Books with Dragons on the Cover

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. The meme was originally the brainchild of The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is a cover freebie.

Dragonriders of Pern – Anne McCaffrey

Mention dragons, and most sci-fi and fantasy lovers over a certain age will immediately think of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern. I’m old enough to have imprinted on this series in my teens—both the novels, and the distinctive covers by Michael Whalen, who illustrated the books from their first publication until well into the series. His smooth-skinned, powerfully muscled dragons match McCaffrey’s descriptions pretty closely, and it’s clear that from at least The White Dragon on, he either read the books or was given a very good summary. However, when it came time to publish the paperback editions of the YA duology (as it was then) of Dragonsong and Dragonsinger (which had been illustrated in hardcover by someone else), the publisher turned to illustrator Elizabeth Malczynski, whose medieval, stained-glass inspired styling for these covers perfectly suits the smaller fire lizards and the feudal society described in the book. The earlier hardcover cover illustrations were simpler and show full-size dragons, which are less important in the overall plotline. Personally, I prefer the Malcynski covers for these two books.

Temeraire series – Naomi Novik

While we’re on the subject of dragon-rider partnerships, I love the new cover art by Rovina Cai for Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series—and the way that the spine art aligns to make a picture, as well.

More dragon books I have read and loved

More books I love with dragons on the cover… I have read and enjoyed all of these, and recommend them if you haven’t read them. Several of them are book #1 in a series, and each author has a different take on dragons. That Hobbit cover is Tolkien’s own drawing of Smaug. Marie Brennan’s book contains some illustrations (at least in hardcover), in the naturalist/scientific style of the cover illustration. I love the antique woodcut look of the original Seraphina cover, and the colors of The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart. The dragon on the cover Dealing with Dragons is giving attitude (totally appropriate!), and the darling little shoulder dragon on the Scales and Sensibility cover makes me think of McCaffrey’s fire lizards again. The Tea Dragon Society is just enchanting, and Michael Hague’s illustration for The Reluctant Dragon is one of my favorite of his works. As for Li Ming’s work on Merlin and the Dragons, just wow!

Dragon covers on my TBR

And finally, seven books with dragons on the cover that I own and want to read, but haven’t gotten around to yet! Of these seven, I think the three in the middle row and the one on the bottom are my favorite covers in terms of the art and the way the dragons are portrayed, but I also really love the stylized dragon face on To Shape a Dragon’s Breath. Just a side note: I’m a huge fan of both Jody Lee, who did the cover art for The Book of Earth (as well as all of Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar books, going right back to the first trilogy) and of illustrator P.J. Lynch, whose art graces the picture book Three Tasks for a Dragon.

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