The Dragon of Ynys

I feel all warm inside after reading this adorable original fairy tale. Sir Violet is the lone knight of an isolated village, responsible for investigating local crimes. A dragon moves into the area and keeps nicking small items from the villagers, which brings him to Violet's attention. Eventually, Violet (who is aro-ace), the dragon, and a trans lesbian go on a quest to find her wife. Then, they all carry out a plan to improve their world, in a manner that both fits a fairy tale and is a metaphor for real life. This is a short work, but it tells a complete story. I'd even say it's epic in scope, just in a subtle way. It's told from Violet's point of view only, but all of the major characters have distinct voices and personalities. There aren't a lot of physical descriptions, but I have very clear mental images of all of them. I also appreciate that all of the characters have some flaws; for example, Snap cares a lot about humans, but he can be a bit inconsiderate, because he has such different everyday concerns from theirs, while Violet often worries about food and safety and really does prefer solitude, although he does appreciate his new friends. This is a fairy tale, and every character gets a happy ending, but they aren't romantic or even friendship-based happy endings. Rather, every character finds acceptance and/or a fulfilling purpose. It's really nice to read a story that includes not only lots of familiar fairy tale elements, but also a variety of characters, who all achieve different types of happiness.While I definitely enjoyed the story immensely, this would also be a great book for kids, with its gentle humor and positive lessons about acceptance and being true to oneself. There's no violence or strong language of any kind. Really, I would recommend it to anyone. I was eager to read this book because of how much I enjoyed the author's short story (which also features an aro-ace protagonist) in the lovely anthology [b:Unburied Fables 32326669 Unburied Fables Tiffany Rose https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1475347178s/32326669.jpg 52960536]. I look forward to her next release.

This all-ages fantasy story is uplifting, inclusive, and comforting. The banter between Sir Violet and Snap the dragon is witty and clever with touches of sarcasm, but the humor never gets mean. It's a lighthearted read that nevertheless presents a deep message about acceptance of self and others. Short enough that it can be read fairly quickly, it's a great comfort read — I have re-read it a few times when the world has seemed grim, and it never fails to lift me up.

I have the paperback edition (Atthis Arts, 2020) and it's beautifully typeset with a lovely cover and overall excellent quality of printing and paper.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was simply BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! The amount of Diversity in this has me SOBBING!!!!!!! No joke, this is the first book in a While to make me actually cry!!!!! Also, the writing was just GORGEOUS!!!!!!! I really Really wish there had been more stories like this out when I was a child, because I really think it would have helped me a Lot!!!!! I'm so SO Glad I read this!!!!!!! The story itself was AMAZING!!!!!!! Highly HIGHLY recommend if anyone is looking for a good diverse fantasy!!!!! Especially the 2020 republished version, because the afterward by Minerva is also something I think is Super important!!!!!!!!

I read the more recent (revised 2020) edition, with the pink cover. The author went out of their way to fix problems readers had, and talks about this in the afterward. While I still had some problems, I'm willing to accept this is an older work, and don't want to give the impression I think they should keep revising this forever.

This is ultimately a story about acceptance. Most characters are really just looking to be themselves, and trying to find a way to encourage everyone to accept them for who they really are. There's a variety of trans characters, and a lot of time spent on hearing everyone's pronouns and stories. Everyone is named after a plant/flower - even the dragon, who it took me way too long to realize was a pun around snapdragons.

It wasn't bad. The writing felt pretty amateurish and characters really lacked a distinct voice - which is weird to say, considering they all were unique. Too much of the dialogue, if you removed the context, could have been said by any character in the cast - including the dragon.

I typically seek out books about dragons, and this one sounded like it had a fun premise and was inclusive. It was written sort of like a folk tale, but I honestly don't feel that fits just from how much specific dialogue there was. It was light on action and had lots of conversations on lgbt acceptance. I understand including those are important, but there wasn't a lot of meat to the rest of the story - it feels like it had a message and it only cared about that. Having an obvious message isn't a bad thing, but don't neglect the rest of the fluff along the way.

I felt the acearo person was handled strangely and was underwhelming. His main purpose in the plot, despite being the main POV, was “I've met the dragon before, maybe he can help us find the baker's wife.” One of the final conversations really rubbed me wrong: He confronts a woman who had been flirting with him a bit too aggressively and asks her to stop, saying he just isn't interested (but is okay being friends). She then says she's still going to give him pet names, and blows him a kiss. It really... feels like she's going almost exactly back to what she was doing before, but now he's okay with it? I think this might have just been a bad way to show she's respecting his boundaries. The woman also explains she'd flirted with him specifically because others were pointing spears at the party, so she was trying to be friendly - but... it was blatant sexual harassment? And considering everyone was threatening them, that actually makes the situation even worse? Just weird all around.

Overall it was pretty fun and cute. I think my main gripe with the story was... it's a fantasy. It can be anything. You could write a world that's already accepting and inclusive, and instead have a fun romp. It's a bummer to me that the author created a fantasy world that's still working on acceptance.