Sign of the Dragon - Outside of a Dog

English language

Published May 6, 2020 by Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc..

ISBN:: 9781625674906

No rating (1 review)

2021 Elgin Award winner! Drawing on Chinese and Mongolian elements, award-winning poet Mary Soon Lee has penned an epic tale of politics, intrigue, and dragons perfect for fans of Game of Thrones and Beowulf.

As the fourth-born prince of Meqing, Xau was never supposed to be king. But when his three older brothers are all deemed unfit to rule and eaten by a dragon, as is the custom, Xau suddenly finds himself on the Meqinese throne. The early years of his reign are marred by brutal earthquakes and floods, and the long-simmering tension with the neighboring country of Innis finally erupts into war. Worst of all, demons rise out of legend to walk the realm again, leaving death and destruction in their wake. In a desperate gamble, Xau must broker an uneasy peace with his former enemies and hope their combined strength is enough to vanquish the demons before it's …

2021 Elgin Award winner! Drawing on Chinese and Mongolian elements, award-winning poet Mary Soon Lee has penned an epic tale of politics, intrigue, and dragons perfect for fans of Game of Thrones and Beowulf.

As the fourth-born prince of Meqing, Xau was never supposed to be king. But when his three older brothers are all deemed unfit to rule and eaten by a dragon, as is the custom, Xau suddenly finds himself on the Meqinese throne. The early years of his reign are marred by brutal earthquakes and floods, and the long-simmering tension with the neighboring country of Innis finally erupts into war. Worst of all, demons rise out of legend to walk the realm again, leaving death and destruction in their wake. In a desperate gamble, Xau must broker an uneasy peace with his former enemies and hope their combined strength is enough to vanquish the demons before it's too late.

THE SIGN OF THE DRAGON is comprised of over 300 individual poems, including the Rhysling-winning "Interregnum." The first 60 poems appeared in the 2015 Dark Renaissance Books publication Crowned, which won the 2016 Elgin Award, and many individual poems have appeared in award-winning literary magazines such as Fantasy & Science Fiction, Spillway, and Strange Horizons. Collected together in its entirety for the very first time, with over 200 never-before-published poems, readers can finally enjoy King Xau's story of sacrifice and war and dragons from beginning to end.

1 edition

MH Thaung reviewed Sign of the Dragon by Mary Soon Lee

Epic fantasy in an unexpectedly appealing poetry format

No rating

I’m not especially a reader of poetry, with the exception of Homer’s The Odyssey, which I have in various prose, free verse and rhyming verse translations. The Sign of the Dragon caught my eye because of the epic scope it suggested. I found it an easy read in terms of both comprehending the language and following the storyline.

I liked the presentation as a set of individual poems which went together to make up a full story. Xau is noble, responsible, larger than life and too good to be true, although he has his moments as a vulnerable human. Similarly, the forces acting against him are irredeemably, grossly evil (other than those that are misled or bewitched). I don’t think such characters would have worked at all well presented in prose. In poetry, we can appreciate the vignettes of Xau’s life and his situations more… symbolically? without worrying too …

I’m not especially a reader of poetry, with the exception of Homer’s The Odyssey, which I have in various prose, free verse and rhyming verse translations. The Sign of the Dragon caught my eye because of the epic scope it suggested. I found it an easy read in terms of both comprehending the language and following the storyline.

I liked the presentation as a set of individual poems which went together to make up a full story. Xau is noble, responsible, larger than life and too good to be true, although he has his moments as a vulnerable human. Similarly, the forces acting against him are irredeemably, grossly evil (other than those that are misled or bewitched). I don’t think such characters would have worked at all well presented in prose. In poetry, we can appreciate the vignettes of Xau’s life and his situations more… symbolically? without worrying too much about realism.

So, despite my not being a reader of poetry, I’ll be watching out for more of the author’s works. Highly recommended.