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Foiling the Dragon
Ravin Shreckspawn is a very important entity with a passion for poetry. And Paul Welsh, pub poet, has to provide it. The only trouble is, when Ravin gets bored of poetry, he has a tendency to eat the poet. And Paul isn't quite sure how long he can rhyme.
- GenresFantasyYoung Adult
272 pages, Paperback
First published March 18, 1994
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45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 23, 2011
This story started off well, a man snatched from our world into a medieval counterpart where magic works, knights are just a little thick, and not only do dragons exist, but he wants to be entertained. It was certainly different from my usual choices and quite funny in parts.
However, I feel, as I got into the second half that the pov started to waver. It wasn't the switches that came with a scene change, but the dips from one to another -within- a scene during the last third of the book do start to grate. In some sections I had to re-read to figure out what just happened.
But the dragon was a hoot and spoke a little like yoda. The story may be from Paul's pov, but it's worth reading for the dragon scenes alone.
However, I feel, as I got into the second half that the pov started to waver. It wasn't the switches that came with a scene change, but the dips from one to another -within- a scene during the last third of the book do start to grate. In some sections I had to re-read to figure out what just happened.
But the dragon was a hoot and spoke a little like yoda. The story may be from Paul's pov, but it's worth reading for the dragon scenes alone.
October 24, 2021
Found this on a dusty shelf at the Elphin Caving Centre in the highlands of Scotland. With no wifi, and all the other fiction books being awful looking crime thrillers, I thought I’d have a read…
Overall, not really a bad book, but I think I’m not really the target audience. If I were about 10, I’d probably have really liked it. It was coherently written, with a very predictable plot, but in a way that flowed well and kept me engaged enough to get to the end (the weather was bad, and I had some time to spare). 2.5*s.
Overall, not really a bad book, but I think I’m not really the target audience. If I were about 10, I’d probably have really liked it. It was coherently written, with a very predictable plot, but in a way that flowed well and kept me engaged enough to get to the end (the weather was bad, and I had some time to spare). 2.5*s.
September 25, 2018
Interesting book. I particularly liked the character of the dragon, whose poetry analysis had me in stitches. Also found the story of Dragonheim quite intriguing. The plot is well paced and entertaining, but sometimes the characters and background are a little skeletal.
July 23, 2015
“Chapter One: The Girl In The Pub
The girl was as beautiful as she was strange, and every man in the bar was watching her. Her skin was a dark, polished brown, but her hair was red. A mass of dreadlocks, it was drawn behind her shoulders and held in place by a twisted gold chain. A loop of the chain fell over her forehead and suspended a gold, five-pointed star between her brows. A golden sun swung from one of her ears, a silver moon from the other. She was dressed in a long, loose gown of vivid blue silk, shot through with silver thread, and in the bar of The Old Crown, among the din of the video games and the fug of the cigarette smoke she was – well –noticeable.”
And the men at the pub do notice her, but without guessing she is the sorceress Zione of Carthage, powerful, purposeful and there on a mission. She has travelled across many worlds to appear in the bar on the exact night when there happens to be a poetry reading there, because poetry is what Zione wants. Well - a Poet. This is because in her own world she is the paid sorceress of the people of Dragonsheim, a bunch of simple peasants who rely on their vicious but highly-territorial dragon to keep invaders at bay. And they pay Zione to keep their Dragon sweet. It has been her first job, and it has not been easy. A dragon is never relaxing company but this one is a bit...moody. Fortunately it’s obsessed with poetry, and a decent Bard can keep it amused for hours, days, weeks perhaps.
Unfortunately it will eventually get bored of its Bard, and eat him.
So Zione has quit trying to recruit from her own world and instead journeys through other worlds in search of a poet to kidnap, and there is one appearing that night at The Old Crown. Using the complex spell of Azreal’s Door plus some very basic sexual allure, Zione brings Paul Welsh back to Dragonsheim...for his appointment with the Dragon.
“Rising, she went over to the bed and looked down on him. His mouth was open and he was snoring slightly, but he was very beautiful, with long blond lashes lowered on his cheek, and curls of hair, shining gold in the candlelight, curling over his brow and neck.
Such a shame, she thought, that he probably wouldn’t last very long!”
It’s not that Zione is callous – no no, she has empathy - it’s just that she’s a sorceress, and “a sorceress should take a harder and more practical view of things. Every living thing died, after all. Did it matter if they died a few years earlier or later?”
Plus she’s between an ethical rock and a moral hard place. A nearby king would dearly love to overrun Dragonsheim and reduce its people to serfdom, and the only thing stopping him is the Dragon. So the Dragon must stay: and it will only stay if it’s happy. Honestly - what’s a bard or two compared with the freedom of a whole people??
Only this bard is tall, slim, and chestnut-haired, and his face is “girlishly good-looking, like a pretty, girlish horse...In the dim light his eye color was turned to a dark grey ring around a black center.”
