Discworld by Terry Pratchett
Dragons appear a few times in the Discworld novels. The very first book has dragons that fade away into invisibility the farther they stray from their mountain home. Rincewind, who comes from a different area of the Disc, didn’t even believe they were real until he meets them and the people who ride them. But, curiously, later on in the series, Pratchett introduces another species of dragons from the swamp in the very city Rincewind hails from. Swamp dragons are small, always ill and have a bad tendency to explode.
Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley
This book pulled me in with its unique writing style, setting and plot. The narrator’s thoughts are a bit chaotic. He speaks in a lot of vague and broken sentences that take some getting used to, but it’s well worth it. I love the fully realized microcosm of the book’s setting, far away from the suburban or metropolitan settings of most urban fantasy stories. Dragons are seen as endangered animals in this book, and where else would endangered animals live than on a nature reserve?
These dragons are no human analogs but a separate species with their own behaviors, traditions and instincts. It also tackles not only the idea that dragons have special abilities that humans are so ill-equipped to receive those abilities that they don't know how to recognize them.
The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
This book is pure farce set in an alternate England that never banded together under one monarchy. The only dragon left in existence lives in its own nature reserve. But unlike in Dragonhaven, this nature reserve is completely untouched due to a magical barrier keeping humans at bay. This dragon is sentient, with its own magic and its own methods of survival.
Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews
Humans have power over dragons in Eon, but in Dragon Run, the opposite is true. I can’t say much more without giving away too much of the plot. It can seem bleak for a while for our main character, but stick with it; I promise it’s worth it.
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
This one has lots of sentient dragons that can shapeshift between human and dragon form. A curious break from other portrayals of dragons is that the dragons in this book have stunted emotions when in dragon form. The longer they spend in human form, the more they feel. They are disgusted by this and will go to great lengths to ensure they reject and repress their emotions. They prize logic and cannot understand music or art. The main character is half-dragon and cannot transform, but she does have a permanent stripe of scales. She has full access to her emotions and is also a musician.
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
In this tale, the dragons are a source of power for a lucky few, and the power waxes and wanes with a zodiac-like cycle of 12 years. Usually, the dragons are invisible except to those who use magic, and then only when casting a spell. There is a moment during a ceremony when everyone can see the dragon.
Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
If you like your dragons to be deadly badasses, this is the series for you. The dragons are brutal and vicious, and this is at least partly due to conditioning by an equally vicious group of witches.
The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond
This novella has equal parts dragons, knights, magic and ghosts. Set in a medieval-like time period, this book takes a look at the knights and squires that seem to me to be ill-equipped to take on dragons, but they fill a niche in their world. What I love the most about this book are the dragons. When they’re alive, magic concentrates around them and traps ghosts in the caves around a dragon’s lair. When they die, their decaying bodies can poison the land for decades or longer.
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