Hey, this is really good! It doesn’t beat out The Ladies of Mandrigyn as my favorite Hambly, but that’s because Mandrigyn is awesome; this is a strong second. Please ignore the cover and blurb, though, as they appear designed to fool you into thinking this is a different sort of book from what it actually is. You’d never guess that Jenny is the main character, for instance. I’m not sure why the deception, as this will be immediately obvious to anyone who opens the book.Jenny and John are not your typical fantasy couple. She’s 37, he’s a couple years younger, and they have two young sons. John is a minor lord and renowned dragon slayer, but we first meet him knee-deep in pig muck and the dragon slaying wasn’t romantic either. Jenny is a witch, and lives apart from her family to better practice magic, but the time she’s devoted to family and community has still hindered her development of her talents. Yep, it’s family vs. career, but unusually, Jenny is far more bothered by the magical potential she’s sacrificed for love and family than the other way round.The plot is fairly straightforward: a starry-eyed young messenger, Gareth, begs John to come kill a dragon, and the trio sets out to do so, though the ugly political situation will turn out more dangerous than the dragon itself. It is a fun plot, satisfyingly wrapped up at the end of the novel (there are sequels, but they were written many years later and apparently aren’t up to snuff). There is a bit of journeying, but it doesn’t go on too long, and if the action scenes sometimes seemed a bit drawn-out to me, I say that as someone who isn’t looking for action-based fantasy anymore.What I do look for in fantasy are great characters, and this book has them. It is a very small cast, with only a few secondary characters in addition to Jenny, John and Gareth, but the principals are interesting, textured, and well-developed, such that it’s easy to believe these are real people. Often in fantasy novels heroics inspire no more than a shrug from me; the standard fantasy hero is courageous in such a knee-jerk, pre-programmed way that it’s hard to be moved once you’re over age 16 or so. But such is not the case in Dragonsbane: this is a mature fantasy novel (in the best sense of the word, not the “full of gore and sex” sense), with mature heroes who are heroic in a real and believable way.Speaking of heroics, this is one of those fantasy novels that takes pains to distinguish the myth from the reality; Gareth, a lover of dragon-slaying ballads, is perhaps intended as a stand-in for the typical fantasy reader, whose illusions are shattered as the story progresses. Today, with the market swamped with “gritty” fantasy, this is nothing new, and Hambly’s use of realism for shock value may seem a bit dated. Presumably when it was published in 1985, the practicality and realism actually was subversive. But it doesn’t go over-the-top in grittiness either; the reality is more prosaic and more complex than Gareth expects, but heroism still exists. And some of the subtle commentary on fictionalization is just as relevant today. For instance, in the ballad, John rescued “maidens” from the dragon. In reality, it was a boy and a girl (though really just a boy, because the girl was already dead). This is exactly what we do in real life! I remember being shocked – shocked! – to learn that 2/3 of murder victims in the U.S. are male; in fiction it’s skewed at least as heavily the other way, because Victims Are Female.As for the writing, in general it’s better than most fantasy, though Hambly’s sentences still sometimes trip me up. It is nicely visual, with good imagery. The point-of-view is a bit odd, though. We spend the book in Jenny’s head, but in the first couple of chapters, many of the observations are Gareth’s: the village is squalid, John is a yokel, the boys are urchins. This weirdness fades after the beginning, but there’s still the occasional description requiring familiarity with a place that Jenny doesn’t know. This too may be a result of changes in the genre; authors today stick tightly to their POV character’s head, making deviations jarring.Overall, I really liked this book – fantasy that can be enjoyed by thinking adults, with strong, believable characters and an intriguing take on dragons. Definitely recommended.
3.5 stars for this fantasy, which I listened to (good narration). The "Dragonsbane" is the hero of song and story, about whom bards sing ballads. He's the great warrior who slew a dragon ten years ago. Gareth, a young nobleman from the king's court, is fond of dragon ballads. Idealistic -- and desperate — Gareth comes north to seek aid in killing a new dragon ravaging the king's southern territories. However, he is surprised at what he finds, for the legendary warrior — bane of the dragons — is simply John Aversin, bespectacled, bookish, plain-speaking, hard-working lord of the north, caring deeply for his people, carving a hard-won life from the winter lands, the hinterlands.Gareth also finds Jenny, a witch, the love of John's life, the mother of his two young sons. But not his wife.Although Gareth and John play key roles, as does the dragon himself (cool creature, great characterization) and the villain (a credible cretin, and so very vile), this book is primarily about Jenny's journey of discovery. Across the chapters, she discovers her powers ("the heart of magic is magic. A Mage does magic"). In the end, she discovers her heart. For some reason, her dawning realizations didn't deeply engage my own mind or tug on my heart. Maybe she thought too much, repeating herself, leaving little interpretation or guesswork for me. Maybe it's because her sons were never brought to vivid reality, so I couldn't care enough about them. I thought Jenny should know her heart better by now, and if she didn't, why should I?This is a fantasy, complete with kings, wizards, gnomes, dragons, and treasure, but there's a touch of romance. Almost a lover's triangle, in some scenes.Great narration by Derek Perkins, except he made John sound like a country bumpkin — which he is according to the text, and by his own frank admission — but I couldn't fall in love with him because of that portrayal.This book brought to mind Raven's Shadow and Raven's Strike, a duology by Patricia Briggs. An emperor seeks help from a country farmer and his mage-born wife in ridding his lands of a shadow. Compared to Dragonsbane, I liked the Raven series more, because I grew to care more about the characters.
What do You think about Dragonsbane (1987)?
