Review by jcoad -- Becoming the Dragon by Alex Sapegin

[jcoad]

Fantasy lovers will have fun with this book. Learning about history, culture, and religion is also a plus. Nice review.

Thank you for the comment!

[jcoad]

Fantasy lovers will have fun with this book. Learning about history, culture, and religion is also a plus. Nice review.

Thank you for stopping by and your comment! The information was just too much for me.

[Beth KG]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Becoming the Dragon" by Alex Sapegin.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Becoming the Dragon is a fiction novel by Alex Sapegin. This book was originally published in Russian and translated into English. Becoming the Dragon is the first in a series of five books. Andy is a normal teenager until one day he is mysteriously transported to a magical world. Finding himself surrounded by strange animals, unusual creatures, and people Andy is quickly captured. Andy manages to escape with the help of a dragon, Karegar, a fellow prisoner.

While living with Karegar, Andy undergoes a ritual that turns him into a dragon. The ritual takes weeks. Andy provides insight into the sensations involved with becoming a dragon. With wings on his back and fire in his belly, Andy’s life takes an unbelievable turn. He befriends the local villagers. He eats the occasional sheep. He also finds out he can transform between a boy and a dragon at will. This new-found ability allows him to find love and go to school but comes with additional dangers.

There is an enormous number of stories and characters in this book. At many times it felt like I was reading from a firehose. You learn about history, geography, cultures, and religion. I did not find most of the information relevant to the story. Also, by the end of the book, I had a hard time figuring out how all the different parts of the book related to each other. The strange animals, the royal family, the elves in the woods all seemed unrelated. I hope all these pieces come together later in the book series.

The book was very creative. It certainly had a “Tolkienesque” feel to the atmosphere. Orcs, elves, wizards, and people all mingled freely throughout the book. My favorite part was when Andy was telling stories to the inhabitants of the village while he was transforming into a dragon. He recited The Jungle Book and had them spellbound. It is probably narrow-minded thinking, but I never imagined someone who grew up in Russia would know The Jungle Book.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. The lack of a cohesive story was enough to take me down one star. The fact I don’t want to read the second book took it down another star. The book deserves two stars as I believe there is a definite audience for Becoming the Dragon. This book is written for young adult and fantasy novel readers. If you are a fan of romance, action, or thriller novels I would not recommend this book.

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Becoming the Dragon
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Sad to say when it is in regard to someone's creative efforts, but we are in agreement that this book does not deliver what it set out to.

[LaurenHaupt]

I like fantasy but I also like thriller books. It's a shame it has a low rating. The summary sounded really neat. Thanks for the review!