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A review by arachan
The Dragon of Ynys by Minerva Cerridwen
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.25
I really wanted to like this book. I really wanted to like it. It's a queer inclusive fairy tale featuring DRAGONS! What's not to like!?
Well, the fact that it's not actually a story.This is a story with no meaningful conflict, no clear motivation and no real plot. The premise - a dragon that has historically limited itself to petty theft, more a game than actual threat, has suddenly elected to steal away a person - is compelling. But the tension of that worry lasts for maybe four pages. The Knight Violet goes into the cave, angry and threatening the dragon with a mob with pitchforks, and....the dragon denies it.
Violet's reponse can be paraphrased as "oh, terribly sorry to have bothered you then."
It turns out that the 'stolen' woman has in fact run away! To solve transphobia by means of magic spider webs. This is somehow much less interesting than it sounds. The 'missing' woman turns up, unharmed and unchanged about halfway into the book. No further repercussions but the point at which the book nearly gotten thrown out a window was when the party returns to the village, the inciting incident - the transphobic conversation that spurred the fleeing woman to go forth to spread stories of people who are different - was actually just a misunderstanding!
The nibling, who had gotten a negative response from their mother for sharing that they were not actually a boy, skips into the bakery wearing a dress specially sewn for them by that same mother who explains that she wasn't being transphobic! She was just worry-dumping onto her sister! This changes nothing because most of the plot has happened.
There is one final flourish where Violet confronts the bandit who behaved flirtatiously to him and admits he is both asexual and aromantic. The idea that he would have to interact with someone who had smiled flirtatiously at him and might want more was Violet's biggest worry through the story. I did not feel sympathetic to him at this point.
Well, the fact that it's not actually a story.
Violet's reponse can be paraphrased as "oh, terribly sorry to have bothered you then."
It turns out that the 'stolen' woman has in fact run away! To solve transphobia by means of magic spider webs. This is somehow much less interesting than it sounds. The 'missing' woman turns up, unharmed and unchanged about halfway into the book. No further repercussions but the point at which the book nearly gotten thrown out a window was when the party returns to the village, the inciting incident - the transphobic conversation that spurred the fleeing woman to go forth to spread stories of people who are different - was actually just a misunderstanding!
The nibling, who had gotten a negative response from their mother for sharing that they were not actually a boy, skips into the bakery wearing a dress specially sewn for them by that same mother who explains that she wasn't being transphobic! She was just worry-dumping onto her sister! This changes nothing because most of the plot has happened.
There is one final flourish where Violet confronts the bandit who behaved flirtatiously to him and admits he is both asexual and aromantic. The idea that he would have to interact with someone who had smiled flirtatiously at him and might want more was Violet's biggest worry through the story. I did not feel sympathetic to him at this point.