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Dragonfold
Azami has a gift with origami. Will she master it in time to save herself from bondage? Find out in "Dragonfold."
Joanne lost more than her honor in the war, she lost her will to live. When bandits attack her homestead, will she stand or fall in "Enough to Do?"
And just who is Captain Wrath under that itchy, false wig Find out more in “The Identity of Captain Wrath.”
DRAGONFOLD AND OTHER ADVENTURES includes imaginative stories and poems, written between 2008 and 2013 by Tyrean Martinson. Some of these adventures have been previously published, and others are waiting to be discovered for the first time.
Previously published titles include: “Dragonfold”; “Enough to Do”; “The Identity of Captain Wrath”; and “Embers.” This book also contains a sample of Martinson’s novel, Champion in the Darkness.
Find these previously published stories and more adventures in DRAGONFOLD AND OTHER ADVENTURES, a collection of new and old stories and poems with fantasy and scifi elements.
Joanne lost more than her honor in the war, she lost her will to live. When bandits attack her homestead, will she stand or fall in "Enough to Do?"
And just who is Captain Wrath under that itchy, false wig Find out more in “The Identity of Captain Wrath.”
DRAGONFOLD AND OTHER ADVENTURES includes imaginative stories and poems, written between 2008 and 2013 by Tyrean Martinson. Some of these adventures have been previously published, and others are waiting to be discovered for the first time.
Previously published titles include: “Dragonfold”; “Enough to Do”; “The Identity of Captain Wrath”; and “Embers.” This book also contains a sample of Martinson’s novel, Champion in the Darkness.
Find these previously published stories and more adventures in DRAGONFOLD AND OTHER ADVENTURES, a collection of new and old stories and poems with fantasy and scifi elements.
154 pages, Paperback
First published June 21, 2013
288 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 17, 2025
This is a fun and entertaining collection of short stories and poems set in fantasy worlds.
September 23, 2013
Well, since this is a collection of stories and poems, I have to give a mixed review.
Here goes!
Dragonfold--the first story--is definitely the best. The author was smart to put it in first so the readers would be drawn in to reading more of the collection. The villains were both a little cheap, but the story idea was unique and beautiful. I rarely read something so openly Christian as this with so much enjoyment. It wasn't childish and canned. It was..well..truly creative. Not the usual stale fantasy devices either--that was another plus for me. I kind of got the impression this was set in the Far East, for some reason. Maybe I'm wrong. But anyway, it was cool. The author should do more stuff about finding your way to personal freedom and less about angst and bloodshed.
Note: All the poems in this book are kind of dull and not that good. Poetry is a very inferior art form in this day and age. I sincerely hope that it will become greater in the future, but this author is not the person who will bring it to new heights.
The second best story was Over the Edge. ( I hope I got that title right!) This one was rather clever. We start out with the usual old plot---unsmiling girl in a superstitious village is unappreciated while a horrible bunch of monsters are on their way to attack--but ends up on a surprising note as she learns that these dreaded, supposedly evil Owls are not nearly as bad as she had always believed. The one thing I didn't like about the story was the ending was a little vague and incomplete. We need more information. But the idea--overcoming prejudice etc--was a good one.
The third best story is the last one, the excerpt from her novel. It was passable. I'm sick of the girl-warrior thing by now, it's just so fake and cheesy. But this was actually not so bad. The girl herself was not an angsty brat. The chapter I read was kind of a preacher and his karate teacher wife live in Star Wars with their cute little girl learning to be a Jedi Knight at an academy. If it's Star Wars, it has to be kind of fun, right? :)
The other stories fit into two distinct categories:
Category 1: Lame, Stale, or Embarrassing.
Category 2: Unique, creative, but dumb.
Category 1: PTW Fred. ( I didn't really see the point of this one, and it was really dull.) New Growth. ( This was interesting, but didn't quite work for me. Something unpleasant about the whole atmosphere. I didn't like Sage much, but the people around her still struck me as a tiny bit unreasonable in exiling her from the community in that pompous way. ) Red Ruby. ( This one was cheesy and stagey. Red Riding Hood is just not a fairy tale that translates well to adult issues, and the format was too short to explore the subject matter in any real detail.) Enough to Do. ( Terrible. Classic example of tacky gore and fake-tough girl stuff. ) War, Incorporated. ( This was too dated for me. All that distopian Hunger Games type stuff is already starting to feel old. I just couldn't get rid of a lurking feeling in the back of my mind that the girl was overblowing the situation and was just mad at her mom for sending her to public school. )
Category 2: Captain Wrath and Chameleon!
