2 out of 4 stars
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Becoming the Dragon by Alex Sapegin is a fantastic story about a boy's journey becoming a dragon. It is a wonderfully creative fantasy story full of unusual characters, animals, rescues, escapes, action, tragedy, and love.
Andy is an exceptional and special teenager. He lives with his father, a well renowned scientist, his mother, and two sisters. At a young age Andy is struck by lightening and survives. The lightening strike seems to have given him a special electromagnetic energy. After the lightening strike, whenever he is around computers, televisions, or any electronic device they go on the fritz. He is also not able to be outside during thunderstorms because lightening will be attracted to him. Because of this he develops other interests and becomes very skilled at such things as cooking and shooting a bow and arrow. Andy is very talented at everything he tries.
While delivering an item to his father at his work, Andy ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and is inadvertently sucked through a portal into another world. Andy's new world, the world of Illanta, is a magical place filled with crazy creatures, orcs, humans, gnomes and dragons. He is welcomed by some very odd, huge birds, who look at him as lunch. And so starts his journey and his fight for survival.
Andy is forced to embark on the adventure of his life. He rescues a dragon, is captured and imprisoned for months, and is forced to participate in a game where he is hunted. He is brought to near death but is saved by the dragon he rescued and a friendly gnome. The only way for him to survive is to become a dragon with the help of his new dragon dad and gnome mom. While becoming the dragon Andy discovers he has some pretty amazing magical powers. In a world on the brink of war, little does everyone know that the new Andy may be the key to everyone's survival, or their downfall.
Andy loves his new world but misses his old. He misses his family and wonders if he will ever see them again. His goal now is to find a way back home.
Becoming the Dragon is a very creative story. It is not like any other fantasy book I have read. I really enjoyed reading the book but I can only give it 2 out of 4 stars. Although it is a very good story, parts of it were very hard to follow. The book was very slow at times, and others a bit to fast. I am one who likes to get to know the characters in a story. In this book we get to know Andy very well but the other characters are breezed through and many never mentioned again. After Andy is in Illanta, his sisters are only mentioned twice and his father and mother only once. His love and talent cooking is never mentioned again and the only time he uses a bow again is while he is being hunted. New characters are introduced and then quickly gone. I felt like I couldn't get attached or interested in most of them.
Overall the writing was pretty good with few grammatical errors. There were areas where the writing was a bit awkward but that could be due to the book being translated. I am not much of a fantasy fan and even I liked this book and had fun reading it. That should say a lot. It is definitely worth the read and definitely a must read if you are a fantasy fan. I look forward to reading the next book in this series and I hope that I will get to know the characters better in the following books.
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Becoming the Dragon
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