Tuesday, May 9

DNF - The Dragon Griaule by Lucius Shepard


Author: Lucius Shepard
Title: The Dragon Griaule
Series: Dragon Griaule
Genre: Fantasy, Anthology, Short Stories, SciFi
Format: ebook
Pages: 432 
Published: May 31, 2012
Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon)

Summary: 
More than twenty-five years ago, Lucius Shepard introduced us to a remarkable fictional world, a world separated from our own “by the thinnest margin of possibility.” There, in the mythical Carbonales Valley, Shepard found the setting for “The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule,” the classic account of an artist—Meric Cattanay—and his decades long effort to paint—and kill—a dormant, not quite dead dragon measuring 6,000 feet from end to end. The story was nominated for multiple awards and is now recognized as one of its author’s signature accomplishments.

Over the years, Shepard has revisited this world in a number of brilliant, independent narratives that have illuminated the Dragon’s story from a variety of perspectives. This loosely connected series reached a dramatic crossroads in the astonishing novella, “The Taborin Scale”. The Dragon Griaule now gathers all of these hard to find stories into a single generous volume. The capstone of the book—and a particular treat for Shepard fans—is “The Skull,” a new 40,000 word novel that advances the story in unexpected ways, connecting the ongoing saga of an ancient and fabulous beast with the political realities of Central America in the 21st century. Augmented by a group of engaging, highly informative story notes, The Dragon Griaule is an indispensable volume, the work of a master stylist with a powerful—and always unpredictable—imagination.


Review:
Okay - so this was an Amazon freebie I got a few months ago. Decided to finally give this a read. 

This is a collection of shorts that take place in this fictional world. 

Did I miss something? Are there other books? I'm sure there are, but I had no idea going into this bad boy. Got this for free. I get the shorts tied into one another, but I couldn't help feeling like I was missing something. 

I never got hooked. I kept skimming and skimming and skimming. Nothing got me. I believe I got to about 42% or something like that before I shut the ebook and began downloading my next read. Yes, I think I am done. Maybe it is a me thing? Maybe I am the problem? The writing seemed okay, but I just could not get into this no matter how I tried. At one point when I opened the book, it opened up a couple pages before my bookmark and I didn't even realize so I obviously didn't obtain what I had read. Maybe I'll revisit it one day? Mmm.

So yes, DNF. Onto the next.   

4 comments:

Jen Twimom said...

"It's me, Hi, I'm the problem, it's me." LOL! Anyhow, sounds like there should have been something else first?

Carole Rae said...

Literally! I feel like the problem is me. So many people have loved it!

Blodeuedd said...

Getting to 42 is something, but good of you giving up

Carole Rae said...

I just really wanted to like it. But I realized I wasn't retaining anything. I honestly probably only seriously read like 25%.