Chameleon was interesting, though weird and dumb. Very dream-like. Not surprised the author based it on a dream. But very interesting, and admittedly original. :D
All the Captain Wrath stuff was great, in a silly sort of way. I can say honestly that I'm positive she did not copy this plot idea from any popular source. It is distinctly her own. ;) It's really, really dumb--a sort of Jake and the Neverland Pirates set in outer space with Jennifer Lopez stuck in randomly--but oddly kind of fun. In this the author is being true to herself, at any rate--not trying to be Suzanne Collins or J.K. Rowling or anyone else. Just herself. Which is always a good thing. :)
So, on the whole, I liked the book. In spite of the fact that I didn't like most of the stories. Because this writer is original. Different. And I always like that. :)
Here goes!
Dragonfold--the first story--is definitely the best. The author was smart to put it in first so the readers would be drawn in to reading more of the collection. The villains were both a little cheap, but the story idea was unique and beautiful. I rarely read something so openly Christian as this with so much enjoyment. It wasn't childish and canned. It was..well..truly creative. Not the usual stale fantasy devices either--that was another plus for me. I kind of got the impression this was set in the Far East, for some reason. Maybe I'm wrong. But anyway, it was cool. The author should do more stuff about finding your way to personal freedom and less about angst and bloodshed.
Note: All the poems in this book are kind of dull and not that good. Poetry is a very inferior art form in this day and age. I sincerely hope that it will become greater in the future, but this author is not the person who will bring it to new heights.
The second best story was Over the Edge. ( I hope I got that title right!) This one was rather clever. We start out with the usual old plot---unsmiling girl in a superstitious village is unappreciated while a horrible bunch of monsters are on their way to attack--but ends up on a surprising note as she learns that these dreaded, supposedly evil Owls are not nearly as bad as she had always believed. The one thing I didn't like about the story was the ending was a little vague and incomplete. We need more information. But the idea--overcoming prejudice etc--was a good one.
The third best story is the last one, the excerpt from her novel. It was passable. I'm sick of the girl-warrior thing by now, it's just so fake and cheesy. But this was actually not so bad. The girl herself was not an angsty brat. The chapter I read was kind of a preacher and his karate teacher wife live in Star Wars with their cute little girl learning to be a Jedi Knight at an academy. If it's Star Wars, it has to be kind of fun, right? :)
The other stories fit into two distinct categories:
Category 1: Lame, Stale, or Embarrassing.
Category 2: Unique, creative, but dumb.
Category 1: PTW Fred. ( I didn't really see the point of this one, and it was really dull.) New Growth. ( This was interesting, but didn't quite work for me. Something unpleasant about the whole atmosphere. I didn't like Sage much, but the people around her still struck me as a tiny bit unreasonable in exiling her from the community in that pompous way. ) Red Ruby. ( This one was cheesy and stagey. Red Riding Hood is just not a fairy tale that translates well to adult issues, and the format was too short to explore the subject matter in any real detail.) Enough to Do. ( Terrible. Classic example of tacky gore and fake-tough girl stuff. ) War, Incorporated. ( This was too dated for me. All that distopian Hunger Games type stuff is already starting to feel old. I just couldn't get rid of a lurking feeling in the back of my mind that the girl was overblowing the situation and was just mad at her mom for sending her to public school. )
Category 2: Captain Wrath and Chameleon!
Chameleon was interesting, though weird and dumb. Very dream-like. Not surprised the author based it on a dream. But very interesting, and admittedly original. :D
All the Captain Wrath stuff was great, in a silly sort of way. I can say honestly that I'm positive she did not copy this plot idea from any popular source. It is distinctly her own. ;) It's really, really dumb--a sort of Jake and the Neverland Pirates set in outer space with Jennifer Lopez stuck in randomly--but oddly kind of fun. In this the author is being true to herself, at any rate--not trying to be Suzanne Collins or J.K. Rowling or anyone else. Just herself. Which is always a good thing. :)
So, on the whole, I liked the book. In spite of the fact that I didn't like most of the stories. Because this writer is original. Different. And I always like that. :)
October 1, 2013
Dragonfold is a short, sweet collection of stories and poems with a science fiction or least least supernatural tilt. "Dragonfold" is the highlight of the book, a sort of damsel-in-distress story about a young woman who uses her skills to escape a dire situation, rather than waiting for a prince. I also enjoyed "New Growth", another story about a young girl with an unusual botanical talent, and "PTW Fred", a story about a young man who investigates an intriguing local legend. The settings of these stories appear to be different, but in a sort of alternate universe where you're just as likely to meet a prince of science or get cursed with magical ivy as you are to order a coffee from a barista. It's delightful.
