Dragonslayer

Examine the novel’s engagement with the high fantasy genre. Drawing on the guide’s discussion of genre context, analyze how Sutherland subverts the traditional archetypes of the monstrous, treasure-hoarding dragon and the virtuous dragonslayer to critique simplistic binaries of good and evil.

How does Heath’s construction and defense of the “Dragonslayer” myth comment on the use of political propaganda in the real world? What argument(s) does the novel make about how power perpetuates itself by controlling history?

How does the novel, by contrasting Wren’s trauma-born empathy with Ivy’s intellectual quest for truth, explore different pathways to overcoming prejudice?

The dragon treasure is the catalyst for the novel’s central conflict. Trace the evolving symbolic meaning of the treasure and analyze how different characters’ relationships to it, including Heath, Stone, and the golden dragon, function as a measure of their moral character.

Analyze how physical spaces and acts of concealment throughout the novel reflect the psychological and political landscapes corrupted by secrets and lies.

Analyze how the novel uses the characters of Heath and Stone as foils to explore divergent responses to shared trauma and guilt.

From the Prologue, the reader is aware that Heath’s heroic legend is a lie. How does Sutherland employ dramatic irony to shape the reader’s judgment of the characters, particularly during Leaf’s quest for vengeance and Ivy’s investigation into her father’s past?

How does Rose’s subversion of the “damsel in distress” trope critique patriarchal constraints and redefine the novel’s concept of freedom?