Official Review: Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg

[CataclysmicKnight]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg" by Brian Singh.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg is a short story told in the style of an epic poem. Before I begin, I'd like to mention that the book is currently only 99 cents on Amazon for Kindle with no sign that it's a temporary sale. If you have a young child that you read stories to, you can probably skip this review and drop a buck on this one right now! My review is focused solely on my own reading experience as a lover of both poetry and fantasy.

To judge the book, I'll first have to discuss the "poem" half of "epic poem". The entire story is told in four-line stanzas that follow an ABAB rhyming pattern, as in "I read Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg/And now I'm doing a review./No, I wouldn't be pulling your leg/By saying I read it all the way through." There are a total of 48 stanzas throughout the five chapters of this book. Quite a few of these rhymes felt rather forced or had lines that wildly varied in syllable count. Shakespeare this is not, but read aloud properly to a young child Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg can be a fun, hilarious short story. While I was reading, I pictured having a crowd of little ones, performing my heart out for them!

As for the "epic" portion of "epic poem", this one falls rather flat. There's absolutely no character development, events come and go in the blink of an eye. Because of this, nothing feels truly adventurous and there's never a sense of tension or fear. And hey, where are the pictures? Sure this isn't officially a children's book, but they sure would come in handy during those epic readings to kids!

One last thing to note is that Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg appears to be the first in a line of Adam Sealon stories. I was unable to find any status or proof anywhere as I write this, but the poem ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, which is a shame... I became extremely fascinated by the idea of a high adventure epic poem featuring dragons the second I heard about this book and I'm a bit let down that I still don't know what happened at the end of Adam Sealon's tale! Brian Singh's bio speaks of a love of poetry, so I'd imagine that a sequel will be done in the same style, but honestly all I hope is that it comes soon - I really want to find out what happens!

Despite all the negativity I've thrown at this book over the last several paragraphs, it's a cute first release by Brian Singh and intro to Adam Sealon's tale. At only 99 cents, it's hard to pass up unless you don't have a child to read it to, I just wish it was released a few years ago and there was a packaged set to buy with the entire tale! All in all, Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg gets 2 out of 4 stars.

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Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg
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Like CataclysmicKnight's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Bsingh44]

Hello,

Thank you so much for this review. It has truly given me a sense of how much I still have to learn. Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg was my first attempt at this style of writing, and thanks to your review, I now see all of the areas where I can improve. Rest assured, Adam Sealon and the Giant Turtle (part 2 of the series) is expected to be released next month. Fortunately, it is much longer and a little bit slower in pace.

Thanks again,

Brian Singh

[CataclysmicKnight]

Hello,

Thank you so much for this review. It has truly given me a sense of how much I still have to learn. Adam Sealon and the Dragon's Egg was my first attempt at this style of writing, and thanks to your review, I now see all of the areas where I can improve. Rest assured, Adam Sealon and the Giant Turtle (part 2 of the series) is expected to be released next month. Fortunately, it is much longer and a little bit slower in pace.

Thanks again,

Brian Singh

Hey there Brian! I'm honored to hear from you! Is there any idea as to when next month it will be released? I genuinely do look forward to reading more of Adam Sealon's story, especially if we'll get some more depth in it writing a whole story in poetic format is no easy task, I've tried!

If you can nail down those few things, I have no doubt that the sequel will be something I encourage lots of friends to read (and adding a giant turtle already adds to how intrigued I am).

[ALynnPowers]

Thanks for the lovely review! Sounds like an interesting read.

[TammyO]

Very nice review. This sounds like a really interesting concept for a novel, it just needs a little revision.

[CataclysmicKnight]

Thanks for saying so ALynnPowers!!

Very nice review. This sounds like a really interesting concept for a novel, it just needs a little revision.

YES! Exactly! There's great potential here and I'm excited to see what the sequel delivers

[Bsingh44]

CatalclysmicKnight, Unfortunately, because I am still in school and have other priorities on top of my writing, I can not guarantee a release date for Adam Sealon and the Giant Turtle. Sorry. But I'm trying my best to get it finished as soon as possible.

I would, however, appreciate some advice, if that's ok with you. A lot of my readers, yourself included, have told me that my 1st book is GOOD...but short. What I want to know is, should I go back and make Dragon's Egg longer and republish it (and add illustrations) or should I just leave it as it is and just move on to the next book and focus on that.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[CataclysmicKnight]

CatalclysmicKnight, Unfortunately, because I am still in school and have other priorities on top of my writing, I can not guarantee a release date for Adam Sealon and the Giant Turtle. Sorry. But I'm trying my best to get it finished as soon as possible.

I would, however, appreciate some advice, if that's ok with you. A lot of my readers, yourself included, have told me that my 1st book is GOOD...but short. What I want to know is, should I go back and make Dragon's Egg longer and republish it (and add illustrations) or should I just leave it as it is and just move on to the next book and focus on that.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Hey again! I'm happy to help any way I can, and if you'd rather discuss anything privately feel free to send me a PM

As for your question, some length would definitely help it, but I can absolutely understand the desire to keep moving forward and release new books in the series. This was always a toughie when I made games: the first ones were pretty awful and as I continued making them, I got better and better, and I was always tempted to go back and polish the originals up. My personal advice is this: write the Giant Turtle and maybe at least one more before going back, so that when you do the book isn't as familiar to you and you can come at it with a fresh point of view and more experience. Especially with poetry and finding a few golden rhymes, nothing is harder than ripping some of that out when it's still so close to your heart.

And regarding the release date, it's hard to predict even if you were writing full time, I totally understand it's awesome you're doing this while also juggling school work!

[ALynnPowers]

I don't have a child to read this to.... can I still read it?

I love dragons.

And giant turtles...

[TLGabelman]

Have kids, will read!

[CataclysmicKnight]

I don't have a child to read this to.... can I still read it?

I love dragons.

And giant turtles...

Of course you can still read it! I don't have kids either but jumped at the opportunity to read it I'm definitely psyched for the giant turtle!

Have kids, will read!

And that's awesome!!! Let me know how it goes.

[bookowlie]

Great review! The book looks like an interesting read. All kids love dragons, and many adults, too! The cover art is also beautiful.

[ejcogan]

Awesome review! My daughter is reading these posts with me and said she wants to read it, so great job!

[CataclysmicKnight]

Thank you both very very much!!! That really means a lot! dragons definitely rock for both adults and kids, and I'm always extra proud to be able to reach kids. When I made games, I made em for kids primarily, so yay!

-- February 28th, 2015, 2:04 pm --

And I agree, the art for this book is awesome, as well as the art for the sequel!

[ALynnPowers]

Awesome review! My daughter is reading these posts with me and said she wants to read it, so great job!

This is awesome! How old is your daughter? I reviewed another book that she might like as well.