Dragons seem to be of unending interest to readers, and this volume in the “X-Books: Mythical Creatures” series (6 titles) capitalizes on that, taking a sweeping look at dragons as they appear in various mythologies across the globe. The focus, upfront, is on East versus West: the text highlights the difference between dragons in European mythologies and Asian mythologies, while calling out various famous dragons throughout legend and literature and touching on basic stats. Some source notes wouldn’t have gone amiss here, especially since there’s some contradiction between mythologies, and the book could have benefited from better organization—the design does little to help structure the content, and the decision to integrate pop culture references into the discussion of cultural lore, instead of using sidebars, can be perplexing. Still, the subject will attract readers, and this certainly has range.
–Maggie Reagan, Booklist , 10/1/2019
