I am sorry but she should have chosen both and you know it. Monogamy is a terrible story deviceThis writer would drop kick my ass but Jenny should have chosen both John and Morkeleb. Who wouldn't want a dragon boyfriend in the summer and to snuggle with a man in the winter? I would have picked both. Still one has to love fantasy stories with people getting together and being friends and fighting against some horrible evil. Always fun. But if there has to be a love triangle pick both!

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.Dragonsbane is a novel I read upon release back in 1985. Obviously, the world was a different place back then, I was a different person (young teenager) and fantasy was of a different flavor. Even at the time though, I knew that Barbara Hambly had gifted her readers with a refreshingly mature fantasy which would stand the test of time.In the northlands, Jenny Waynest is a not-so-young-anymore sorceress, half-trained, who splits her time between learning her cra...

Really terrific. This is my first Hambly book, and I was so impressed. I had to put the book down for a moment at page 172, and I was amazed to find that so much had been conveyed in so few pages, and yet the pacing never felt rushed, and the characters and the world they lived in seemed so fully fleshed out. The focus on "mature" lovers/adventurers was also a refreshing change from so much of fantasy, and the exploration of the internal war between the idealized self and the mundane self was th...

From 1985, no less, showing that writers have been subverting the same epic fantasy tropes for a long time now. A middle aged couple, one a dragon killer, the other a witch, from the desolate and abandoned north go down south to kill another dragon at the behest of a young nobleman whose visions of heroic chivalry do not survive contact with the reality. Things are complicated in the royal court, however, so the fight with the dragon is just the start of things. Great read, and though the start

I had never heard of Hambly but I am impressed. In the world of sword and sorcery, most authors find it convenient to go the "hack and slash" route with the beautiful maiden thrown in to make the hero "extra-heroic". Few are willing to invest what Tolkien did in creating a whole world that has humans and other intelligent creatures.Hambly is more than able in this regard, giving us both a deep study of relationships and a threat to the order of the world. Her view of magic is complex and nuanced...

Probably cheesy to some but an escapist gem. Maybe I love it because I first read it when I needed escape. Very easy to lose myself in Hambly's beautiful writing. Also, you know that musical phrase, that sunset on an empty beach, that gesture that can bring tears to your eyes? This book had many of those for me. Poignancy? Beauty? Romance in the sense of the movement, not the checkout counter paperbacks?Plenty of action, psychological metaphors, humor. Still love this tale.

3.5 stars, though not sure if I should round up for the subversive narrative and character-driven writing style because I feel like I should judge this book by the standards of the time period in which it was written--the 80s--and not judge it by what I normally like/prefer in high fantasy--books written much later in the 90s and beyond.Even though it's called Dragonsbane and the Dragonsbane is a knight named John Aversin, the whole story is told from the perspective of his mageborn partner, Jen...

My first Barbara Hambly book, and it is an entertaining discovery. An epic fantasy without huge armies clashing , without an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it threat , without bloated descriptions of dresses or foodstuff. It has instead a couple of mature and reluctant heroes, with a convincing loving relationship, it has a focus of personal introspection and painful life choices, it has a well done dragon - alien in body and mentality.the book works well as a standalone, and deserves to be conside...

"Do not be a fool, Jenny Waynest. All the knowledge of the dragons, all their power, is yours, and all the years of time. You will forget the loves of the earth soon and be healed. The diamond cannot love the flower, for the flower lives only a day, then fades and dies. You are a diamond now.”“The flower dies,” Jenny said softly, “having lived. The diamond will never do either.” It’s hard for me to describe this book because I felt like much of the story was meant to be allegorical. Like one

Lord John Aversin is known as "Dragonsbane", for the dragon he killed long ago; when another dragon threatens the kingdom, Lord Gareth goes north to the Winterlands to find John and ask him for help. When Gareth and John go south, they are accompanied by the witch Jenny Waynest, John's lover and mother of his two sons, who has long been torn between her desire for more magical power and her love for John. Their encounter with the dragon, Morkeleb the Black, is only the start of the challenges th...

Hambly writes adults, a rarity in the fantasy genre; in particular, Dragonsbane is a depiction of middle-aged regret, of people who because of historical circumstances and personal situations will never achieve what they dream of, and somehow Hambly writes it in a way that's not depressing and that appealed to me even as an adolescent unsympathetic to the failure to achieve. Also, the dragons are cool.Under no conditions read the sequels. In fact, let us agree that the publishing records lie and...

I was advised to read this in terms of: Never mind the blurb, the key hooks are the loving adult relationship of the protags and the 'subversive' take on S&S. I agree with the recommender.New word: cicisbeo. Lots of unfamiliar words, too."her anger had no hate in it, offering him no hold upon her""the blood-red and buttercup hues of the palace guards"I love the horses' names: Battlehammer, Osprey, Moon Horse, Stupid Roan, Stupider Roan, and Cow.I love that wounds take time to heal and leave scar...

A very nice traditional fantasy story that deliberately throws over a handful of clichés - for instance, our heroes are middle-aged lovers, prosaically named John and Jenny, and the dragon slayer is wry and academic rather than imposing and martial.More typical is Gareth, the indignant court messenger who comes seeking a hero out of a ballad and finds a man as much involved with pig farming as lording. Also, the beautiful yet evil witch who has enthralled the king is a predictable villain. But I...

If you only read the back cover of Dragonsbane, or even the teaser excerpt before the title page in the paperback version of the novel, you might think it was all about John Aversin, the Dragonsbane, and his quest to kill the dragon, Morkeleb. Man vs. monster, a tale as old as tales are. But it won't be long before you realize that Jenny Waynest, a witch frustrated in her search for magic power (and also lovers with John, and the mother of their two children), is the sole point of view.Jenny dea...

Dragonsbane is a fantasy book written by the underrated Barbara Hambly. It covers about 3 to 4 days for most of the book, and the magic in them comes from witches. But the real magician here is the author. She spins her yarn patiently, letting us wait until the things that are simmering come to a boil.The influence of Tolkien is obvious, although younger readers might find it subtle. But is this book for younger readers? The main characters are grownups with grownup problems. I found Jenny charm...

When a huge black dragon descends upon the Deep of Ylferdun, young Gareth sets out to find the Dragonsbane, the only man alive who has ever defeated a dragon. But Sir John Aversin is not what Gareth had hoped for—he’s a scruffy academic who is less concerned about honor than he is the health of his villagers’ pigs. And Aversin’s lady love is not what Gareth had expected either: a plain, middle-aged witch, who has borne Aversin two sons out of wedlock and is utterly unapologetic. Swallowing his m...

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 res...

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 you...

3.5 stars

I'm a bit torn about this book. On the one hand, I recognize that the magic in it is the very definition of "soft magic" with few to no actual defined rules and no real magic "system" at all. Hambly approaches magic as a very ethereal, mystical thing, which I suppose is appealing for some people. However, when your POV character is a middle-aged (read: experienced) witch/sorceress/wizard woman (she is referred to as all three of those terms by herself and others in the book), then the non-existe...