It’s not easy to send him down the tunnel to meet the Dragon.
The girl was as beautiful as she was strange, and every man in the bar was watching her. Her skin was a dark, polished brown, but her hair was red. A mass of dreadlocks, it was drawn behind her shoulders and held in place by a twisted gold chain. A loop of the chain fell over her forehead and suspended a gold, five-pointed star between her brows. A golden sun swung from one of her ears, a silver moon from the other. She was dressed in a long, loose gown of vivid blue silk, shot through with silver thread, and in the bar of The Old Crown, among the din of the video games and the fug of the cigarette smoke she was – well –noticeable.”
And the men at the pub do notice her, but without guessing she is the sorceress Zione of Carthage, powerful, purposeful and there on a mission. She has travelled across many worlds to appear in the bar on the exact night when there happens to be a poetry reading there, because poetry is what Zione wants. Well - a Poet. This is because in her own world she is the paid sorceress of the people of Dragonsheim, a bunch of simple peasants who rely on their vicious but highly-territorial dragon to keep invaders at bay. And they pay Zione to keep their Dragon sweet. It has been her first job, and it has not been easy. A dragon is never relaxing company but this one is a bit...moody. Fortunately it’s obsessed with poetry, and a decent Bard can keep it amused for hours, days, weeks perhaps.
Unfortunately it will eventually get bored of its Bard, and eat him.
So Zione has quit trying to recruit from her own world and instead journeys through other worlds in search of a poet to kidnap, and there is one appearing that night at The Old Crown. Using the complex spell of Azreal’s Door plus some very basic sexual allure, Zione brings Paul Welsh back to Dragonsheim...for his appointment with the Dragon.
“Rising, she went over to the bed and looked down on him. His mouth was open and he was snoring slightly, but he was very beautiful, with long blond lashes lowered on his cheek, and curls of hair, shining gold in the candlelight, curling over his brow and neck.
Such a shame, she thought, that he probably wouldn’t last very long!”
It’s not that Zione is callous – no no, she has empathy - it’s just that she’s a sorceress, and “a sorceress should take a harder and more practical view of things. Every living thing died, after all. Did it matter if they died a few years earlier or later?”
Plus she’s between an ethical rock and a moral hard place. A nearby king would dearly love to overrun Dragonsheim and reduce its people to serfdom, and the only thing stopping him is the Dragon. So the Dragon must stay: and it will only stay if it’s happy. Honestly - what’s a bard or two compared with the freedom of a whole people??
Only this bard is tall, slim, and chestnut-haired, and his face is “girlishly good-looking, like a pretty, girlish horse...In the dim light his eye color was turned to a dark grey ring around a black center.”
It’s not easy to send him down the tunnel to meet the Dragon.
June 1, 2015
This is part of my loot from Nullus Anxietas V, I was a little apprehensive when I saw it in my bag and I really only warmed to it in the last few pages. I suspect it's out of print so if you like what I have to say I wish you luck getting hold of a copy, I can only find a handful of pre-loved copies and no new ones.
It's a fairly ordinary book. Paul Welsh is a pub poet and he's got an ego the size of a house. One night a strange girl sees him spouting poetry in a pub and takes him back to her world where he has to rhyme for the dragon or risk being eaten.
Nicely written with the odd phrase that stands out and I'd stop to reread in pleasure. It both creates enigmas and tidies up some real world dilemmas about poets. There's one thing that really made me sit up and laugh but that's only in the last few pages and I musn't give spoilers.
One part which shows off Price's good writing also gives spoilers and while I'm tempted to tell you specifically I'll be good and couch it in veiled terms. There are hints and descriptions within the pages of this book which really only made proper sense when one piece of information is finally revealed, they look superfluous at the time but we find out they're really specific pointers.
Also published on http://www.suzs-space.com/2015/06/foi...
It's a fairly ordinary book. Paul Welsh is a pub poet and he's got an ego the size of a house. One night a strange girl sees him spouting poetry in a pub and takes him back to her world where he has to rhyme for the dragon or risk being eaten.
Nicely written with the odd phrase that stands out and I'd stop to reread in pleasure. It both creates enigmas and tidies up some real world dilemmas about poets. There's one thing that really made me sit up and laugh but that's only in the last few pages and I musn't give spoilers.
One part which shows off Price's good writing also gives spoilers and while I'm tempted to tell you specifically I'll be good and couch it in veiled terms. There are hints and descriptions within the pages of this book which really only made proper sense when one piece of information is finally revealed, they look superfluous at the time but we find out they're really specific pointers.
Also published on http://www.suzs-space.com/2015/06/foi...
April 24, 2021
Recuerdo este libro con mucho cariño, aunque ya hace años que lo leí. Una introducción estupenda a la narrativa fantástica.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews