Dragoncharm is a fantasy novel written by Graham Edwards

Graham Edwards (writer)

Graham Edwards is an English author of fantasy and crime novels. His most popular books have generally featured dragons as their central characters....

. The novel was first published in 1995 by Voyager Books (UK) and HarperPrism (US). It is the first book in the Ultimate Dragon Saga trilogy, and its sequels are Dragonstorm

Dragonstorm

Dragonstorm is a fantasy novel written by Graham Edwards. The novel was first published in 1996 by Voyager Books and HarperPrism . It is the second book in the Ultimate Dragon Saga trilogy...

 and Dragonflame

Dragonflame

Dragonflame is a fantasy novel written by Graham Edwards. The novel was first published in 1997 by Voyager Books and HarperPrism . It is the final book in the Ultimate Dragon Saga trilogy...

.

Dragoncharm is written entirely from the point of view of a range of dragon

Dragon

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...

 characters as they struggle to survive in a world that is rejecting magic. Much like the animal characters in Richard Adams' Watership Down

Watership Down

Watership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language , proverbs, poetry, and mythology...

 and William Horwood

William Horwood (novelist)

William Horwood is an English novelist. He grew up on the East Kent coast, primarily in Deal, within a model modern family—fractious with "parental separation, secret illegitimacy, alcoholism and genteel poverty"....

's Duncton Wood

Duncton Wood

Duncton Wood is the title of the first novel by author William Horwood, as well as a six-volume fantasy series to which it was later extended.- Overview :...

, the dragons are anthropomorphised, displaying a large array of human characteristics, relationships and emotions.

In 1995 the British Fantasy Society

British Fantasy Society

The British Fantasy Society began in 1971 as the British Weird Fantasy Society, an offshoot of the British Science Fiction Association. The society is dedicated to promoting the best in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres....

 nominated Dragoncharm for Best Novel of the year.http://www.britishfantasysociety.org.uk/info/nom/1995.htm

Plot introduction

The novel is populated by two species of dragons:

• Charmed dragons are of an older, magical order and have four legs as well as wings. However, due to their proficiency with magic, wings are not needed to fly and thus these limbs take on a more decorative role. They also use magic to breathe fire and change their bodies at will.
• Natural dragons use no magic, and have just four limbs, using their forelimbs to fly rather like bats, or wyvern
  Wyvern
  A wyvern or wivern is a legendary winged reptilian creature with a dragon's head, two legs , and a barbed tail. The wyvern is found in heraldry. There exists a purely sea-dwelling variant, termed the Sea-Wyvern which has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail...
  
  s. Many Natural dragons show fear and hatred of the Charmed, and around the time of the events of the novel, they greatly outnumber the older, dying race.

Plot summary

The story begins with the destruction of the dragon settlement, South Point, home to Fortune, a young Natural dragon. Fleeing, he joins with the Charmed dragon Cumber on a desperate quest to reach the fabled citadel of the Charmed at Covamere. As they journey, the two dragons witness the growing conflict between the Charmed and the Naturals, which threatens to culminate in all-out war between the two species. They encounter signs everywhere that magic is leaving the world: trolls lie dying beneath the landscape, giants build enigmatic stone circles and faeries are evolving into proto-humans.

The two dragon armies come together. Leading the Naturals is an insane dragon named Shatter, while the Charmed commander is a military monster called Wraith. Wraith's ambition is to breach the Maze of Covamere, at the very centre of which lies the ultimate power of the Seed of Charm.

Fortune and Cumber, along with a growing band of companions from both races (including Gossamer, Brace, Scoff, Velvet, and others), thread their way through the conflict, seeking a way to unite both dragon species to face the greater threat that faces them all: the world is turning its back on magic and all dragons are facing extinction. When Fortune finally faces Wraith inside the Maze of Covamere, both dragons learn a dark secret from their shared past. When the ancient, immortal basilisk

Basilisk

In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk is a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power to cause death with a single glance...

 Ocher enters the fray, even Fortune is tempted by the power offered by the Seed of Charm.

Dragoncharm ends in the aftermath of the turning of the world, the very moment when magic departs, leaving in its wake the natural world we humans know today. The story, following the lives of the surviving dragons, is picked up in Dragonstorm

Dragonstorm

Dragonstorm is a fantasy novel written by Graham Edwards. The novel was first published in 1996 by Voyager Books and HarperPrism . It is the second book in the Ultimate Dragon Saga trilogy...

.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Dragoncharm was optioned for a movie in 1996 by UK production group Dandelion Distributions. It was to be directed by Bob Keen and followed by a TV series of thirteen episodes. The adaptation would have been a mix of CGI and animatronics, using real locations as backgrounds. However nothing came of the plans and the rights are once again the author's property. More information including concept artwork can be viewed on a page on the author's website and a page on the fansite Loving Dragoncharm.

External links

• Official author's website
• Loving Dragoncharm (fansite)
• Dragoncharm on Voyager Online
• Excerpt from Dragoncharm (PDF format)