A disgraced Roman nobleman finds an unlikely partnership with a dragon in Naomi Novik's ("Temeraire" series) "Vici," while in Tamora Pierce's "The Dragon's Tale," a young dragon struggles with communicating as she tries to do the right thing. The 19 original stories compiled by the award-winning editors in this dragon-themed collection were contributed by many of the genre's top-notch authors, including Diana Gabaldon, Peter S. Beagle, Tanith Lee, and Sean Williams. VERDICT Strong storytelling and new takes on a beloved fantasy topic result in a welcome addition to the literature of dragons. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Nineteen distinctly different, atmospheric tales by modern-day fantasy writers, the likes of Garth Nix, Harry Turtledove, Bruce Coville, Tanith Lee, and Mary Rosenblum, make this a treasure trove for fantasy fans, especially dragon lovers. Cecelia Holland weighs in with a heroine reminiscent of Scheherazade, but here, it's a dragon demanding the stories. In Jonathan Stroud's Bob Choi's Last Job, a dragon hunter comes up against a voracious shape-shifter. Liz Williams offers a mannered story in which a mage, summoned to vanquish a worm, encounters the unexpected. Nix depicts a radioactive man/dragon. In case you're wondering what a police officer is to do when a large dragon plops down in a busy Oakland intersection, Peter S. Beagle has the answer. Tad Williams' dragon tells her children the story of how in days of yore, when dragon-slayers existed, a stark and wormy knight came to slay her ancestor and rescue a damsel. All in all, an enticing collection for genre fans.--Estes, Sally Copyright 2009 Booklist