive to this day. I am in the Church therefore safe." He raised a wing, bound with the red cord that, to the pious, symbolized the parson's dedication to gods and dragonkind, and to others meant mere immunity. "Berend is well married and has children, her husband is powerful and an Illustrious Lord. Avan is making his way in Irieth. His is perhaps the most perilous course, but he has strong friends and has done well thus far, as you did before him. As for the other two, Haner and Selendra, though they are young and vulnerable do not fear. Berend will take in Haner and see her well married under her husband's protection, while I will do the same for Selendra."
Bon drew a careful breath, then exhaled with a little puff of flame and smoke. Penn skipped nimbly aside. "You must all stick to my agreement," Bon said. "The younger ones who are not settled must have my gold, what there is of it. You and Berend have begun your hoards already, let you each take only one symbolic piece of mine, and let the other three share what little is left. I have not amassed a great store, but it will be enough to help them."
"We had already agreed that, Father," Penn said. "And ofcourse they will likewise take the greater shares when we eat you. Berend and I are established, while our brother and sisters are still in need."
"You have always been just what brothers and sisters should be to each other," Bon said, and sighed more smoke. "I want to confess, Penn, before I die. Will you hear my confession?"
Penn drew back, folding his wings hard around him. "Father, you know the teaching of the Church. Not for three thousand years, six lifetimes of dragons, has confession been a sacrament. It reeks of the Time of Subjugation and the heathen ways of the Yarge."
Bon rolled his huge golden eyes. Sometimes his son, so careful of propriety, seemed a stranger to him. Penn could never have endured what he had endured, never have survived. "Six lifetimes you may have been taught, but when I was young there were priests who would still give absolution to those who wanted it. It is only in my lifetime and yours that it is forgiveness that has become a sin. What was wrong was paying for absolution, not forgiving the burdens of those who would lay them down. The rite of absolution is still in the book of prayers. Frelt would have refused me this, I know, out of spite, but I had thought you would have had spirit enough to do it."
"Yet it is a sin, Father, and one the Church preaches against as strongly as priest-flight." Penn flexed his bound wing again. "It is not an article of religion, true, but a difference in practice that has arisen over time. Confession is now abhorrent. I cannot possibly give you absolution. If anyone discovered it, I would lose my position. Besides, my own conscience would not allow it."
Bon shifted again, and felt loose scales falling from him down to the gold below. He did not have long left, and he was afraid. "I am not asking you for absolution, if you cannot give it. I merely think I will die more easily if I do not take this secret on with me." His voice sounded weak even to himself.
"You may tell me anything you wish, dear Father," Penn said, drawing closer again. "But you may not call it confession, or say that you are doing it because I am a parson. That could endanger my calling if it became known."
Bon looked at the red cords on his son's wings, remembering what he had paid to have him accepted into the Church and all the good fortune he had encountered there since. "Isn't it wonderful how so much came of your little friend Sher?" he said. Then he felt the pain spreading from his lungs, and wanted to cough, but did not dare. Penn had drawn breath to answer, but he subsided, letting it trickle out of his snout, watching his father's struggle in silence. Little Sher, once his schoolfellow, was the Exalted Sher Benandi now, lord of his own domain, and Penn was his parson, with his own house and wife and children.
"It is the way of the dragon to eat each other," Bon said at last.
"These days —" Penn began.
"You know I was the only survivor of my family, the only one of my brothers and sisters to grow wings," Bon went on, speaking over his son. "You thought that Eminent Telstie had eaten them, or perhaps his wife, Eminence Telstie? They did eat some of them, swooping down out of the sky to devour the weaklings, always leaving me alive, because I was the oldest and strongest. They held hard to the idea the Church teaches that they were improving dragonkind by eating the weaklings, they were even kind to me. I did not forgive them for eating my father and my siblings. Yet I pretended to be a friend to them, and to their children, for my mother had little power to protect me or prevent them eating us all if they chose. They had taken my father's gold and we had nothing but our name. When there were but three of us left, I had grown wings, but was only seven feet long, ready to leave home to seek my fortune but in great peril if I did. I needed length and strength I could not gain from beef. I ate my remaining brother and sister myself."
