I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons Review

Review of “I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons

By Peter S. Beagle

            Robert inherited his father’s profession as a dragon exterminator, but he secretly loved and respected dragons.  Meanwhile, Princess Cerise had finally found her husband in Prince Reginald but had to make sure the dragons that caused chaos in her family’s castle were eliminated to impress the prince.  Her parents hired Robert, whom she had known as a child, to do the job.  While Prince Reginald had to prove his worth to his father by slaying a dragon and show he was a warrior like his father.  The three had to come together when an enemy of Reginald’s father returned with blood thirsty dragons that he created, and he wanted to use the dragons to punish Reginald’s father.

This read like fairytale with its story of Princes and Princess, wizards, and dragons, but it also commented on the tropes introduced in fairytales. The story defied expectations with its characters being different from what you expected and had a sense humor to it.   

Robert, one of our protagonists, would comment on what a hero is supposed to be and that he wasn’t one. Though, Robert was more heroic than Prince Reginald was as he is the one to face the dragon during the first encounter.  The other princes introduced in the second chapter had been portrayed as immature and whiny.  They had only wanted to marry Princess Cerise, because she was beautiful and they could rule her kingdom.  

Prince Reginald wasn’t warrior nor was he the pompous prince I had expected him to be.  He was honorable and humble as he acknowledged his failures to please his father.  Even when Reginald’s valet and Robert had agreed Reginald would take credit for slaying the dragon, though it was Robert who did it, Reginald refused to take credit for something he didn’t do.  

One of the things that surprised me about Robert was that he was so desperate to not have to be a dragon exterminator that he would rather be a valet to a prince. Even the Prince’s valet warned Robert it was a thankless job, but for Robert he knew would have been well paid and not have to kill dragons.  

Princess Cerise acted like a naïve child, but throughout the story she proved that she could be just as brave as the young men, even when she was afraid. I enjoyed her character, but her type of personality is often portrayed in these kinds of stories, so she didn’t stand out as a character for me.  I was amused that we were told royalty didn’t learn to read, but Cerise was determined to teach herself and I liked that about her.

            The setting was fun and whimsical, but I wanted more of this world to be explored.  I appreciated that Beagle took us to two different kingdoms that were completely different from each other.  I also liked the concept of the smaller dragons being seen as like house pets just roaming around the kingdom. 

I wished the antagonist had been introduced sooner in this story, instead of showing up halfway through the plot.  It felt as if Beagle just remembered the story needed an antagonist, especially since the plot didn’t go in a typical direction with having the prince be a prick, and not a threat to Robert or the kingdom.  I appreciated that the threat of the antagonist harming Prince Reginald allowed the reader to see that Reginald’s father did care about his son.  The antagonist was still a good and threatening character.  With the antagonist the story touches on the theme of who gets to play God and how just because we figure out doesn’t mean we should.  It was done in an uncomplicated way for a young reader to understand and added some danger for our protagonists to have to face and defeat.

Overall, the story was magical and full of humor.  There were familiar elements, but Beagle did different things with them and made the story more modern.  It did inspire me to check out more of his work in the future.