4 out of 4 stars
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Becoming The Dragon written by Alex Sapegin is the first book in “The Dragon Inside” series. The book is well formatted and organized; after reading a few pages you could realize it was professionally edited. The fact that it was originally written in Russian does not make it less attractive mostly because the translation and editing are almost perfect.
The book is about a teenage boy that is struck by a lightning on a school trip, an incident that leaves him with two marks for the rest of his life. The first one, a scar on his shoulder and the second and most important, the ability to break up every electrical object near him. This ability is going to be crucial in future events. Because of his “gift”, he must find different ways to pass his time, and he begins to try different hobbies, from cooking to bow training. One day when he is bringing some papers to his father’s office, he accidentally goes through a teleportation portal, and he wakes up far from home. In the beginning, he thinks he is at Yellowstone or someplace near, but after a while, and after the moon raises, he realizes that there is more than one moon, another planet on the sky, and he found out he is at another planet.
The plot describes different creatures living in this unknown world named Illanta. You will find humans, elves, gnomes, dragons, and other strange mixed animals, that will let your imagination fly. While the story develops you will also see Andy’s evolution from an innocent boy to a man fighting for his survival and capable of doing whatever was necessary, you will feel overwhelmed by all the challenges and difficulties he must confront while he goes through the toughest journey anyone had ever experienced.
From the beginning Andy will be introduced as a stubborn, hardworking and strong boy that never gives up, he is capable of everything and he will learn something new about this new world and about himself on every step of his journey.
The book makes a great mix between fiction and mythology and what was born from that union is an amazing world filled with fierce and amazing creatures. These creatures are well described, and your imagination could create all the scenarios without trouble. At the end of the book, you will find a glossary that will introduce you better to the custom names, hierarchies, deities and geography of this new world.
I really enjoy the reading; the relatable characters and descriptions make it easy to follow and read. You will find descriptions like the next one about the “Eleraffs”, one of the creatures you are going to meet on the book:
I was surprised by the quantity and importance of female characters, what makes the book more attractive. The end of the book is open and makes you wonder what will happen next and you will feel the need to grab the next books.“The animals looked like the result of some mad scientists’ experiment in crossing an elephant with a giraffe. They had large bodies like elephants, long necks, and elephant-like heads, only of smaller proportions. That was where the similarities ended, and the differences began. They had no tusks, but the males’ heads were crowned with sharp, 3-foot-long horns. Their long trunks were covered in sheets on the outer side that resembled the scales of an armadillo. The scales covered the entire length of the trunk with overlapping edges. Especially tough, thick scales covered the lower fourth”
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because the plot, characters, and world description are well developed, you will feel what the main character is feeling on every step of his journey and you will not have any trouble to recreate this new world in your mind. I barely found some typos, just a couple of miswritten words and some misused prepositions, and I only found them because I really was looking for it.
I recommend Becoming The Dragon, mostly for young-adult readers, because the main character demonstrates what every teen-age can do to survive and achieve his goals, but every fiction-fantasy lover will undoubtedly enjoy the reading. I hope I could read the sequel very soon.
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Becoming the Dragon
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