Penn lay frozen beside his dying father, shocked far beyond anything he could have imagined the old dragon could have said.
"Will I die entire?" Bon asked. "Will my spirit fall like ash from smoke as the Church teaches? Or will I be reborn as a muttonwool to catch in the teeth of someone's hunger, or worse, a creeping worm or a loathsome wingless Yarge?" His eyes caught his son's, and still Penn stared dumbstruck at his father. "I have lived a good life since, as you said. I have regretted it bitterly many times, but I was young and hungry and had nobody to help me and a great need to fly away."
Bon's scales were falling with a steady pattering. His breath was more smoke than air. His eyes were beginning to dim. Penn was a parson and had attended many deaths. He knew there were only minutes left. He spread his wings and began the last prayer, "Fly now with Veld, go free to rebirth with Camran at your side —" but the smoke caught in his throat and he could not go on. He had read the old rite of absolution once, in horrified fascination; his father was right that it was still printed in the prayerbook. It was absolution his father needed, and a clear spirit to go on. Penn was a conventional young dragon, and a parson, but he loved his father. "It is a custom, there is no theology behind it," he muttered. He held his claws up before his father's eyes, where he could see them. "I have heard your —" He hesitated an instant, it was the word that seemed so bad. Could he call it something else? No, not to give his father the comfort and absolution he needed. "Your confession, Dignified Bon Agornin, and I absolve and forgive you in the name of Camran, in the name of Jurale, in the name of Veld."
He saw a smile deep in his father's fading eyes, which wasreplaced by peace, and then, last, as always, a profound surprise. However many times Penn saw this he never became accustomed to it. He often wondered what there was beyond the gate of death that, however prepared the dying dragon was, it should always astonish them. He waited the prescribed moment, repeating the last prayer three times, in case the eyes should begin to whirl again. As always, nothing happened, death was death. He delicately reached out a claw and ate both eyes, as was always the parson's part. Only then did he call his sibs, with the ritual cry, "The good dragon Bon Agornin has begun his journey towards the light, let the family be gathered to feast!"
He felt no grief, no shame at having gone against the teachings of the Church to give his father absolution, no horror at what his father had done. He felt nothing whatsoever, for he knew that he was in a state of shock and that once it wore off he would be quietly miserable for a long time.
2. THE SPEAKING ROOM
The whole family had gathered in the upper caves as soon as the doctors had shaken their heads and Bon Agornin had crawled down to the undercave to die, accompanied only by Penn. In addition to Bon's four remaining children, the party consisted of the Illustrious Daverak, Berend's husband, the three dragonets that were the fruits of her first clutch, now four years past, and the local parson, Blessed Frelt. They were attended by four of Berend's servants, their wings tightly bound back. Also present in a serving capacity was the family's old retainer Amer, whose wings were fastened down, to be sure, but through long trust and casual habit of the family, scarcely tighter than those of a parson. None of them approached the full length of old Bon. Illustrious Daverak came closest at forty feet from head to tail-tip, but even so, eleven grown dragons and three dragonets can make anywhere but a ballroom seem crowded.
In consequence, after the first greetings and lamentations and exclamations as to who had come farthest to be there, they had divided themselves into two groups. The first, consisting of Berend and her party, accompanied by Blessed Frelt, went into the elegant speaking room to the right of the entrance, and the rest withdrew to the big dining room.
There was nothing whatsoever for any of them to do but wait and quarrel and they might just as well have remained in their own homes and waited for the cry to go up and then come circling down to swoop on the corpse. But some say this is what dragons did long ago, and this is why nowadays they know better and make themselves caves and undercaves so they can retreat into the undercaves to die in peace. This means that only those they choose can share the body. Still, it seems very hard to some that civilization and modern ethical beliefs should lead to such interminable waits as the one imposed on Bon Agornin's family.
