Scan barcode
A review by eoghann
The 19 Dragons by S.M. Reine
5.0
This is a rather unique story/novella.
It's relatively short, which makes it an easy read and it plays with form quite a bit. There are chapter illustrations. Between chapter bits that I don't have a name for. And a few pages have only a sentence on them.
The method of telling the story is a little unusual to. We are conducted from character to character by an omniscient narrator who seems aware of past and present. And each chapter focuses on one of the 19 Dragons. It's a collection of scenes, characters and short stories that somehow comes together to tell a story.
Did I mention it's written in the present tense? I don't really like reading things that are in the present tense, yet it didn't bother me much at all here. Maybe because it's such an unusual concoction to begin with.
The setting is a mixture of steampunk and fantasy. The story has a dreamlike aura to it. Details are sketched in but many of the underpinnings aren't explained. It doesn't seem to matter. Somehow it holds together anyway.
It's really quite a gem.
It's relatively short, which makes it an easy read and it plays with form quite a bit. There are chapter illustrations. Between chapter bits that I don't have a name for. And a few pages have only a sentence on them.
The method of telling the story is a little unusual to. We are conducted from character to character by an omniscient narrator who seems aware of past and present. And each chapter focuses on one of the 19 Dragons. It's a collection of scenes, characters and short stories that somehow comes together to tell a story.
Did I mention it's written in the present tense? I don't really like reading things that are in the present tense, yet it didn't bother me much at all here. Maybe because it's such an unusual concoction to begin with.
The setting is a mixture of steampunk and fantasy. The story has a dreamlike aura to it. Details are sketched in but many of the underpinnings aren't explained. It doesn't seem to matter. Somehow it holds together anyway.
It's really quite a gem.