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Dragons and Other Mythical Creatures #1

Welcome to the Dragon Show

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A Dragon Rider Urban Fantasy Novel

245 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 19, 2020

159 people are currently reading
435 people want to read

About the author

S.W. Clarke

29 books50 followers

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5 stars
126 (62%)
4 stars
47 (23%)
3 stars
21 (10%)
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6 (2%)
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
866 reviews7 followers
February 4, 2020
I always enjoy the chance to return to the GoneGodWorld. I was slightly put off by ANOTHER kick-a$$, teen heroine. I'm not fond of books in the YA/New Adult realm. This young woman might be a teenager, but since she's not in college, and is actually making her way in the world, that makes her qualify as an adult, so ... YAY! Tara is appealing and Percival is pretty adorable for being the size of an SUV. The plot is not terribly complex and drawn out, but that's all to the good, I think. The pacing brought us along to the culmination in a fashion that I found to be spot on. I enjoyed the book. I have high hopes for the series.
7 reviews
February 5, 2020
I really enjoyed the first book of this new GodGone series. I found the the main character to be endearing and fierce at the same time. It's difficult to write a character that is both innocent and haunted at the same time. You've created an excellent mix of the GoneGod aspects that your readers are used to, and some new surprises as well. One question. When is book two?
Profile Image for Ramy Vance.
Author 112 books418 followers
February 7, 2020
Welcome to the Dragon Show's giveaway is LIVE! Check it out:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

I'm super excited for this release! I mean, who wouldn't be when the heroine is a snarky, badass, dragon riding street performer with a vendetta.

Check out chapter 1 SNIPPET:

Ever tried to get a permit to fly a dragon over Times Square?

Gives a whole new meaning to red tape …

I stood on the platform, my favorite bullwhip in my left hand. Around me, New York City spread like a glittery, overdrawn circus, all those tourists peeping at me like I was about to split their heads wide open.

And maybe I was.

You never knew what a street performer would do—that was the beauty of the art. The wildness. The thrill. The fear.

I snapped the whip, a simple circus crack on the platform. “I’m Tara Drake,” I called out. “And this here’s my dragon, Percival.”

Beside me, Percy let out a low, chest-rumbling growl, the kind of noise that sent shivers down a spine. If I didn’t hear him growl in his sleep every night, it might do the same for me.

He shook his blue-scaled head, yellow eyes surveying the crowd like he couldn’t decide on the tastiest morsel. Already they’d backed up a few steps, hands set to their fanny packs like he’d siphon out their cash as he reduced them to ash.

How many of them had seen a dragon? A real, bonafide, fire-breathing dragon?

I’d yet to encounter a tourist who had.

I smiled, set one hand between the spines sticking up from Percy’s long neck. “He’s not gonna bite unless you don’t leave a tip when we’re finished. And I know none of you kind folks would do such a thing.”

Soft laughter. I’d been hearing that kind of laughter all my life—usually nervous. But even nervous laughter still eased the nerves.

I fell into a languorous pacing around Percy, which took me on a radius of about twelve feet. He wasn’t as big as dragons in the books—yet—which suited me well enough. I could ride him and I could stable him. It’d be years before I had to worry about him growing big as a house.

The bullwhip’s thong trailed on the platform behind me, seven feet of potential with a pretty gold cracker on the end. “How many of you know how fast a whip can move?”

A few hands went up. As I came around Percy, I pointed to a man near the back. He looked harmless; nobody with a bald spot the size of an orange could be one of the Scarred, or so I told myself.

But I still kept watch for them, especially in this crowd. The Scarred were here. My intel was solid. They might not be in this crowd, but they were nearby.

And now that I’d taken down that ogre, they knew I was hunting them.

“Let’s hear it.” I delivered another crack as punctuation.

“Twenty miles an hour,” he called.

I shook my head with a close-lipped smile. “Sir, you drive that slow you’ll get pulled over. What makes you think this here whip’s got any less pep?” I dug into my native Kentuckian accent, hamming it up for the crowd. A cutesy girl in a tartan skirt, blowing bubblegum, cracking a whip and riding a dragon was one thing. But combine all that with a quirky, bubbly Southern accent, and it positively drove them over the edge. Twenty percent increase in tips, easy.

More laughter. I was winning them by quips and cracks before I’d even gotten to riding Percy.

