Review by Laura Del -- Becoming the Dragon by Alex Sapegin

Laura Del · Post by **Laura Del** » 02 Oct 2018, 16:23

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

1 out of 4 stars

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Andy is your typical teenage boy who just so happens to get struck by lightning. Yes, you read that right. This affliction makes it impossible for him to do the thing he loves the most, playing computer games. As it turns out, after the incident, he can't be around technology without the devices shutting down. But who needs games when you get teleported onto a different planet by accident? After all, it’s not every day that you get to interact with griffons, elves, and dragons.

This is supposed to be the premise of Becoming the Dragon by Alex Sapegin, instead what the reader gets is a hodgepodge of descriptive tangents and poor character development. An example of how the author gives you too much information at once is when he spends three pages talking about bows and arrows. Then there’s the lack of detail on the main character. I never had a sense of what Andy looked like, nor did I feel anything for him. Sapegin just expects the reader to fill in critical blanks, and because of this, the character suffers.

However, that is the least of this novels problems. It spends so much time setting everything up that once you get to the central part of the story, you feel like you don’t want to keep reading. Then, when Andy arrives on planet Ilanta, the scenery is so muddled by the back and forth between places, people, and things, that you become utterly lost. I can’t tell you how many times I had to re-read paragraphs because I thought I’d missed something, only to find out that the writing was confusing. Maybe this has to do with the fact that it was translated from Russian to English because let me tell you, the book feels as though something was lost in translation.

The entire story reads like a dry manual on how to write a fantasy novel, which made me sad. I was looking forward to reading about dragons on a mysterious and strange planet, but I was let down by the monotonous explanation and switching of scenes. It’s funny because with all the description you would think it would be important, but as it turned out, it was just filler. It felt as though the author was trying to get to a specific word count, and halfway through the book (I hate to admit) I started to fall asleep with my eyes open.

So it’s with a heavy heart that I have to give Becoming the Dragon by Alex Sapegin a 1 out of 4. The only thing the book has going for it is the fact that the grammar isn't too bad, so if you do decide to read it, you won't be too put off. I also don’t think that this novel should be in the Young Adult category, it read more like a New Adult novel, but that’s just my opinion. All in all, I was very disappointed, and I sadly won’t be continuing the journey by picking up the second one in the series.

******
Becoming the Dragon
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jcoad · Post by **jcoad** » 08 Oct 2018, 14:34

Excellent summarization of the confusion caused by this book. To quote my review "I felt like I was reading from a firehose". I had no idea who was important or why and then by the end you realize most of it wasn't important. Thanks for the honest and thorough review!

ea_anthony · Post by **ea_anthony** » 11 Oct 2018, 16:12

Ouch! The negatives just kept piling up more as I kept reading on. However this shouldn't detract from the quality of your review which I must admit is top-notch. A shame that you felt let down by this book...

ea_anthony · Post by **ea_anthony** » 11 Oct 2018, 16:14

jcoad wrote: ↑08 Oct 2018, 14:34 Excellent summarization of the confusion caused by this book. To quote my review "I felt like I was reading from a firehose". I had no idea who was important or why and then by the end you realize most of it wasn't important. Thanks for the honest and thorough review!

Oh no! This is even worse; a comprehensive panning.

Laura Del · Post by **Laura Del** » 13 Oct 2018, 16:34

jcoad wrote: ↑08 Oct 2018, 14:34 Excellent summarization of the confusion caused by this book. To quote my review "I felt like I was reading from a firehose". I had no idea who was important or why and then by the end you realize most of it wasn't important. Thanks for the honest and thorough review!

I agree. It was just too much explanation and not enough story... if that makes sense.

Laura Del · Post by **Laura Del** » 13 Oct 2018, 16:36

ea_anthony wrote: ↑11 Oct 2018, 16:12 Ouch! The negatives just kept piling up more as I kept reading on. However this shouldn't detract from the quality of your review which I must admit is top-notch. A shame that you felt let down by this book...

Thank you. I appreciate your comment. I was very disappointed that I didn't like it too. It's a shame, because (like I said) I LOVE dragons.

TheRVMom · Post by **TheRVMom** » 03 Nov 2018, 16:24

Oh my goodness! The history of bows! He just went on and on. I was wondering where it was all going and then it went nowhere. Maybe this is supposed to be setting us up for something in later books, but it is a shame I'll never know because I don't think I can read another. It's a shame really, because the story concept itself is wonderful and could be awesome if it had been implemented and carried out right. For someone so obviously obsessed with bows he missed the mark. I was generous with my 3 stars, but it was only because I loved the IDEA of his story.

MalMartin · Post by **MalMartin** » 02 Dec 2018, 01:16

I was thinking about reading this book, but due to so many people giving it such low ratings I think I will decide to just steer away from this one. It's a shame too because the idea of it sounds interesting, but an interesting idea has to be executed perfectly or else it's just a mess. Thank you for the review!

Espie · Post by **Espie** » 06 Dec 2018, 06:05

It's sad to note that this could have been a good book with its premise and yet it didn't meet your standards. Thank you for your honest review.

M Zee · Post by **M Zee** » 06 Dec 2018, 15:26

It sounds like this is a case where the story is interchangeable with any other fantasy book. I'll admit that I was interested in it based on the cover but your review gives me pause. Thanks for such a honest review. It's good to have a critical perspective on the book.

FictionLover · Post by **FictionLover** » 03 Jan 2019, 21:11

I agree, there is a lot of wasted space and horrible sentences in this one. The middle of the book is unnecessary and the plot ends about three quarters of the way through, and a new story begins, which in my opinion, is just a ploy to sell book 2.