Book Recommendation: The Unexpected Dragon by Mary Brown

The Unexpected Dragon is a 3-in-1 collection of Mary Brown’s Pigs Don’t Fly, Master of Many Treasures and Dragonne’s Eg. Fairly typical light historical fantasy fare, the first two books focus on a girl named Summer, who when her town concubine mother dies suddenly discovers she has no place in the town. Raised by a jealous mom to be fat, lazy and emotionally co-dependent she indulges herself in a bit of a rebellious streak and runs away from not-home.

Turns out her dad (who was killed as a supposed thief before she was born) was something of a traveler and over time acquired a ring made of unicorn horn. Through the ring Summer gains the abilities to talk to animals and danger sense. The former leads to Summer collecting a group of abandoned miscreants seeking home. One is a blinded, amnesiac lord who Summer has a mad crush on.

The third book is set in Victorian England as another strong but worn-down-by-life young woman finishes the quest left hanging by Summer in the second book.

All three stories are coming of age tales, but for me they had special significance because of the underlying themes of Summer overcoming self esteem and co-dependency issues, ruthlessly programmed in her by her mother, and Sophie trying to live well after being abandoned by her parents (they died, but psychologically it’s still abandonment) and being alone in a world with very restrictive rules, especially for a woman.

Said themes are present, but not overwhelming, and as a bonus while rape is clearly something that happens in the world setting, there is no “the heroine must be raped to be even more tragic/vulnerable” subtext.

The Unexpected Dragon is one of the surprising gems that I snagged from the Science Fiction book club in my teens out of a hunger for anything to read. It struck a chord for me, and is easy to overlook, which is sad. It’s definitely among my pass-down-to-my-kids library.