More hands went up. More numbers were called out.

Finally, I raised my free hand for silence. And they obeyed, because I had them. I’d had them since the moment I’d ridden onto the platform atop a dragon.

There was nobody like me and Percy. Nobody in the world.

I adjusted my grip on the whip. “When the kinetic force leaves my shoulder, it travels down my arm right to the handle, speeds up through the thong and on down to the fall. By the time it hits this little cracker, you’ve got a sonic boom. Only thing faster than that is when the gods high-tailed it out of here.”

Raucous laughter. Don’t know why that joke always kills, but it does. Gods be damned.

I paused, stepped to the edge of the platform, lowered my voice so that they would all lean forward. “This little piece of cord and cable moves at nine hundred miles an hour.”

Gasps. Wide eyes. These were my bread and butter.

When I stepped back to Percy, he eyed me in anticipation. “That kind of force hits a regular person, it won’t just leave a scar. You might rupture an artery. If you’re real unlucky, you might find yourself without a hand.”

I turned back, my free hand returning to Percy’s neck. “But dragon scale? It’s the hardest material on Earth. Which is why me and Percy are the perfect pair.”

I cracked the whip a third time—this one an overhead swing against Percy’s side. The sonic boom echoed off the buildings around us, and Percy? He didn’t even blink. He didn’t move an inch.

“Now don’t call PETA on me, folks. Percy likes it—finds the whips tickle him a little. Don’t you, Perce?”

His head angled toward me, yellow eyes meeting my own. He’d been instructed never to talk during our performances—it scared the onlookers more than it thrilled them. And you never wanted to scare them more than you thrilled them.

Best way to lose that tip.

So he shook his head in assent, scales lifting and rippling like he was flexing his muscles.

Another wave of nervous laughter from the crowd.

I pointed out toward them, cracking the whip in a figure eight beside my body—pow-pow. “Who wants to step up onto the platform? We’ve got a trick to show you, and we need a volunteer with a steel bladder.”

When no hands went up—they never volunteered after I invoked the steel bladder—I set both hands together as though in prayer. “Nobody gets hurt, except maybe me. That’s a promise.”

This was the point where two or three brave palms would rise into the air. And they did, just on cue.

I pointed to a young man. “Come on up. Quickly, please—Percy gets ornery when he has to stand still too long. Ornery dragons are nature’s least favorite sight.”

I grabbed the two apples off the stool behind me, set both into his hands as he came up onto the stage. “Now balance this one on your head, and hold the other out before you. Face this way”—I positioned him toward the crowd—“and stay real still. Me and Percy are going to come back for … um …. one of them apples in a minute and would appreciate it waiting for us.” I touched the apple in his hand and gave him a wink.

One of my fingers pointed straight up toward the sky, and their faces followed the direction I was pointing. As though they could see me up there already. As though my finger bore the answers to the world’s questions, if they could just figure out exactly where I was pointing.

I hopped back on the stage and up onto Percy’s back, gripped his nearest spine with my free hand. When I clicked my tongue twice, he took two steps forward, claws scratching across the platform as he brought us to the edge. As his wings extended, the skin stretching almost transparently taut along the wingbones, that was when the shiver went through me.

There was something about a dragon lifting into the air. You never got over it.
He leapt off, wings fully extended to catch the air. As he did, I struck the bullwhip up over my head, the cracker flicking through the air to bite straight into the apple atop my volunteer’s head. I didn’t look back; I heard the gasp, followed by the splattering of apple guts hitting the platform.

We swung low a moment, to within a foot of the nearest terrified onlooker, before we ascended past the billboards and the noise of the city. From here you couldn’t get a good view of the roofs; it was only when you were up high you could see properly.

Which was where Percival came in.

We came alongside a skyscraper, and I sat low against Percy’s neck, the wind whipping my braid against my jacket. He already knew which direction to take us: straight on to the clouds. His reflection blackened floor after floor of windows as we rose, his wings cracking the air like ice.
When we crested the city, Percy’s wings extended, tenting in the air. We hovered there, just us looking down on eight million people. From up here, New York City might have been a miniature toy town; I could practically scoop up Central Park in my palm.

“I told you I’d show you the world, Perce,” I whispered to him.

His wings flapped once. “The GoneGod World, you mean.”