The speaking room was carved from the same dark natural rock as the rest of the establishment. It was not embellished with lighter pebbles as was the fashion in Irieth, for the owners of the establishment had never heard of such a custom and thought it best to let the rock speak for itself. It had been carved here and there with fashionable landscapes, portrayed as seen from the air. These Bon Agornin had sanctioned, as they cost nothing. They had been done by the young ladies of the house, most especially Haner, who regarded herself as talented in that direction. Illustrious Daverak, who had a splendidly decorated home of his own in the country and another in Irieth for use in the two months of the year that the capital is in fashion, must have disagreed, for he gave the carvings one glance and then settled down by the door. His wife, Berend, or Illust' Daverak as her husband's rank now entitled her to be addressed, was less discriminating, for she exclaimed to her servants and children on the beauty of the newest of them, lamenting that they never had anything half so fine when she was a maiden, as if it had been three hundred years ago instead of a mere seven.
When the last flakes of interest had been scraped from the carvings, she settled herself in an alcove under the huge mantel on which were arranged a few pieces of stone sculpture, of no value, as one would expect in an upper cave, but of a certain charm nonetheless.
Blessed Frelt came and stood beside Berend as soon as she had stopped her restless wandering, which would have risked knocking over any companion. He arranged himself comfortably at her side. Berend turned her head to survey him. It was some time since she had last visited her father's home, and she had not seen Frelt since she left to marry Daverak.
The red priestly cords around his wings were long and trailing, his teeth were polished and filed almost flat. In contrast, his scales were burnished to a bright bronze glow, all of which reflected the rather conflicting views he held of his own position. On the one hand, a parson must be humble, on the other, he holds a high spiritual position, perhaps the highest in the community. Frelt explained it to himself as a strong belief in the sanctity of parsons, which encompassed both his humble teeth and his fine scales. He would never have flown, not even across a ravine, but he did not regard himself as beneath any dragon in the land, however well born. He held his head much higher than those immune were wont to do.
"What beautiful dragonets," he said now, cooing over them. Long ago he had had aspirations to marry Berend, which was the heart of the trouble between him and her father. Because he had never spoken to her of the subject, she had no official knowledge of this, and they could thus be on civil terms in public. Unofficially, she had known it perfectly well, as well as any maiden who had heard her father fulminate against a suit and been sternly bidden to stay indoors to keep from being carried off. She had remained obediently within doors, but been much more flattered than offended. She had even hoped for a little while that the match would be made. Now that she was settled elsewhere and her scales shone the glorious red of a dragon both married and a mother, she thought him a safe and charming partner for conversation. On his side, he was inclined to see Berend's lofty marriage as proof of his own good taste, and he liked her more rather than less for it. He had found no other bride in the years between, though as a well-found parson with his own establishment there was no shortage of hopeful partners.
"Yes, all three at my first laying," she said, looking indulgently down at the dragonets playing under their nanny's feet. One was black, one was gold, and the third a pale green that would have caused it to be snapped up at once were it not the child of a powerful lord.
"How fortunate for you both," Frelt said, inclining his head towards Illustrious Daverak, whose posture spoke impatience and who was ignoring the conversation utterly.
"My mother never bore more than two at a time," Berend said. "I am hoping my next will be three also. The more children the better, under Veld."
"It is good to see you so obedient to the teachings of the Church," Frelt said, inclining his head to her this time. "Many of the farmers here seem reluctant to lay at all."
"It is exactly the same at Daverak," Berend lamented.
"What is?" Illustrious Daverak asked, looking interested for the first time when he heard his domain mentioned. He was almost as dark as his black dragonet, and very broad-shouldered, his eyes were so pale as to seem almost pink, not at all a good-looking dragon. If it were not for the binding of the wings, anyone would have thought Frelt a finer specimen, and Frelt rejoiced a little more than he should have to know it.
"The lack of dragonets among the farmers and lower classes, dear," replied Berend fondly.
"I don't know, there are plenty, plenty indeed," Illustrious Daverak replied. "Why, the Majes on the causeway farm had another clutch only six days ago. I meant to fly down and check them over today, if it hadn't been for this confounded summons."
(Continues...)Excerpted from Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton, Patrick Nielsen Hayden. Copyright © 2003 Jo Walton. Excerpted by permission of Tom Doherty Associates.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- Publisher : St. Martin's Press; Reprint edition (6 Jan. 2009)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0765319519
- ISBN-13 : 978-0765319517
- Dimensions : 13.97 x 1.88 x 21.59 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 7,061 in Dragons & Mythical Creatures Fantasy
- 14,504 in Sword & Sorcery
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Jo Walton comes from Wales but lives in Montreal, exclusively in the first person. My plan is to live to be ninety-nine and write a book every year.
