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Dragon book recs?

I read Fourth Wing and its sequel and loved that the dragons are actually characters with personality and are important to the plot.

Little did I know this would be so rare in dragon fantasy???

Spoilers for Priory of the Orange Tree and When the Moon Hatched to describe what I do not want.

I read Priory of the Orange Tree because it was supposed to be great fantasy with dragons being super important. It was literally a lesbian romance with dragons as an afterthought. The dragon rider got completely side lined in the last third of the book and her dragon spends 99% of the book incapacitated and unconscious. The lesbian romance was decent it just was not a dragon book. Not really. I think the dragons only existed to give the lesbians something to fight?

I'm reading When the Moon Hatched right now and I don't know if I can even finish. Once again the dragons are just cardboard background effects, but this FMC is so unlikeable I'm having a lot of trouble willing myself through. I know she has trauma making her insufferable, but she is reacting to everything so unrealistically it's like HELLO? 😭 You see a mythical invisible-capable powerful feline beast the size of a house and you keep sassing it instead of idk, fear or anything reasonable. Wtaf. Guess you're just that badass. 😭 Sorry of course you are THE MOST BADASS ever and everyone clapped (and kissed the ground).

What I'm looking for: Romance is fine idc either way, I just want the dragons to be actual characters with personalities and important to the plot. Any books like that?

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I think the only person I've met in real life with 100% career satisfaction was this gal I knew who was a presenter at a children's science museum and delivered every line like she was running a WWE match. Every time you passed the room where she was giving a presentation, you'd hear something like "WHO'S READY FOR CEPHALOPODS?!?" and the kids would go absolutely nuts cheering.

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"someone who allows you to rest" is the relationship dynamic of all time

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May I present: Leda and the Swan Princess! It's based on this post about a swan princess who refuses to go quietly in obscurity when cursed. (If you liked this one you will probably also like my other comics which you can find on my pinned post).

If you enjoyed and want to support a queer art student, you can tip me over on my Ko-fi! Tips help me out dramatically while I'm still in school!

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Beware!

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Half Goblin, half Hobbit.

Goblit.

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there’s a website where you put in two musicians/artists and it makes a playlist that slowly transitions from one musician’s style of music to the other’s

it’s really fun

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not a human, not a machine

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this is how you lose the time war 💙⏳❤

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Been seeing lilies everywhere for Easter so I feel like it bears repeating: Lilies & flowers from the genus lilium are toxic to cats & dogs!

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everybody give it up for this brand of green. round of applause for most under appreciated green

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You are working the gate in the afterlife and for the first time ever, something the humans built has shown up to be processed. You’re not sure what to do, this… entity shouldn’t have a soul, but here it is in front of you, freshly dead and awaiting the next life.

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A boy can dream, can't he?

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part 3 of the 2023 version of this post: adult books!

part 1: middle grade books | part 2: young adult books

this is a very incomplete list, as these are only books I've read and enjoyed. not all books are going to be for all readers, so I'd recommend looking up synopses and content warnings. feel free to message me with any questions about specific representation!

list of books under the cut ⬇️

yerba buena by nina lacour

if we were villains by m.l. rio

everyone in this room will someday be dead by emily r. austin

i want to be a wall by honami shirono

portrait of a thief by grace d. li

the thirty names of night by zeyn joukhadar

on earth we're briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong

love & other disasters by anita kelly

take a hint, dani brown by talia hibbert

boyfriend material by alexis hall

almost like being in love by steve kluger

the charm offensive by alison cochrun

something wild & wonderful by anita kelly

red, white & royal blue by casey mcquiston

something to talk about by meryl wilsner

honey girl by morgan rogers

one last stop by casey mcquiston

once ghosted, twice shy by alyssa cole

kiss her once for me by alison cochrun

a spindle splintered by alix e. harrow

finna by nino cipri

every heart a dooryway by seanan mcguire

the starless sea by erin morgenstern

under the whispering door by tj klune

space opera by catherynne m. valente

light from uncommon stars by ryka aoki

dead collections by isaac fellman

the city we became by n.k. jemisin

light carries on by ray nadine

an absolutely remarkable thing by hank green

feed them silence by lee mandelo

summer sons by lee mandelo

upright women wanted by sarah gailey

lavender house by lev a.c. rosen

fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe by fannie flagg

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid

a master of djinn by p. djeli clark

witchmark by c.l. polk

a marvellous light by freya marske

a restless truth by freya marske

when women were dragons by kelly barnhill

plain bad heroines by emily m. danforth

a lady for a duke by alexis hall

infamous by lex croucher

passing strange by ellen klages

even though i knew the end by c.l. polk

the chosen and the beautiful by nghi vo

whiskey when we're dry by john larison

wake of vultures by lila bowen

silver in the wood by emily tesh

the once and future witches by alix e. harrow

the kingdoms by natasha pulley

a tip for the hangman by allison epstein

she who became the sun by shelley parker-chan

the song of achilles by madeline miller

spear by nicola griffith

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir

some desperate glory by emily tesh

all systems red by martha wells

a psalm for the wild built by becky chambers

the mimicking of known successes by malka older

winter's orbit by everina maxwell

fireheart tiger by aliette de bodard

empress of salt and fortune by nghi vo

legends and lattes by travis baldree

the house in the cerulean sea by tj klune

other ever afters by melanie gillman

the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon

a day of fallen night by samantha shannon

a strange and stubborn endurance by foz meadows

the unbroken by c.l. clark

real queer america by samantha allen

fun home by alison bechdel

in the dream house by carmen maria machado

better living through birding by christian cooper

why fish don't exist by lulu miller

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this concept has been haunting me for a business week

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Okay, so that one little sketch was so much fun that I had to expand it a bit... :D