Before the creation of humankind the world was dominated by a dragon civilisation. The dragons told amazing stories of the creation of their universe and the bringing of colour, music and laughter. In the beginning the First Dragon, Qinmeartha, created water, fire, earth and life but all was grey. It fell to a Lesser dragon called Syor to bring colour to creation. Other dragons then came to protect Secrets, Dreams and Memories. Finally the Dragons decided to leave a sign for future civilisations. A sign that should last for eternity. That sign was to be Dragonhenge.

Dragonhenge is a wonderful combination of the art of Bob Eggleton and the prose of John Grant. Grant has written a series of tales of dragon mythology that are punctuated by some stunning examples of fantasy art.

Bob Eggleton's images cover a wide range of styles. He frequently combines black and white pencil/charcoal sketches with vivid colours as in the two magnificent double page illustrations accompanying 'The Dream of Qinmeartha', the book's opening tale.

There are many examples of Eggleton's more familiar powerful oils, with the opening illustration in the tale 'The Two Anyas and the Coming of the Ice Dragons' (p. 61) showing a wonderfully 'realistic' dragon against a grim and fiery mountain, and a double page spread (p. 84/85) later in that same tale.

But the real surprise for me were the pencil sketches. These are not the kind of illustration I expect when reading a fantasy art book, with the exception of some details on 'how it was done' found in some volumes. But here these sketches are part of the finished product, and quite magnificent they are too. It shows Eggleton's skill that with a few pencil marks on a piece of paper vast landscapes and huge powerful beasts are conveyed to the reader. For a wonderful example just turn to pages 110/111 in the book's penultimate section 'The Dragon Under the Sea'.

Grant's prose is lyrical and transports the reader into the world of dragon mythology. He masterfully draws you into the histories and mythos of the dragon race, giving a greater depth to the book than may have been possible from the art alone. Often the text in a fantasy art book is interesting but ultimately will always be secondary to the images, and rightly so with most other volumes. Here it is different as the two elements combine beautifully.

Overall this is a glorious book. A truly successful collaboration. As a confirmed dragonphile, reading this made for a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday afternoon.