A review by smiorganbaldhead
The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson

4.0

I enjoyed this fun and light-hearted fantasy adventure. It his a very different tone compared to Dickson’s other big series, the Childe Cycle, showing an impressive degree of versatility as an author. The cast of side characters are a highlight, particularly Sir Brian and Aragh the English Wolf. I also liked the sandmirks, which are interesting and fearsome monsters. As a fan of Michael Moorcock and Poul Anderson, I liked the theme of law and chaos (here called history and chance), which made this story feel like an unofficial entry in the Eternal Champion series, though much lighter in tone than most of Moorcock’s heroic fantasy tales. The wizard's name Carolinus also felt like a nod to Moorcock, as a possible variant of Cornelius. Another interesting idea is that the use of magic has an interesting explicit cost. I wish more had been done with this idea, though it does play an important role at the very end. Overall a fun story and well worth reading.