Aunque ya no suelo leer fantasía de los sesenta a los noventa, esta novela apareció en la pila al ver que había servido de inspiración a varios escritores de fantasía actual que me gustan, como Sanderson, que la recomendó en el Celsius 232 del 2014.La recomendación junto con la frase: es que coge los estereotipos clásicos de fantasía y los retuerze de forma innovadora para la época; fue lo que me hizo decidirme definitivamente.Y aprovechando que estaba de viaje, pues lectura ligera.La novela da lo que me prometían. Es una novela relativamente sencilla, con todos los tópicos del género: príncipes, caballeros, magos, dragones. Pero que ciertamente se alejan hasta cierto punto de lo que uno esperaría de los arquetipos clásicos. Ni la maga es tan misteriosa ni el caballero tan heroico, etcétera.La protagonista sería el equivalente a la discípula del Merlín de las leyendas artúricas: una mujer de treinta y tantos con talento para la magia y con un famoso maestro fallecido hace años. Jenny se debate entre su deseo de obtener más poder (inherente a cualquier practicante de las artes arcanas) y el amor que siente hacia su familia. Y este dilema es central en el libro, haciendo que Jenny sea un personaje muy atractivo y, sobre todo, muy adulto. Porque esa es la sensación que queda al terminar "Vencer al dragón", que es una novela de fantasía protagonizada por adultos y escrita para adultos. Esquiva todo el drama amoroso innecesario y tan sólo retrata de lado el clásico "paso a la madurez" tan habitual en el género.Posiblemente si has leído la sinopsis (cosa que no recomiendo) te sorprenda saber que la protagonista es la "maga" y no el "caballero", pero así es. John Aversin es un personaje importante, pero todo el libro está escrito desde el punto de vista de Jenny.La trama tiene un par de giros interesantes pero es sencilla y simplista, aunque el final me resultó muy satisfactorio.La verdad es que para los aficionados al género es un libro que vale totalmente la pena y se puede leer cómodamente en un par de relajantes sesiones veraniegas. Desde luego es un libro que le leería a mi hijo.
—Antonio Diaz
Occasionally, in discussions of SFF, you'll see readers bemoaning the lack of books that feature (1) older women (2) non-pretty women (3) mothers who get to do things. Dragonsbane has all of these things, in interesting ways and, while it begins by seeming to be a deconstruction of romantic stories of noble knights slaying evil dragons, it is primarily a story of (the limits of) female ambition.(view spoiler)[We start the book with Jenny, a northern mage, rescuing a would-be noble sprat of a rescuer from bandits, and taking him home to the local lord (and her lover), John. The sprat is seeking John because he's the only known Dragonsbane, and the king has a problem with a dragon.The ballads have failed to convey John's broad northern accent, his interest in pigs, his spectacles, his lack of courtly graces and, most particularly, that both John and Jenny contributed to the killing of the dragon that earned John his title.Jenny's role as mage (or witch, as the female mages inevitably get called) is the crux of this story. Her mentor taught her that magic requires a singular devotion, that to become strong she must meditate and focus her all on her power and not – as Jenny has done – take a lover and have children by him.This is a book about work/life balance, in other words, but where the work is the grand passion and life the thing that keeps dragging you away from it.Mages being devoted to power above all is rusted into society, so much so that a priest won't perform a marriage ceremony for a mage, because the mage will inevitably abandon family for power. So Jenny is both happy and unhappy – loving John and her children, able to spend a fair amount of time away from them, and yet never enough to fully devote herself to her power.The sprat (after some time being extraordinarily naïve and idiotic) manages to get John and Jenny south to try to kill the dragon, and here they encounter Jenny's mirror, Zyerne who is also a female mage who is lover to the local ruler (the king).But Zyerne is beautiful where Jenny is ugly, powerful where Jenny is weak, as cruel as Jenny is kind, and as single-minded in her pursuit of power as Jenny is wavering.Consequentially, the conflict of the story ends up being between the two women, rather than Dragonsbane vs Dragon. The resolution of this is reasonably well done (although, gosh, I felt like hitting a few people with a clue-bat more than once), and finally becomes a choice for Jenny between love and power. (hide spoiler)]
—Andrea
Resulta difícil innovar dentro del campo de la fantasía épica, y más durante la década de los 80, cuando fue publicado este libro. La sombra de Tolkien es alargada y en esta época las dragonadas estaban a la orden del día, obras insulsas y planas la mayoría de las veces. El escenario básico era idéntico: joven que debe realizar un viaje iniciático, en busca de sí mismo y de un objeto y/o persona valiosos, tratándose por tanto de un personaje predestinado; secundarios de lujo que deben ayudarle a cumplir su destino (no puede faltar un enano y/o un elfo); un viaje hacia la meta lleno de peligros y aventuras, que llega a hacerse un tanto monótono; un dragón que cuida de su oro; y un final donde destaca la lucha entre el bien y el mal, venciendo el bien, por supuesto.‘Vencer al dragón’ de Barbara Hambly destaca entre tanta mediocridad publicada a lo largo de la citada década. Afronta el género desde una visión adulta y realista, dotando a sus personajes de cierta personalidad y evolución a lo largo de la historia, con motivaciones humanas, una historia donde abunda más la magia que la espada. La prosa de Hambly, sin ser excesivamente descriptiva, es elegante y precisa. Lo que más destaco de la novela es ese noto crepuscular del principio. Para mi gusto, la obra pierde fuelle en su parte central y toma un rumbo que no me esperaba, pero la parte final es correcta y deja satisfecho. En resumen, un buena novela de fantasía épica.
—Oscar
