3 out of 4 stars
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When choosing the next book to read, there were two things that led to me deciding to read Becoming the Dragon by Alex Sapegin. First, the book was about dragons. While the fantasy genre isn't a usual go-to for me, I do like a good dragon book. Second, it gave me the chance to read a bit of modern Russian literature. In all the books I've read, I'm sad to say that I haven't run across any current, present-day books out of Russia. And by Russian, I mean that the author wrote the book in Russian, and it was translated into English.
The book follows a teenager named Andy who, due to circumstances beyond his control, gets transported to another world. While in this new world, he encounters strange animals, hunters, elves, and a dragon. Along the way, he experiences some trials and hardships at the hands of some of the planet's inhabitants. Andy manages to survive and finds a sort of haven where he goes through a learning process.
The story was rather entertaining even though, at times, it was hard to believe that a teenager could endure everything that happened in this book. I felt the author did a wonderful job in developing his main characters. Each one seemed to have their own personality and the little quirks that went with it. The storyline had a nice pace with a logical sequence of events. These two things were probably what I liked best about the book. Being able to sort of get to know the characters helped to keep you engaged in the story. Another positive for this book was the ending. This was the first book in a series, and the author left you with a sense of direction for the next book. Mr. Sapegin wrapped up some loose ends for some of the minor characters, gave you a general 'what's next' for Andy, but left some mystery about a little piece of withheld information that could prove to be detrimental. It wasn't an obnoxious cliffhanger. Instead, it was a fantastic way to end the book and, hopefully, lent a smooth transition into the next one.
The book did have its problems though. There were some grammar issues, and at times, the language was a little choppy. I chalked this up to the fact that the book was translated into English from Russian, and things don't always have a direct translation. When it came to the landscape and world-building, the author fell into the 'tell instead of show' dilemma. The descriptions were a bit cursory. I would have liked a more vivid description of what the landscape and buildings looked like. There were also times in the story when some of the characters used magic or spells. The details were a little lackluster and tended to be a bit confusing. I almost wanted to skip the parts that had magic/spell-casting. Another part that I felt had been rushed was the small section about the various groups of people and their origins. This was probably my least favorite part. The history just wasn't given enough attention and it fell a little flat for me. The lack of detail also made it difficult to keep the diverse groups of inhabitants straight.
Overall, I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. I didn't give it the fourth star because of the lack of detail in some areas and the grammar mistakes. Despite its problems, the book was entertaining enough that it did manage to draw you in and kept you engaged in the story, hence the third star. For this reason, I plan on reading the rest of the series. This book would be good for people who like fantasy/dragons/elves/mages (obviously) or for someone who is looking for a bit of light escapism without the book being too serious.
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Becoming the Dragon
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