Hellboy: The Dragon Pool by Christopher Golden is the sixth Hellboy novel, a spin-off series of standalone books about the iconic Dark Horse Comics character. High up in the Himalayan Mountains, archaeologist Dr. Anastasia Bransfield believes she has made a fantastic discovery: the ancient site of the dwelling of the legendary Dragon King, which used to rule the land with devastating power, demanding a child sacrifice for placation. Dr. Bransfield’s elation at her discovery is short-lived, however, as strange creatures begin lurking around the site, equipment has been sabotaged, and a colleague’s young daughter has gone missing. Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. may be her only hope at preserving lives and salvaging her work, but with them having been romantically involved once upon a time, putting their past behind them may just be their biggest challenge.

Though I significantly prefer Hellboy stories in their traditional medium as comic books, the Hellboy novels and short story collections typically make for at least some pulpy fun. I’ve been fairly lukewarm on the novels specifically for the most part, though the last one I read back in 2021, The God Machine, was the best one I had read thus far. For some reason, however, I’ve always had a feeling about this one; something about it screamed to me that I wouldn’t care for it much, and I was right.

I’ve said this before, but it continues to confuse me that Golden’s works of prose for Hellboy are always given the distinction of canon status, and I’ve never wondered about this more than I have with this book. In many respects, the novel is actually quite serviceable; Hellboy is accompanied by recurring series characters such as his father Trevor Bruttenholm and fellow agent Abe Sapien, and all of them feel appropriately characterized, their voices as characters fairly well realized. Dr. Bransfield, as much as I remember her from her first appearance in The Lost Army, is written fine as well with no inconsistencies that I could detect.

Where this novel loses me is that the story feels like it’s just going through the motions. There are some neat ideas early on, such as a village of locals who are secretly shapeshifting half-dragon people hellbent on stopping the Dragon King from being awakened, but it felt like they were summarily handled, and I can’t say for certain that their presence really made much of a difference other than filling out the first half. Later, when the Dragon King does arise, he’s really just a force of nature. Presumably he’s capable of higher thought, but nothing of the sort really gets expressed; he’s not a character. He comes and goes from his lair until he is dealt with.

The truly interesting parts of the story, though fleeting, are the flashbacks that go into some depth about Hellboy’s past relationship with Dr. Bransfield, which actually held some decent stakes and were able to get into some depth with a side of Hellboy we don’t really see anywhere else (in the comics he is virtually never romantically involved with anybody). My biggest takeaway from a book that is a fairly by-the-numbers adventure is that it probably should have been about something else. I already know they won’t rekindle things, as Bransfield is rarely if ever mentioned outside of Golden’s books, so why not dedicate an entire novel to their relationship and how/why it ended? The more subdued pining and occasional friction just didn’t lead to anything substantial, and fundamentally nothing changes about their relationship, except for maybe some simple closure.

Final Thoughts

I almost skipped reviewing this one, but I’ve reviewed all the other Hellboy books I’ve read before this one, so I didn’t want to leave it out. Hellboy: The Dragon Pool is technically a decent book: the setting was pretty well realized, its locales still distinct enough in my imagination nearly two months later, and familiar characters are faithfully portrayed. The threat of the Dragon King had some weight to it too, though it was a little bland. It just didn’t hit that sweet spot where I can consider pulpy schlock to be fun. It just felt disposable. Hellboy’s love life feels like the main hook for this story, but it’s treated more as an undercurrent to the events taking place, put on the back burner when their relationship probably deserved a novel all its own.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5