Anne McCaffrey / Richard Woods – Diversity of Dragons

Author: Anne McCaffrey & Richard Woods

Genre: Fantasy

When I first started reading this book, I truly thought that it was a work of non-fiction. Anne McCaffrey tells the story of the result of a phonecall she receives one day at her home. A man asks her to impart her knowledge about dragons. After agreeing to meet ‘Sean Evans’, Anne’s friend also turns up at her house, and together the three of them begin swapping stories and talking about the different forms, tales and temperaments of the well known mythical creature. Close to the end of the book however, it’s clear that the reality shifts to the fantastical, when ‘Sean Evans’ confesses to having a dragon’s hoard of treasure on his land, and wanting the information to try and find out just what sort of dragon he was dealing with.

With Anne writing in the first person as herself, (and thus obviously realising that she is a real person), it gives realism to the other two characters who are mentioned. When one ends up being the ‘landlord’ of a dragon and the other being able to see dragons, the reader is already too immersed in a realistic story to be able to fully back out and take stock. The moment of realisation that this book is actually a story within itself and not merely a journey through the folklore of dragonkind happens so swiftly yet subtly that you can’t help but to smile at the ingenuity of it. It doesn’t really need to be said that the three characters are entirely, believably real…up until the point where you realise they aren’t.

The style of ‘A Diversity of Dragons’ is that of a story within a story. It’s written in a first person narrative, with Anne McCaffrey, the DragonLady, writing as herself. The content is both fun to read and very informative, with a number of excerpts given from different dragon stories, from Terry Pratchett to Beowulf. Despite the seemingly tricky style, the narration flows fantastically, and it is certainly a book which can be read more than once.

It isn’t often that I talk about the aesthetics of a book during these reviews, but I feel as though on this occasion, to not talk about such things would be doing the book a grave injustice. The illustrations, done by John Howe are more than worthy of a mention here. The entire book is full of some wonderful artwork, from small thumbnails at the beginning of each chapter, to a few two-page spreads that are truly vivid. The size of the book is something I class as a ‘bedtime story book’. That is, rather too large to just read it with it on your lap. Whilst the oversized nature perfectly complements the illustrations and the ‘bedtime’ ability of it for children, it nevertheless makes it difficult to read in a regular manner, as well as to store in any normal bookcase.

Overall, if you’re a fan of dragons, this book is definitely for you. The pictures themselves make it worthy of its price tag, and the immersive, witty and surprisingly informative writing only amplifies its worth. It’s certainly something that I’ll be reading to the younger members of my family before too much longer. Even if they don’t understand all of the words, I do, and I know they’ll be content with the pictures.

Win-win situation, really.

Audience: 12+ (Reading comprehension)