The Dragon Knight
#5933.88 adjusted 3.89 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 9 books Status Complete 1976–2000 Reading commitment High Gordon R. Dickson Last reviewed 2026-09-05
Overview
The Dragon Knight is a completed nine-novel portal-fantasy series by Gordon R. Dickson, published between 1976 and 2000, expanding his 1957 short story "St. Dragon and the George." It follows Jim Eckert, a modern American graduate student pulled into a parallel medieval fantasy world and transformed into a dragon, alongside his fiancee Angie, as he navigates courts of knights, wizards, dragons, and other magical beings to rescue her and later to hold his own place in that world's political order. The tone mixes genuine sword-and-sorcery adventure with comic culture-clash humor drawn from Jim's very unheroic modern habits and assumptions. The opening novel, The Dragon and the George (1976), won the British Fantasy Award. The series was substantially completed with The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent (2000) before Dickson's death in 2001, with a tenth, unfinished manuscript published posthumously; no further authorized continuations exist.
Portal fantasy, Comic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (9 works) counts toward ranking
The Dragon Knight Gordon R. Dickson
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Dragon and the George | 1976 | 1 | core | 3.90 (6,788 ratings) |
 | The Dragon Knight | 1990 | 2 | core | 3.91 (2,098 ratings) |
 | The Dragon on the Border | 1992 | 3 | core | 3.83 (1,248 ratings) |
 | The Dragon at War | 1992 | 4 | core | 3.88 (1,001 ratings) |
 | The Dragon, the Earl, and the Troll | 1994 | 5 | core | 3.83 (859 ratings) |
 | The Dragon and the Djinn | 1996 | 6 | core | 3.80 (793 ratings) |
 | The Dragon and the Gnarly King | 1997 | 7 | core | 3.85 (663 ratings) |
 | The Dragon in Lyonesse | 1998 | 8 | core | 3.86 (633 ratings) |
 | The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent | 2000 | 9 | core | 3.91 (590 ratings) |
Nine-novel portal-fantasy series (1976-2000) about Jim Eckert, a modern graduate student pulled into a parallel fantasy world and transformed into a dragon, who must navigate a mixed cast of dragons, knights and magical creatures to rescue his fiancee. Opened with a British Fantasy Award-winning novel expanded from a 1957 short story; completed with the ninth volume in 2000, before Dickson's death in 2001, no further installments planned or announced.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Dragon Knight? The Dragon Knight's Core Canon is 9 books.
- What is the reading order for The Dragon Knight? Publication order, starting with The Dragon and the George. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Dragon Knight finished? Complete (1976–2000).
- How much reading does The Dragon Knight take? High reading commitment (estimated from 9 Core Canon books).
- How is The Dragon Knight ranked? #593 in this site's official ranking, based on 14,673 reader ratings across 9 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #593?
Ranked #593 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.88 across 9 core books.
- A smaller readership (14,673 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 9 rated core books rate within 0.11 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #592, Faerie Tale (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 9 books · Complete · 15k ratings · Ranks #593 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running portal fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (9 Core Canon books)
- The Dragon and the George (1976)
- The Dragon Knight (1990)
- The Dragon at War (1992)
- The Dragon on the Border (1992)
- The Dragon, the Earl, and the Troll (1994)
- The Dragon and the Djinn (1996)
- The Dragon and the Gnarly King (1997)
- The Dragon in Lyonesse (1998)
- The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent (2000)
Documented internal/story order
- The Dragon and the George (1976)
- The Dragon Knight (1990)
- The Dragon on the Border (1992)
- The Dragon at War (1992)
- The Dragon, the Earl, and the Troll (1994)
- The Dragon and the Djinn (1996)
- The Dragon and the Gnarly King (1997)
- The Dragon in Lyonesse (1998)
- The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent (2000)
Awards (verified)
- British Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 1977: won: The Dragon and the George
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Suggestions computed from what The Dragon Knight and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Incarnations of Immortality Epic fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.02
- Myth Adventures Comic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.02
- The Invisible Library Portal fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 3.97
- Wayward Children Portal fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 3.94
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.88 across 14,673 ratings on 9 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Dragon Knight (Gordon R. Dickson) accepted 2026-09-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-09-05
Rule: Core Canon is the complete nine-book sequence: The Dragon and the George (1976), The Dragon Knight (1990), The Dragon on the Border (1992), The Dragon at War (1992), The Dragon, the Earl, and the Troll (1994), The Dragon and the Djinn (1996), The Dragon and the Gnarly King (1997), The Dragon in Lyonesse (1998), and The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent (2000).