The question people most often ask is where to start with my books. I've published fifteen novels now, three poetry collections, a short story collection and a two essay collections -- and a travel memoir thingy. My novels are all different from each other, and really, where to start depends on what you like.
My most popular book is definitely my Hugo and Nebula award winning Among Others, which is a fantasy novel about a fifteen year old girl who reads science fiction. It's written in diary form, and set in Wales in 1979 and 1980. It's a book about what happens after you've saved the world -- Mori's sister sacrified herself and Mori became disabled in a fight to defeat their evil witch mother, and they won. Now she has to go to a new school, on her own, and cope with life and the ethics of doing magic at all, while reading for escape, solace, and ways of coping with the world.
Lent is a historical fantasy about Savonarola.It's set in Florence and Hell between 1492 and 1498. If you like historical fiction like Wolf Hall, this would be a good one to start with.
Or What You Will, which came out in July 2020, is about a character who lives in a writer's head and is afraid of what's going to happen to him when she dies. It's themes are story, death, and renaissances. It's a good one if you like metafiction, or if you've read several of my other books and liked them all. When I'm writing a book I always think it's kind of weird, and this one really is.
My Real Children won the Tiptree award in 2015. It's an alternate history -- well actually two diverging realities. It's about a woman with dementia in a nursing home who remembers two different versions of her whole life, and the book covers her whole life twice from the split in 1949 to 2015. This is a book many people enjoy, and it's the one I recommend as a starting point if you don't usually read SF or fantasy. If you want to buy one of my books for a relative, this is the one to go for. It's a crossover with women's fiction -- and in addition to the Tiptree it won the American Librarian Association RUSA award in that category. It also has a brilliant French translation and is my most popular novel in French. It is, as far as I know, the only alternate history of the EU.
My trilogyThessaly, consisting of The Just City, The Philosopher Kings, and Necessity, is about gods and philosophers through all of time setting up Plato's Republic, with ten thousand Greek speaking kids, and what happens after. The books follow three generations of the Republic, and feature Socrates, Apollo, and a ton of Platonic dialogue. They are about serious subjects -- like consent issues, and what is the good life, but they're also fun,
I have another trilogy, the Small Change books, Farthing, Ha'Penny and Half a Crown. These are alternate history, set in a world where Britain made peace with Hitler in May of 1941 after holding out for a year alone, and the US never came into WWII. The first two are set in 1949, and the third in 1960. Farthing has the form of a country house mystery, Ha'Penny is a theatre thriller, and Half a Crown is about a debutante about to have a season and go to Oxford, but in a dystopia. These are for people who like mysteries, or alternate history, and can cope with applicability. My favourite description of these is "like a stiletto wrapped in a buttered crumpet."
My World Fantasy award winning novel Tooth and Claw is the easiest to describe briefly -- it's a sentimental Victorian novel about dragons who eat each other. It's written like Trollope, and all the characters are dragons, worried about marrying well, and religious issues, and being promoted, or eaten. My favourite description of this is "simultaneously creepy and charming"
My first three novels are related -- The King's Peace and the King's Name are one book in two volumes, and they're Arthurian fantasy with a female hero. The Prize in the Game is a retelling of the Irish myth the Tain, which had been backstory to the first two, but which I wrote when I realised most people aren't all that familiar with the Tain. These are early work but actually I love them to bits. Also, they gave me the John W. Campbell award for best new writer when this was all I'd written, so some other people must think they're good. But I must admit I have figured out some stuff since.
What Makes This Book so Great is a collection of blog posts originally published on Tor.com, and so is An Informal History of the Hugos. WMtBsG is just a selection of good ones, and aIHotH is a set of posts I did about the Hugo awards, and the field generally, between 1953 and 2000. If you like the stuff about books in Among Others, or if you want to increase your TBR list by hearing me burble about how great things are, you want these.
Visiting Friends is a novella-length travel memoir about a road trip I took through Europe in 2019.
My real grown up website with info about her books, stories, plays and poetry is at http://www.jowaltonbooks.com There's a blog there as well. And I'm on Twitter as @bluejowalton and on Goodreads.
