3 out of 4 stars
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Becoming the Dragon by Alex Sapegin is a Young Adult book about a teenager named Andy. The book starts off with Andy in his everyday life, going about his daily routine with his family and friends. Quite suddenly, Andy finds himself in a completely different world with no idea how to get back home to his own world. He is quickly captured by the local bad guys and taken to the king where he is put on display in a menagerie. While in the menagerie at the king's palace he befriends a dragon that is kept in the cage next to him. During the escape from the king's compound, Andy is fatally wounded by an arrow. In order to survive his new dragon friend offers him a solution; to be reincarnated as a dragon. Andy is not ready to give up so he accepts the dragon's offer to be reincarnated. This is the beginning of Andy's journey to become a dragon.
There were some really great things that the author did in this book that I really liked. The plot moved along a great pace. I was never sitting there bored while I was reading. I could clearly imagine what each character looked like from the descriptions of each of them. They also grew and changed as the book moved on which I really appreciated. It’s not realistic when characters do not change over the course of a book that is over a year long. They all developed their personalities and ideals as the booked moved along.
One of the other things that I really liked about the book was the magical system that was built into the new word that Andy is thrust into. We are introduced to it early on in the book through the portal system and the author builds on what we learn throughout the book. There are all different types of magic and magical people throughout the world and it is shown through the many interactions that Andy has with these new people and places. Magic and all that comes along with it are just one of the many new things that Andy has to deal with in this new world.
At the very end of the book, the author has included a glossary divided into Geography and Miscellaneous. I found this very helpful as there was a lot of traveling in the first half of the book. The only thing that I was really hoping for was a map either in the beginning if the book or at the end where the glossary was located. I realize that not all books need to have a map but I find with fantasy books it is a very helpful tool to have to help readers understand the book and where the characters are located.
I am rating this book 3 out of 4 stars. While I really did like the book there were a few issues that bothered me while I was reading it. There were a few run-on sentences early on in the book and a few grammatical errors throughout. The last thing that seemed a little bit off were some of the words. It seems weird to say but I felt like someone took a thesaurus and tried to spice up the book. I had to repeatedly stop and look up what certain words meant in order to grasp what was going on in the scene. These were words that I had never come across in all my years of reading. Also, the beginning section of the book where Andy is in his everyday life did not seem like it meshed well with the rest of the book. It almost seemed like it was added on at the end just to explain how Andy got to the new world. It seems like it could have used another pass from an editor.</r>
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Becoming the Dragon
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