Publication Date: May 14, 2024
Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax (just call him Robert) is a dragon exterminator who hates his job. His dream is to work for a prince as his valet and he’s burdened with the incredible guilt of killing dragons which, in his home kingdom of Bellemontagne, infest homes like vermin. He trained with his father and now 18-year-old Robert has his own apprentice. When Robert is called by the King to exterminate the dragons in the walls of the castle, Robert is thrust into an adventure which will either be the end of him or the beginning of a new life.
Back in July, I stopped in at River Bookshop, my local indie bookstore, and asked the young person working the till for a book recommendation telling them that I am a big fan of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett and am always looking for authors like them. They recommended I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. While technically falling into the YA category, this book is spot on to the whimsical spirit of Pratchett. This is why you patronize your local Indie booksellers’ folks; I never would have picked up this book without the recommendation.
When we meet Robert, he’s living with his mother and siblings and sneaking some of the dragons that he can’t bear to kill (and can sneak past those folks that might be worried by a purposely infested dwelling) into his home as pets. There is a sense that keeping dragons as pets may be illegal but, if that’s the case, I missed that line in the book. He has two companions, his assistant and a childhood friend that moons over him. He has a dream of one day working as a valet for royalty but feels his low birth gives him few options. I don’t believe we’re told when his father died but we know that Robert never wanted to inherit his job. Exterminators are a necessary evil and generally the job is considered the very low end of the workforce. Robert’s issue is less with the status and more that he doesn’t want to kill the dragons. We see his skill. We don’t meet any other exterminators but we know he is on that is unusually and exceptionally skilled and yet Robert is very unhappy.
On the other side of town, Princess Cerise is beset by suitors and bored by them. The suitors, a variety of prince’s, are described separately but generally read as though the castle isn’t only infested with dragons, if you know what I mean. In Beagle’s world, aristocracy don’t do anything as basic as learn to read. Cerise is not like other princesses in that she craves knowledge and is teaching herself to read and write. It’s on one of those forays for her isolated trek from the castle to study in private that Prince Reginald of Corvina crosses her path. He is everything the princes stacked up and waiting for her to grant them an audience are not. He’s handsome and strong and looks like a hero. In a world where no one is what they seem to be, Prince Reginald is a man out to prove himself to his father for whom conquest and bravado comes before all else.
Beagle’s writing style is descriptive and engaging and his characters grow and are changed by their negative experiences in realistic ways. Robert wants out of the life he’s been living, Reginald wants respect, and Cerise wants purpose. There is follow through with what we expect and who we meet of the characters that are main to the story but met along the way. The plot is slow moving at points and there are some interactions that go on perhaps long which will lose the attention of younger readers who won’t engage as much with the world building. That said, Beagle’s writing style in I’m Afraid You’ve got Dragons is vivid and beautiful. He takes his time painting the dragons for the reader, conveying their power and beauty. Things happen quickly when they’re no longer little house dragons and what they can do puts a new spin on what we may have read before.
There are few absolutes and readers may find themselves feeling sorry for the antagonist. This reader felt that more could have been done with that story, but I understand, as this is a YA book, why that story may have been abbreviated. In the end, not everything is resolved, not everyone survives, but we end at a good point with most characters on their way to who they want to be in a way that leaves a smile on the readers face.
The book is rated for age 9 and is while there is violence, and death is perfectly appropriate for that age group. Younger children may struggle to embrace or relate to the darker themes but there is something for everyone and avid fantasy readers will enjoy the world that Beagle has built….and probably ask their parents for a pet dragon.
I really enjoyed I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons. If you like fantasy novels full of adventure and in the spirit of Terry Pratchett, you will too. Pick it up today.
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