My Patreon, which is for poetry, and which supports my book buying, art viewing, and theatre going habits, and is the best way to support me directly (though buying my books is also great!) is at
https://www.patreon.com/bluejo
If you like my poetry, the collections are Muses and Lurkers (Rune Press 2001) Sibyls and Spaceships (NESFA 2009) and The Helix and the Hard Road (Aqueduct 2013). I'm hoping to be able to bring out a big collection in a year or so.
I have a short story collection called Starlings from Tachyon, which collects all my short fiction to date, as well as some poetry, and a play. I don't write a whole lot of short fiction -- this is absolutely all the short work I have written in the time I wrote all these novels. There's one story in the universe of the Small Change books, but otherwise nothing is closely related to anything, but you can see themes I'm interested in, like what happens after the ends and at the edges of stories.
Customer reviews
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Customers find this book an excellent read with an amazing story that blends Victorian period drama with dragons. The writing style is well-executed, with one customer noting it reads like a Victorian novel. Customers appreciate the dark humor and charming characters throughout the book.
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Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as an excellent and surprising read that they thoroughly enjoyed every time, with one customer noting it kept them awake.
"...A lovely book." Read more
"...strands of the storyline weaving nicely together, then this is a wee gem...." Read more
"...Novel - but firmly in the chick lit category. has some merit but had to force myself to finish it for the sake of completeing it...." Read more
"Really enjoyed this book, but I thought there were enough ideas in here for a much longer story. A good read, hoping for a sequel." Read more
Customers enjoy the story quality of the book, particularly appreciating its blend of Victorian period drama and dragons, with one customer noting its classic storytelling style.
"...this would be twee or soppy but instead found a very satisfying blend of dragons and Jane Austen. A lovely book." Read more
"...this book got me reading it... and I enjoyed it - a wierd blend of gothic romantic drama & dragons!..." Read more
"...Novel - but firmly in the chick lit category. has some merit but had to force myself to finish it for the sake of completeing it...." Read more
"...It's short, charming, witty and heartwarming. Jo Walton takes dragon lore and mythology and makes it work with the customs in Victorian society...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's humor, describing it as brilliantly and darkly funny.
"...It's short, charming, witty and heartwarming. Jo Walton takes dragon lore and mythology and makes it work with the customs in Victorian society...." Read more
"...Well written and witty, it takes us from an eldest son calmly discussing with his father, who is on his deathbed, who should eat the biggest share..." Read more
"...charming but also full of tension and excitement with a lot of humour thrown in. Thoroughly recommend this book" Read more
"A very clever, imaginative fantasy, of a society just like eighteenth-century England but populated entirely by dragons...." Read more
Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, with one noting it reads like a Victorian novel.
"...It reads like a Victorian novel, then it drops in a description of a Dragon's latest bonnet... or conversation around a dining table... and you..." Read more
"...Well written and witty, it takes us from an eldest son calmly discussing with his father, who is on his deathbed, who should eat the biggest share..." Read more
"Such a lovely book, a fantasy but written in a style of eras past, a time of duels and dowries" Read more
"...Well-written, and full of dark humour. Throughly recommended." Read more
Customers find the characters charming.
"...etiquette, romance, a greedy family member, a confession, and charming characters. Only...they're all dragons. And they also eat each other...." Read more
"A unsual read for me but I did enjoy it. The characters were made very people like - as the quote on the front of the book says this is the pride..." Read more
"An enjoyable book with characters that have substance and feelings. Whoever would have thought maiden dragons would blush pink when courted." Read more
Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 April 2025I feared this would be twee or soppy but instead found a very satisfying blend of dragons and Jane Austen. A lovely book.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 May 2013Ok, so curiosity about this book got me reading it... and I enjoyed it - a wierd blend of gothic romantic drama & dragons! It reads like a Victorian novel, then it drops in a description of a Dragon's latest bonnet... or conversation around a dining table... and you suddenly remember on how ridiculous it must look, or how enormous the dining room & table must be!