I patted his neck. “Even a world without gods has some beauty to it.”

We needed to swing back around toward the platform; the crowd was waiting. But first—

“Over there, Percy.” I pointed over at the cluster of properties, the tallest of which struck like a pointed finger into the sky. “Think you can swing us past those buildings on your way down?”

If my intel was right, the Scarred were up to something particularly nasty on one of these rooftops. Trouble was, I didn’t know which one.

The dragon snorted as he flapped once, the sound echoing over the city like a firecracker.

“Child’s play.”

I leaned close, grabbing his spine as he shot us forward a few blocks. He angled hard right, and we made an elegant circuit around the buildings in question.

I stared hard. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for—not until Percy saw it. And then it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Tara,” Percy said. “On your nine. Do you see what I see?”

As we came around the tallest building, there, piled in one innocuous corner of the roof, were six human-sized crosses.

“Bingo,” I whispered, shifting my weight to send us into a divebomb toward the waiting crowd. “Time to hunt us down some Scarred and save us a singer’s sweetheart.”
13 reviews1 follower
March 7, 2020
This is one of the best dragon stories I have read in years. It grabs your interest from the first page and is thrilling enough to keep you glued to your chair until finished. A very interesting protagonist in Tara, who has been prepared by her father for anything she might face in life. A magnificent Houri, warrior woman and a teenage dragon. What more could you want. Oh yes! there are also Vampires, Ogres and Trolls.
I loved it.
Profile Image for Rhonda Jones.
2,794 reviews17 followers
March 6, 2020
Good Book

Great story and interesting characters. A very young woman with the life experiences of the aged. She is what some may call a vigilante. She searches out those that call themselves the Scarred. The Scarred massacred her family, and she is not about to let them get away with it. She raised a dragon from a egg, and he is adorable. He has the personality of a preteen boy. And she has made friends with an Houri, a woman of remarkable power. I really liked the Houri. Together, the three will take on the darkest of evil. Great story.
Profile Image for Debi Sateren.
77 reviews1 follower
March 1, 2020
Dragon Show

Absolutely loved this first book of the series. Enjoyed the Mortality Bound series to in the GodGone World. Definitely want more!
Profile Image for Vickie.
67 reviews12 followers
February 21, 2020
Welcome to the Dragon show boasts rousing duos such as Bonny & Clyde, Thelma & Louise and Tara & Percival? In this post-deity GoneGod world, an ex-carnie needs to make a few bucks and what better way than to enlist her teenage dragon compadre into giving folks a few thrills in exchange for coin as street performers. Of course, there’s much more to this story but I do my best to be spoiler free. The characters are enjoyable to read, and the story is constantly moving. Strap in and prepare to be up past your bedtime.

I’m excited to read about Tara & Percy’s adventures and how they fit into the greater GoneGod universe. This was an awesome read, I highly recommend this book and eagerly await more in this series.


Profile Image for Pepper.
113 reviews1 follower
February 24, 2020
Didn't put the story down until I was done

I really enjoyed this , from the kissable nose of Percy to his powerful tail. Who hasn't wanted to not only fly a dragon but also to be besties and fight evil doers and save the innocent victims.
Oh! And then of course you meet Thelma and Louise!
38 reviews
February 23, 2020
Good book

Really was a good book, can’t wait for the next one. Hope it is as good as the first book.
3,323 reviews30 followers
February 21, 2020
Welcome to the Dragon show

Love me a Dragon called Percival! Horrific and violent things keep happening and yet the characters are so ethereally good. There is some hope and companionship.
Profile Image for Gay Deputee.
244 reviews3 followers
February 19, 2020
I am overjoyed that the GoneGod world continues and now has a teenage dragon, too. The characters are always fun and quirky, the storyline, while still in the GoneGod world, is fresh and different. I do hope we end up finding a mate for the dragon, though. I love this new series.
Profile Image for Phyllis Moore.
136 reviews3 followers
February 19, 2020
Dragons are real! Aren't they. The way the author writes they are very real.
Profile Image for Su O'Rourke.
2 reviews
February 19, 2020
Loved this book, totally standalone series from his other works. Can’t wait for book two would recommend to all ages.
Profile Image for Rachel Joi Maples.
3,064 reviews34 followers
February 19, 2020
gotta love a great story! then it's made even better with dragons!! so excited for book 2
Profile Image for Sasha.
400 reviews12 followers
April 5, 2021
Disappointing

The storyline was just ok. I had a hard time thinking Mariana had a white soul when she is ok with her husband killing humans like livestock. Her soul should have been grey, at least.