There are several stories about a sort of space pirate named Captain Wrath that are entertaining (and would be well suited for a graphic novel). However, they are sadly short. Short as in one and a half pages of a book with wide margins and large text. There's no time to "get into" the story because it's over before you know it, and that is a shame, because I would love to read more about Captain Wrath.
I found all of the stories to be at least moderately enjoyable, but some were also problematic. "At The Edge" should have been sublime, but requires the reader to figure out a little too much backstory. "Chameleons" was an interesting mess plagued by trying to cram too much into just a few pages. Some of the sentence construction is awkward and takes too long to convey a point, and others use way too many commas. Perhaps these were just oversights during editing or proofreading. This probably won't bother too many readers, but I find things like this to be very distracting.
I don't read enough poetry to feel qualified to write a review on it, so I'll keep it brief and say that I found it enjoyable but unremarkable.
I like the information presented in the appendix - it's a brief description of when, where, and how each work was first published. I enjoyed the story "War, Incorporated" much more once I understood that it was the second chapter of a book, not a stand-alone short story.
*I received a copy from a Goodreads giveaway. This did not influence my review in any way. As always, thank you to the author or publisher for the complimentary copy.*
There are several stories about a sort of space pirate named Captain Wrath that are entertaining (and would be well suited for a graphic novel). However, they are sadly short. Short as in one and a half pages of a book with wide margins and large text. There's no time to "get into" the story because it's over before you know it, and that is a shame, because I would love to read more about Captain Wrath.
I found all of the stories to be at least moderately enjoyable, but some were also problematic. "At The Edge" should have been sublime, but requires the reader to figure out a little too much backstory. "Chameleons" was an interesting mess plagued by trying to cram too much into just a few pages. Some of the sentence construction is awkward and takes too long to convey a point, and others use way too many commas. Perhaps these were just oversights during editing or proofreading. This probably won't bother too many readers, but I find things like this to be very distracting.
I don't read enough poetry to feel qualified to write a review on it, so I'll keep it brief and say that I found it enjoyable but unremarkable.
I like the information presented in the appendix - it's a brief description of when, where, and how each work was first published. I enjoyed the story "War, Incorporated" much more once I understood that it was the second chapter of a book, not a stand-alone short story.
*I received a copy from a Goodreads giveaway. This did not influence my review in any way. As always, thank you to the author or publisher for the complimentary copy.*
August 23, 2014
I enjoyed this collection of stories/poems.
The poems are quite short but interesting.
Here are my thoughts on the stories...
Dragonfold ~ this is a feel good story of freedom and hope.
The Identity Crisis of Captain Wrath ~ the captain has to deal with an infestation of trespassers
in the form of mischievous sprites...
New Growth ~ this story about a young girl who has a gift of healing and is disowned by her family, leaves us with a message of accepting forgiveness and self-forgiveness too.
Enough To Do ~ a tough warrior girl stands up against the enemy to defend her people.
At The Edge ~ a fantasy tale about sacrifice and prejudice.
PTW Fred ~ interesting tale featuring the Prince of Technical Wonders and the Prince of the Southern Beachlands... all is not what it seems to be...
War, Incorporated Excerpt ~ a dystopian story of cadets who emerge from four years of sleep-training in which they have been subjected to "training in cultures, weapons and languages" and are confronted with the terrifying reality of "conditioning", "life-wires" and "white-coated men"...
Captain Wrath Goes Camping ~ this story seemed cut off...
Ruby Red ~ the references to "wolf guy" and the revelation of a significant "charm bracelet" echo a familiar fairy tale story.
Chameleons ~ two shape-shifters decide to join forces against the organisation they work for...
Interrogation ~ Captain Wrath to the rescue!
The poems are quite short but interesting.
Here are my thoughts on the stories...
Dragonfold ~ this is a feel good story of freedom and hope.
The Identity Crisis of Captain Wrath ~ the captain has to deal with an infestation of trespassers
in the form of mischievous sprites...
New Growth ~ this story about a young girl who has a gift of healing and is disowned by her family, leaves us with a message of accepting forgiveness and self-forgiveness too.
Enough To Do ~ a tough warrior girl stands up against the enemy to defend her people.
At The Edge ~ a fantasy tale about sacrifice and prejudice.
PTW Fred ~ interesting tale featuring the Prince of Technical Wonders and the Prince of the Southern Beachlands... all is not what it seems to be...
War, Incorporated Excerpt ~ a dystopian story of cadets who emerge from four years of sleep-training in which they have been subjected to "training in cultures, weapons and languages" and are confronted with the terrifying reality of "conditioning", "life-wires" and "white-coated men"...
Captain Wrath Goes Camping ~ this story seemed cut off...