Worth a try, for curiosity factor as much as anything... I'd read another one though, I didn't think I was going to stick with it, but by the end, would like to see a follow up :-)
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 May 2013As another reviewer has said, this book is hard to categorise. As it is about another world and about dragons, I guess that makes it fantasy, but the story is about the characters and the society they live in rather than the more usual, epic themes - and it is all the more enjoyable for that. (Come to think of it - even in more epic fantasy novels, the things that usually hook me are characters and well-thought out details about their culture and history...) I particularly liked how some aspects of this world and its history only became clearer are the book progressed.
If you're into gritty battle scenes, convoluted storylines and/or elaborate systems of magic, this probably isn't for you, but if you like being immersed in another - often oddly familiar - reality, caring about the people (OK, dragons) you are reading about and seeing various strands of the storyline weaving nicely together, then this is a wee gem. My only complaint is that it is too short - I want to hear more about how the characters get on. I would particularly relish more focus on some of the themes - such as class, religion, or the Yarge - that are touched upon in this (hopefully, first) book.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2013It seems to be a translation of sense and sensibility with the characters replaced with dragons. Novel - but firmly in the chick lit category. has some merit but had to force myself to finish it for the sake of completeing it. technically fime - but very much for those who lie fantasy, victorian period drama and dragons - all at the same time.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 April 2018This is unlike anything I've ever read in fantasy.
If Jane Austen, or maybe Charles Dickens, felt the sudden urge to write a fantasy book about dragons, this is probably what they would have written.
It has everything: daughters who need to marry, a lost inheritance, etiquette, romance, a greedy family member, a confession, and charming characters. Only...they're all dragons. And they also eat each other.
If any of that sounds at all intriguing to you, please pick this up. It's short, charming, witty and heartwarming.
Jo Walton takes dragon lore and mythology and makes it work with the customs in Victorian society. The world building is delightful. The characters are charming. The society is, frankly, amusing. We've got lords and ladies, only they're all dragons (did I mention everyone in this book is a dragon? But they sit at tables, drink tea and travel in carriages. Just making sure, I definitely mentioned that.) and they all attempt to thrive in society either via their profession or the partner they choose to marry. They go to church, they have servants, oh and, they eat the weak and the ill to better their race. Dragon meat helps smaller dragons grow, only to eat, you must already be big and strong...and please don't forget to wear the proper hat.
I've enjoyed this read a lot and recommend it to fans of the Classics just as much as I recommend it to fantasy fans.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2013Really enjoyed this book, but I thought there were enough ideas in here for a much longer story. A good read, hoping for a sequel.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 May 2013I have read my fair share of books about dragons and maybe my not so fair share of Austen and the like, but never one quite like this. The book is a brilliant combination of styles and the quite unexpected transposition of dragons into the main characters of an essentially Victorian society that has been at war with humans in the past. Well written and witty, it takes us from an eldest son calmly discussing with his father, who is on his deathbed, who should eat the biggest share of him when he passes away, to kidnapping, dragons riding trains in preference to flying, and wearing wiggs when appearing in court, and all points in between.
A little slow in its opening phase perhaps, otherwise I found it an excellent read. Thoroughly recommended.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 November 2024Great story.
Top reviews from other countries
- Dr DragonladyReviewed in Australia on 21 April 2025
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent world building
Walton has created a credible and consistent world populated by dragons that observe many of the Regency mores, even as they devour their nearest and dearest.
- Patricia GarlandReviewed in Canada on 26 September 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars A strange little tale....
Not what I was expecting but enjoyed it just the same.
- LuizaReviewed in Brazil on 15 September 2020
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, heartwarming and delightfully weird
Even if far from being perfect, this book manages to capture anyone's attention from the first chapter and never loose the grip enough to let such attention escape. The sometimes dark, sometimes overly frank sense of humor adds to the Game of Thrones blended with Pride and Prejudice vibes, and the story benefits from the strangeness of a society both medieval-like and post-industrial-revolution-like. It's a universe hard to come by, to say the least.
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Guinea PigReviewed in France on 5 November 2012
5.0 out of 5 stars Dragons à la mode Jane Austen : une splendide réussite !