Then there is Tara. I hate that she is always forgetting about her son. It’s crazy. She leaves the 12 year old for hours on end. Dragon or not, uncool.

This book doesn’t have an ending. Just a cliffhanger. Nothing is realized.
Profile Image for David Caldwell.
1,673 reviews35 followers
April 24, 2020
Tara is a street performer. But she isn't your normal street performer. She has a dragon. She also has a mission. She is hunting the former vampires that slaughtered her family. That is right , they are former vampires. Tara lives in the GoneGod world where all of the major powers that be left. When they did, the lesser powers were stranded on Earth. Creatures like vampires and werewolves have been turned back into "normal" humans.

This is a new series by Ramy Vance and S.W. Clarke.It is set in the same world as Ramy Vance's other series but you do not have to have read those other series to enjoy this one. There will probably be crossovers with characters at some point though.

I really like the characters in this story. Great bits of mythology added into it (and ones that aren't usually featured which is a nice change). There is plenty of action. The only drawbacks are that it has a cliffhanger and reads very quickly so you will be left having to wait for the next one.
256 reviews
September 10, 2020
It feels good to be back...

in the GodsGone world, that is. I thought putting this book off for a couple of months might be a good idea: BOY was I wrong!!! Once again, Vance and Clarke have put out a fantastic book, one that I really regret putting off for so long. Who would have thought that a dragon, a whip wielding former circus performer, and a houri would be such a great cast!!! At 3:34am, I'm writing this review and wondering if I should get in a few chapters in the next book. A word of advice to readers everywhere ... Read This Book!!!
Profile Image for Kat Healy.
Author 21 books63 followers
October 20, 2020
I really enjoyed this! A dragon that's more sibling than pet, vampire antics, and this darling houri that you'd have to be insane not to like. I found it fast-paced without being information overload. The relationship between Tara and Percy is so effortless and natural. It had a good story: revenge, what it means to part of a family, and wowzah what a backstory. The imagery was fantastic, and I can't wait to read the sequel!
1,077 reviews6 followers
April 2, 2020
Cliffhanger

Great story, love the Dragon. Interesting story and the are mystical people. No more gods. Except for the cliffhanger this story is great.
47 reviews1 follower
August 21, 2020
A dragon, a houri, a elf and a vampire makes for an unforgettable read. Recommend this to fantasy readers!
6 reviews
August 18, 2025
So glad I bought the Series

Thank you for this great book! It is all I can do to take time to write this review before starting the next one!!!!
Profile Image for Gary.
292 reviews4 followers
May 4, 2021
This is the second book in the series and the story picks up right after the ending of the first book. Tara is still searching for the vampire(s) that killed her family. The characters are fleshed out further in this book. I really enjoy the plot of this series and it contains some twists that keep you guessing. I really enjoyed the book despite it ending on a cliffhanger. I’ve purchased the third book and look forward to starting it. I gave this book 5 stars for the plot and character development.
Profile Image for J.c..
47 reviews
April 25, 2021
A very good dragon series

This is book two in a four book series. I love to read about dragons, one of favorite mystical creatures. Percival is a five year old dragon who was raised by Tara after she found his egg. This is the story of how Tara’s soul is inhabited by another person from hundreds of years in the past. Story is well done and exciting, with many moments where you wonder how they will manage to survive. You should be aware the ending of the book is a cliffhanger, not my favorite thing. Book #3 is available for preorder.
355 reviews3 followers
April 8, 2021
Return to the God Gino world

Tara Drake and her dragon, Perce , have to survive in a world without gods, with magical creatures roaming the lands. Bereft of her family, slaughtered by a host of vampires on the night the gods left, she clings to her dragon and subsists as a street performer. Always searching for the leader of the vampires that killed her family. A good read.
355 reviews
April 6, 2021
Are you freaking kidding me right now?????

That's the most horrible cliff hanger EVER!!!!!
It takes two authors to do something this mean!!!!
And May?????
I have to freaking wait until MAY????????
Books this good should be illegal!!!!
Howard S (the S stands for Super Fan)
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