2 out of 4 stars
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Love gone wrong is perhaps one of the worst feelings many of us will ever deal with and it's something many of us can relate to. It's also the subject of Dragon Eye by Hoss Wildfire, a small poetry collection. Most of the twenty poems are focused on his feelings post-breakup, but there are exceptions like "I Tried Not To Love You". These are genuine love and heartbreak poems, and I was a bit surprised that dragons and fantasy themes weren't actually involved!
What sets Dragon Eye apart from most poetry collections is the fact that it utilizes photographs and illustrations in a really masterful way. The images bring the pages to life much like colorful illustrations draw children into children's books. The book would make an excellent coffee table book for their use, but some of the images are a bit pixelated. It's not obvious on a smaller device, but on a kindle or a computer it's much easier to see.
As mentioned, most of the poems are similarly themed, focused on the author's feelings after a breakup has occurred or after some revelation that led to the breakup. Most of the poems are also very similar in that they utilize an ABAB rhyme scheme without a structured number of syllables. Finally, the poems (with one exception) are very straightforward - no use of euphemisms or metaphors - which makes them easy to read but also makes them fall a bit short of excellence. With all of these similarities combined, by the end of the collection I was dying for something different. A haiku, a crazy metaphorical poem - perhaps related to the fantasy theme the title eludes to - or even something from a different point of view would have been a great way to mix things up.
Finally, the book could have used a little bit of editing. There weren't many actual errors, but some lines were clearly forced to rhyme by being worded very oddly. The author also capitalized the word "you" most of the time, but never capitalized the words "your" or "you're", and the uncapitalized "you"s were out of place. Once the letter "u" is even used in place of "you" for no particular reason (and wasn't capitalized).
Overall I was a bit let down by the collection, but it's one a lot of folks will be able to relate to. The usage of the images is especially artistic and exceptional, but the fact some were pixelated takes away from that as well. While none of the poems in particular stuck with me, it's by no means worthy of only one star. As such, I give Dragon Eye 2 out of 4 stars, and can still recommend it to poetry fans who like easy-reading heartbreak poetry.
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Dragon Eye
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