The Sign of the Dragon
Reddit take
Not enough linked mention summaries yet; the source excerpts below are the evidence.
Pros
- The most distinctive part of the story is definitely its form, because Lee decided to tell Xau's biography via poems! The result is a really cool version of a traditional hero story. Recommended!
- Five stars. ... An impressive assortment of poetic styles, beautiful illustrations, and SO MANY HORSES. This book broke my heart over and over and the ending had me sobbing into my pillow
- Five stars. I'm loving doing the readalong, but couldn't wait to find out what happened so I finished early. An impressive assortment of poetic styles, beautiful illustrations, and SO MANY HORSES. This book broke my heart over and over a...
- An impressive assortment of poetic styles, beautiful illustrations, and SO MANY HORSES. This book broke my heart over and over and the ending had me sobbing into my pillow
- I've been on an obnoxious quest to make everyone I know read it (as you know lol) since 2021 because it's a truly unique piece of literature. Even people that don't end up liking it usually end up appreciating aspects of it and they reco...
Cons
- Yeah, to be honest I liked the ending way less than the earlier part
- I did find it interesting that Lee chose to have the same evil be the antagonist of the book but show up in three different forms, instead of keeping it to a single form, or just two. I think in some way it maybe weakened the book a litt...
- I didn't like the poems from the perspective of the monster solely because I thought the rhyming was weak. It made it seem too much like a children's rhyme and detracted too much from the gravity and took me out of the story.
- Xau self-sacrificing was a pretty continuous motif throughout the story, so this felt like a rather expected ending from me. I didn't end up crying... In the end, I think it mostly boils down to me being a utilitarian and feeling that hi...
- I found The Sign of the Dragon here as well and am super grateful about it too. Though since it was presented as „similar mood to Goblin Emperor" I was completely unprepared for the last third 😭
Sentiment
24 positive (83%) · 4 mixed (14%) · 1 negative (3%)
Trust + time weighted score: +73% · raw score 79%
What redditors said (10 of 29)
Yeah, to be honest I liked the ending way less than the earlier part
The most distinctive part of the story is definitely its form, because Lee decided to tell Xau's biography via poems! The result is a really cool version of a traditional hero story. Recommended!
Five stars. ... An impressive assortment of poetic styles, beautiful illustrations, and SO MANY HORSES. This book broke my heart over and over and the ending had me sobbing into my pillow
Five stars. I'm loving doing the readalong, but couldn't wait to find out what happened so I finished early. An impressive assortment of poetic styles, beautiful illustrations, and SO MANY HORSES. This book broke my heart over and over and the ending had me sobbing into my pillow
An impressive assortment of poetic styles, beautiful illustrations, and SO MANY HORSES. This book broke my heart over and over and the ending had me sobbing into my pillow
I've been on an obnoxious quest to make everyone I know read it (as you know lol) since 2021 because it's a truly unique piece of literature. Even people that don't end up liking it usually end up appreciating aspects of it and they recognize that it's doing something very different while still adhering to the Fantasy genre, tropes and all.
I wasn't sold on this book at first (the opening section in particular was rough in how it used alliteration). It got better and better the more I read it, and I'm glad I stuck with it. I've already handed it off to a friend who expressed interest in it
I loved him. I think it helps that the way this is told is reminiscent of an old epic or a ballad, and those tend to have very moral and upstanding protagonists.
I did find it interesting that Lee chose to have the same evil be the antagonist of the book but show up in three different forms, instead of keeping it to a single form, or just two. I think in some way it maybe weakened the book a little, but I also still love it.
I didn't like the poems from the perspective of the monster solely because I thought the rhyming was weak. It made it seem too much like a children's rhyme and detracted too much from the gravity and took me out of the story.
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