![]() ![]() ![]() The more the villagers fear the dragon and trust the mayor to save them (“I, alone, can fix it,” he crows), the more insular the town becomes: People turn against one another, all signs of community vanish - library, schoolhouse, park, even the trees - until the villagers of Stone-in-the-Glen languish in quasi lockdown, having lost all memory of what it means to be a neighbor. In Barnhill’s case, a dragon periodically appears to immolate an idyllic town called Stone-in-the-Glen, leaving the villagers reliant on its dragon-hunting mayor to keep the creature at bay. ![]() The ghost of Smaug haunts every new rendition, for Tolkien’s creature was that deft mix of threat, wickedness and sophistication, and every dragon since must find its way out of Smaug’s cave.īut two new books, Kelly Barnhill’s “The Ogress and the Orphans” and Christina Soontornvat’s “The Last Mapmaker,” toy with dragon tropes to highlight why humans succumb to this same old story - and the sheer force of will it takes to change the narrative. ![]() Some dragons are reptilian, others more birdlike some breathe fire, others ice some have twin heads or tails. It is only a matter of time in most fantasy novels before a parentless child on a hero’s journey runs toward or away from one to prove their mettle. THE LAST MAPMAKER By Christina Soontornvat THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS By Kelly Barnhill ![]()
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