Ruby Red ~ the references to "wolf guy" and the revelation of a significant "charm bracelet" echo a familiar fairy tale story.
Chameleons ~ two shape-shifters decide to join forces against the organisation they work for...
Interrogation ~ Captain Wrath to the rescue!
September 1, 2013
Dragonfold and other Adventures by Tyrean Martinson
Dragonfold and other Adventures by Tyrean Martinson is a collection of short stories and poems. The only problem I had with the book was that the short stories felt like just a fragment from a larger story. I realize that short stories are supposed to be short but the stories did not seem to have a beginning, middle or an end. (It feels like you are given a preview to a much larger story. Just like when you are watching a preview to a motion picture)
However, just because the stories felt like fragments from a larger story, doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy them. (and therein lies the problem) There are so many stories that I enjoyed a great deal, that I want to know what else is going to happen in them. I want to learn how the story will finish up. In other words, I want more! More! More!
The author’s writing style is wonderful and engaging. Martinson is able to draw the reader into the story in such a short time. I can only imagine what she could do if these stories were longer.
3.3 Stars
*I won this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaway. In no way has this influenced my rating or opinion of this book.*
Dragonfold and other Adventures by Tyrean Martinson is a collection of short stories and poems. The only problem I had with the book was that the short stories felt like just a fragment from a larger story. I realize that short stories are supposed to be short but the stories did not seem to have a beginning, middle or an end. (It feels like you are given a preview to a much larger story. Just like when you are watching a preview to a motion picture)
However, just because the stories felt like fragments from a larger story, doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy them. (and therein lies the problem) There are so many stories that I enjoyed a great deal, that I want to know what else is going to happen in them. I want to learn how the story will finish up. In other words, I want more! More! More!
The author’s writing style is wonderful and engaging. Martinson is able to draw the reader into the story in such a short time. I can only imagine what she could do if these stories were longer.
3.3 Stars
*I won this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaway. In no way has this influenced my rating or opinion of this book.*
August 15, 2015
A wonderful collection of fantasy and sci-fi short stories and poems. Tyrean Martinson has a magical way with prose and is able to create characters from all sorts of places with layered vibrancy.
In the title story "Dragonfold," a princess is held prisoner in a tower. She has a special talent with origami, but will that help her with her escape? Marvelous imagery in this tale.
There are a few stories with Captain Wrath in this collection. He's my favorite! It's sci-fi with fantasy creatures mixed in. Poor Wrath often finds himself in dangerous situations and he can't fail. He has a reputation to uphold, after all!
While Wrath was my favorite character, "New Growth" is my favorite tale. A girl with a strange gift is disowned by her family and meets a stranger in the woods with magic like her own. It's about forgiveness, acceptance, and sacrifice. Very well done.
In the title story "Dragonfold," a princess is held prisoner in a tower. She has a special talent with origami, but will that help her with her escape? Marvelous imagery in this tale.
There are a few stories with Captain Wrath in this collection. He's my favorite! It's sci-fi with fantasy creatures mixed in. Poor Wrath often finds himself in dangerous situations and he can't fail. He has a reputation to uphold, after all!
While Wrath was my favorite character, "New Growth" is my favorite tale. A girl with a strange gift is disowned by her family and meets a stranger in the woods with magic like her own. It's about forgiveness, acceptance, and sacrifice. Very well done.
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December 17, 2013Won this book from a First Reads giveaway.
I agree with most previous reviews - the first story is the best. But I wouldn't say it was particularly good. The writing was unimaginative, although not necessarily the plot line. I don't have much to say about this book because I don't have a strong impression of it either way, good or bad. It's a short read so if you get a copy of it, it's worth gathering your own opinion.
I agree with most previous reviews - the first story is the best. But I wouldn't say it was particularly good. The writing was unimaginative, although not necessarily the plot line. I don't have much to say about this book because I don't have a strong impression of it either way, good or bad. It's a short read so if you get a copy of it, it's worth gathering your own opinion.
June 23, 2013
Yes, it's my book, and yes, I'm reviewing it and I don't mean for this to be a shameless plug. When I put the collection together I rediscovered my love of these stories and poems, and the characters behind them. I feel these selections are some of my best work from the last five years, with an additional excerpt from a novel I wrote twelve years ago.
October 29, 2013
I didn't realize this was not a complete story at first but a collection of segments from the authors stories and poems. It was a good read - I particularly enjoyed the first story, it sucked me in and kept me captivated. I would really like the read the complete story.
June 5, 2014
A collection of very interesting shorts and excerpts. I really enjoyed most of this. It was a good break from full novels. Sort of a palate cleanser, if you will.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews