Customer Reviews

The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons: Buddhist Themes in Modern Fantasy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an enjoyable ( and rare) look at Buddhist themes in Western literature. I picked it up for the section on the His Dark Materials trilogy, but was drawn into the section on Tolkien, and was introduced to several works I had never heard of. Just as a book does not need to be explicitly Buddhist to illustrate Buddhist concepts, you don't need to be a Buddhist-or a fantasy reader- to enjoy the literary and spiritual insights of this book.

This is a wonderful book about buddhism. Its interesting how they have changed my perspective with it. I love reading and writing though and I think for someone who didn't it may not be the best, but if you are a writer or fantasy fan that is interested in buddhism its great. Then again I love almost anything written by David R. Loy!

As a graduate student specializing in religion I found this book wanting. If you're looking for a "soft" approach to finding spirituality in popular culture, then this book may be for you. Despite the autho'rs credentials this minimally researched book acts more as a stepping stone to creative thinking about identifying basic Buddhist concepts in fantasy writing than a serious attempt at scholarly inquiry. Often the connections are weak, but I commend Roy for his attempt because the field definitely needs more books that attend to Buddhist themes in popular culture. Instead, I would refer readers to the "Philosophy and XX" series that looks at specific movies/books such as The Matrix, The Lord of the Ring trilogy or The Simpsons.