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Jo Walton a eu l'idée assez audacieuse de raconter une histoire de dragons mi-humanisés mi-dragons classiques dans une ambiance géorgienne manifestement inspirée des romans de Jane Austen (on pense souvent que les romans de cette auteur anglaise reflète la société victorienne, mais c'est une erreur : Jane Austen a vécu un peu avant le règne de la Reine Victoria et les différences des règles sociales, en particulier en ce qui concerne la relative liberté des jeunes filles, sont très importantes pour le déroulement de l'intrigue de chacun de ses romans).
Mes quelques essais de lecture de romans Jane Austen-like ne m'ont pas convaincu, à l'exception notable de l'admirable Jonathan Strange et Mr Norrell, qui s'est inspirée de l'époque géorgienne pour écrire une histoire très personnelle, dans un style d'une pureté étrangement semblable à celui de Jane Austen.
Les autres auteurs m'ont plus parus comme des arrivistes avides de s'approprier le talent d'un auteur classique pour faire un "coup" plutôt que comme des écrivains dotés d'une réelle personnalité cherchant à honorer un auteur classique tout en écrivant un roman de qualité.
Jo Walton, dont j'ai goûté le talent de conteuse hors-pairs dans Among Others, a su me convaincre, par un récit très agréable à lire, sobre, sans prétention, distrayant et bien ficelé (malgré une fin légèrement abrupte - j'aurais bien aimé un peu plus d'épilogue).
Jo Walton présente sans complexe une société de dragons très semblable à une société humaine, et j'ai dû faire une petit effort d'acclimatation au tout début de ma lecture. Le lecteur n'apprend pas comment les anciens dragons sauvages, vivant dans des grottes et chassant, en sont venus à une organisation sociale et économique semblables (à des différences notables près tout de même !) à celle de l'époque anglaise géorgienne. Mais les nombreuses variantes liés à la nature dragonienne des personnages, très bien bien mis en scène et habilement utilisés comme moteurs de l'intrigue ont rapidement permis mon adhésion complète : le résultat est extraordinaire.
L'histoire raconte les mésaventures d'une fratrie de jeunes dragons dont le père vient de mourir, léguant tous ses biens (son or et son corps) à ses trois plus jeunes enfants, non encore établis : Avan, un jeune dragon qui a un petit poste dans l'administration d'une ville moyenne et deux soeurs très unies, Selendra et Haner, encore chez leur père à l'heure de sa mort.
Le beau-frère, qui a épousé la soeur aînée, un dragon riche, noble et arrogant, refuse d'accepter la décision du mort, pourtant confirmé par Pernn, le frère pasteur, et se taille la part belle du corps du défunt.
Les dragons pratiquent en effet l'anthropophagie - ou plutôt la "dragophagie" - et cette notion est parfaitement intégrée, sans aucun effet gore ou choquant. Les dragons, s'ils atteignent l'âge adulte et demeurent en vie en consommant de la viande crue d'élevage (porc, moutons, boeufs) et des fruits, ne peuvent grandir en longueur et donc accéder à un statut supérieur, qu'en consommant de la viande de dragon. On comprend ainsi combien le corps d'un défunt est important pour sa famille, constituant une part intégrante de l'héritage.
Cette notion est également utilisée pour expliquer la richesse des seigneurs : ceux-ci ont le droit de consommer les dragonnets chétifs (d'une couleur verdâtre) et toute personne jugée trop faible pour survivre. On imagine fort bien les dérives possibles si le seigneur manque de noblesse d'âme et se laisse aller à la cupidité !
Les jeunes dragons, bafoués de leur juste héritage, se partagent l'or, trois fois rien, car le bon vieux dragon, un nobliau campagnard, ne possédait pas grand chose ; les deux soeurs, qui s'adorent et ont grandi ensemble, doivent quitter la demeure familiale : la plus vive, Selendra, est accueillie par le frère pasteur, et la plus effacée, Haner, par la soeur aînée, la femme du dragon très antipathique qui les a lésés de leur héritage.
La suite est passionnante, mêlant affaires familiales, religions, destins tragiques, féminisme, dans une ambiance très romantique et fougueuse, digne d'un roman classique. Les personnages sont excellents, dotés de personnalités variées, crédibles et attachantes. Les petites notes rappelant la nature et le physiques des dragons sont magnifiquement intégrées, les données typiquement dragoniennes subtilement utilisées.
