Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Rise of the Dragons

Rise of the Dragons by Angie Sage

This book will be published on February 26, 2019. I read an uncorrected proof edition (aka advance reader's copy) so there will undoubtedly be some differences between the version I read and the published edition.

That being said, a book about DRAGONS?! HELLO, THIS IS MY ALLEY. ...however, I have some strict requirements for good dragon books....... an amazon summary, "Comes with 9 collectible game cards that allow YOU to join the dragon battle!

Once our world was full of dragons who lived in harmony with humans. But after a group of rogue dragons, the Raptors, tried to take over Earth, all dragons were banished to another realm.
Most humans forgot about the dragons, claiming they never existed. Eleven-year-old Sirin knows the truth -- she grew up with stories passed down through the generations. However, when her mother falls ill, even Sirin has trouble believing in magic . . . until she sees a mysterious streak of silver in the night sky. 
Sirin becomes the first child to "lock" with a dragon in centuries -- forming a deep friendship unlike anything she's ever imagined. But Sirin learns that not all dragons returned with good intentions, and soon she finds herself at the center of a battle between the dragons who want to protect the humans . . . and those who want to destroy them." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE


First things first, this book is being advertised as coming with 9 collectible game cards.... excuse me? Well really, excuse you? Usually you wait for something to be wildly successful before branching out into other merchandise. If your gimmick is to make kids want to read by introducing a card game where reading probably isn't required to understand the card game.... they're probably not going to read the book.

SECONDLY, the book title is Rise of the Dragons. Why is there a Wyvern on the cover? Wutttttt?!?!?

Thirdly, the actual book summary. After reading the amazon summary, I have surmised the published edition will most likely be quite different from what I read. What I read is about two siblings who live in an alternate earth of sorts and have become indentured servants after their parents were eaten by Raptor dragons. Raptors are basically a gang of bad guys running around and destroying the other dragon factions and pillaging whatever they like. Sirin does exist, in the 'actual' earth, where her mother is tremendously ill and she's taken away to live in foster care. ...so like what the amazon summary is portraying doesn't seem to be quite the same book as what I read. Sirin's chapters were like maybe..... 15% of the book? Maybe? The bulk of the book took place in the alternate earth where the two siblings are working but dreaming of escaping. And... one of them has a giant dragon egg almost dropped on top of them. A silver dragon egg. A silver dragon is legendary for the rumor it is able to access other worlds. ....but like none of the other dragons seems to have any special abilities due to their scale colors. Also, I'm not sure why it's beneficial, at all, for a dragon to Lock with a human (essentially a telepathic bond). There seems to be one way benefit; as in the human gets protected by a dragon and gets to fly on the dragon. WHEEEEE

Fourth...ly, the book's writing style disagreed with me...but I still read the entire damn thing. It took me like 40 books years to finish this book and even then it was just a spiteful, I will finish reading this book rather than I enjoyed reading the book. To backtrack, the writing style is third person omniscient and has just enough detail to get a sense of the scenery before plunging into thick action and dramatics that kind of felt like being forced to eat the sugary cereal as a kid. I also think the language was too...clunky and basic? It kind of felt like the author didn't trust anyone to know what they were talking about and spelled it out.

Fifthly, there will probably be a sequel. A sequel that I will not read. I said GOOD DAY!

Happy reading!

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