Dragonhenge

Dragonhenge #1

by Bob Eggleton, John Grant

Millions of years before the emergence of humankind, the great dragon civilization dominated this world. It left few traces behind save legends and one mighty structure: Dragonhenge. The dragons were profound storytellers, and collected here are tales from their oral mythology. “Hugo Award winners pool their talents in Dragonhenge, an illustrated collection of eight tales and a “Proem” that celebrate the ancient dragon civilization.”—Publishers Weekly.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Art, Fiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Bob Eggleton is a science fiction, fantasy, and horror artist. Eggleton has been honored with the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist eight times, first winning in 1994. He has also won the Chesley Award for Artistic Achievement in 1999 and was the guest of honor at Chicon 2000.

Eggleton's drawing and paintings cover a wide range of science fiction, fantasy, and horror topics, depicting space ships, alien worlds and inhabitants, dragons, vampires, and other fantasy creatures. His view on space ships were that they should look organic, and claimed that as a child, he was disappointed with the space shuttles and rockets NASA produced; they were nothing like fantasy artists of the twenties and thirties had promised. His fascination with dragons originated with his childhood interest of dinosaurs, which can be seen in the book Greetings From Earth. His paintings are commissioned and bought at sci-fi conventions, and used as book covers.

Eggleton received massive encouragement from his father, in the form of books, supplies, visits to museums of space and aeronautics and support during the career choices he made. Eggleton dropped out of his art college, because he felt it was not for him.

Eggleton is a fan of Godzilla and worked as a creative consultant on the 1998 film Godzilla and while in Japan appeared as an extra in one of the more recent films.

Asteroid 13562 was named Bobeggleton in his honor.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intriguing book, as you have the amalgamation of two aspects, the first is the fantastic art of Bob Eggleton and the second is the poetic prose of John Grant creating an alternative mythology of dragons and the creation of the universe.

I think for me (and ironically how I first came across this title was the art of Bob Eggleton - to me first and foremost associated with the amazing book covers of the special and limited editions I struggle to find.

Secondly are the words of John Grant who I will admit I have limited exposure to outside the amazing Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction, which have a kind of lyrical balance to them I often associate with the more romantic interpretations of the myths.

So together you have fantastical and almost whimsical telling of the creation of the universe and the world of dragons.

One final note reading this I realise that Bob Eggleton is more than just a fantasy artist of book covers, he is accomplished in many styles and techniques and I think without books like this I would have struggled to appreciate his true skills

[2Due · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it enough, it's a fairytale written like poetry, with long phrases and a lot of repetitions.
I liked the idea of the last dragon finding a mystical island with the 8 towers that were the 8 core memories of his kind, each tower a tale in the book, although only a couple of them were really interesting in my opinion.
I don't want to dive in too deep into it, it has cool dragon art.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the artwork, hated the stories.

[Ehryn]

I LOVED this book! It’s every dragon-lovers dream and it’s written so lyrically and the art is magnificently beautiful. I’m so lucky to have found it.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a highly dragon-centric book, your enjoyment of which can only be limited by the extent of your love for the creature itself. A wealth of media (pencil sketches, flowery prose, kaleidoscopic, double-page artwork...) are utilised to bring a number of stories life - each focusing on one aspect of draconic mythology - some self-contained, and others connected by a grander story arc; all leading to the culmination of a civilisation long, long dead: a structure called Dragonhenge.

It is told how the Universe was begun in the breath of the great dragon Qinmeartha, how tiny; overlooked Angrboda healed her esteemed and revered sire (who is set upon by despair) with words full of love and the wonder of life, before succumbing to the weakness of her fragile body, how colour was brought into the world on the wings of a Lesser dragon named Syor, how the Ice Dragons were spawned in the union of the remarkable Anya with her creation and true love the Northern Lights (and of the wars that followed), and more. These are fairy tales ripe with philosophy, theology and lessons in goodness. They are the dealings of dragons with dragons, and if such does not interest you then this book really holds nothing for you.

Dragonhenge itself is a thing of memories - not wholly physical - preserving the oral history of the dragons since the beginning of time, and each menhir holds its own fable. The book Dragonhenge is a beautiful and expansive record of this history. To read it is to be moved.

[Inga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting how it was that dragon made sun and all other stuff. I remember story how colors came to be from some children's book and there some man walked around and brushed everything but in this book the colors came to be from a dragon who painted them with wings. And illustrator has done just fantastic job. Good book for sure.