Après la notion fondamentale de la consommation de chair de dragon pour une croissance magique, une autre idée m'a beaucoup plu, dans l'idée elle-même, mais surtout dans la façon où elle est habilement enchevêtrée dans l'histoire : les jeunes dragonnes sont d'un ton doré, qui rosit aux premiers émois (les mères de famille, qui ont eu plusieurs pontes, rougissent). Ainsi, une jeune femelle ayant reçu et accepté une demande en mariage va changer de couleur en un instant, mais aussi toute malheureuse bousculée de trop près par un mâle grossier, même sans rapports effectifs. Cette notion constitue l'un des moteurs de l'intrigue et rappelle avec beaucoup de subtilité la situation d'une jeune fille qui a passé la nuit seule avec un homme, même dans deux chambres séparées, dans une auberge par exemple : aux yeux du monde cette jeune fille doit se marier coûte que coûte.
Le vol des dragons suit également des règles : les ailes ne poussent qu'assez tardivement et les dragonnets ne volent pas ; le jour de culte les femelles de qualité ne volent pas mais marchent posément ; les serviteurs ont les ailes attachés (très serrées quand les maîtres sont sévères) et ne volent jamais, tout comme les pasteurs, mais par choix pour ceux-ci.
Enfin, la mort est une menace permanente : la société consomme ses faibles, les mâles risquent l'affrontement à tout moment et donc la mort et la consommation, les pontes sont dangereuses pour les femelles, les affaiblissant parfois jusqu'à une mort prématurée. Le feu, qui n'arrive que tardivement aux mâles, quoique un signe de puissance, précipite la fin du dragon.
Il y a plein d'autres exemples de l'habilité de l'auteur à nous envoûter par son récit plein de charme et de personnalité. Et si les thèmes Austiniens sont évidents, il apparaissent bien plus comme des clins d'oeils ou un hommage à l'auteur qu'à une spoliation grossière et sans intérêt.
On reconnait régulièrement un type de personnage, une relation entre deux autres, mais à chaque fois nuancé, modéré et intégré à un récit authentique : pas de ridicule patchwork ici, mais un auteur doué et doté d'une réelle personnalité à l'oeuvre, et cela se ressent !
J'espère vraiment que ce livre, pas très long, porté par un style sobre et clair, adapté à un large public, trouvera son chemin jusqu'à nos éditeurs français ; je suis convaincue que ses nombreuses qualités feraient le bonheur de bien des lecteurs.
Une suite ne s’impose pas, toutefois j'ai été si charmée par cette lecture que je serais ravie de lire une autre histoire dans le même monde !
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RomenaReviewed in Germany on 13 June 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Grandios!
Ich hatte dieses eBook kurzentschlossen gekauft, als es gerade im Angebot war, und dann zunächst einmal nicht gelesen, weil ich noch andere Lektüre hatte. Als ich dann wieder daran dachte, war ich zunächst verwirrt und stellenweise auch abgestoßen. Doch im zweiten Kapitel gewinnt das Buch ungeheuer an Fahrt, und die vielfältigen Charaktere nehmen immer menschlichere Züge an (ungeachtet der Tatsache, dass sie alle miteinander Drachen sind) und ich habe die verschiedenen Erzählstränge so gespannt verfolgt, dass es schließlich, als ich meinen Kindle zur Seite legte, draußen schon wieder hell wurde ... Dass Jo Walden auch noch eine gehörige Portion Humor und Selbstironie mitbringt, ist noch das i-Tüpfelchen oben drauf.
Vom Inhalt möchte ich nicht mehr verraten, als dass es sich um eine typisch viktorianische Geschichte handelt - nur eben in einem Fantasy-Drachen-Setting und mit wesentlich mehr Augenzwinkern vorgebracht als die "echten" viktorianischen Romane.
Nach all dem Lob noch eine kleine Warnung: Das Sprachniveau ist sehr hoch, und es kommen viele ungebräuchliche Worte vor. Ich habe bei diesem Buch erheblich mehr nachschlagen müssen (dank Kindle ist das ja zum Glück einfach), als ich das bei meiner üblichen englischsprachigen Romanlektüre tue!