Title: The Dragon’s Heart
Author: youthfulwriter
Genres: Fantasy/Adventure
Description: When an eight year old wakes up to the disappearance of Ma, he is determined to find her. Five years later, he makes the first step.
Transported to a holographic world overlaying Earth, 678 befriends some feisty gnomes and a mysterious boy called Tooth. Whilst on the hunt for Ma, he discovers a plot that could force the two planets to finally see each other for what they are.
On top of all this, the stars have disappeared.
678 must work out his priorities or the entire Human race could be faced with the full might of dragons and sorcerers. Can 678 do it in time? Or will the shadowy Monks get there first?
Read "The Dragon's Heart" and discover a world of adventure and magick where even the smallest things can have the greatest consequences.
Amount I’ve read: First five chapters
Review:
So, when I first read the description for this book, I thought, “Sounds like a really interesting plot, but if the writing is all like this then I’m not sure I’ll like it.” (Don't stop reading yet, because I'm going to prove myself wrong.)Honestly, it seemed more of a vague timeline of the plot rather than an actual summary. Some of the facts don’t really flow very well. For example, why is it important that the stars disappeared, and what does it have to do with the two planets and 678’s priorities? And why do the Monks sound like bad guys? Most monks are peaceful religious folk who spend hours a day meditating to gain virtue. For that matter, get where first? It sounds like the Monks are trying to race 678 to find his priorities. And why is the other world holographic? That adjective doesn’t really seem to make sense in the context. I did really like the last sentence, however. It really seemed to define this other world and make you wonder what exactly happens in it.
However, there is a very well written summary at the beginning of the first chapter that is well representative of the rest of the story. If you are considering reading this story, I recommend setting the official description aside and let the summary do the talking. Having read that, I became significantly more excited to move on. So I did.
The first chapter was very well written and gave me a good sense of the characters right away. I liked how it started with the main character, 678, as a child contemplating something his mother told him. While it never explicitly states that he's a young child at this point, the author makes it quite clear in the writing. I could immediately tell that the reader is exploring the mind of someone younger, and I enjoyed some of the child's logic. For example, when he's thinking of how his mother said that he'll be a superhero one day, he's worried that he might be more like Lex Luthor than Superman. I liked the fact that the only reason he didn't like that idea is because Lex Luthor has a "shiny head".
It also gives us a good glimpse into 678's relationship with his Ma. Very near the beginning he's thinking back to something she told him and she calls him her "awkward, but amazing son". That and the fact that 678 is so seriously contemplating her prediction shows that they had a very healthy and loving relationship. That is even more enhanced by the fact that he is still looking for her five years after her disappearance.
The plot progressed very well from that point. Now much older than he was in the beginning, 678 is more mature than the beginning shows. He very quickly finds himself outside, hearing a loud hum and then transported to another world. There was a lot of mystery surrounding this event that I found interesting. For one thing, 678 seems to know what the Hum is and even seeks it out. Yet, when he actually hears it and ends up somewhere else, he is surprised and unaware that that was what would happen. It makes me wonder how he knew about the sound but not what happens after it, and why he thinks it has something to do with his Ma's disappearance (which, we find out later, it does).
The next chapter introduces the gnomes. They are perhaps my favorite part of this whole story. Each gnome has a unique and interesting personality, yet they all manage to work together despite their differences with little to no conflict. While they are initially suspicious of 678, they soon agree to help him and accept him as one of their own. That kind of hospitality added a layer of good character to the gnomes' rough-around-the-edges exterior.
While the characters are certainly interesting, the author's writing style is what largely appealed to me in this book. The descriptions are full of wonderful imagery and even a touch of humor at some points that I found entertaining (for example, at one point an old archway is described as having "long since died and gone to heaven", and do I remember something about monkeys on steroids being mentioned?). While the relatively high amount of description might not fit many types of books, I think it works great in this type of fantasy story where a new world is introduced and begging to be described.
This story also holds an interesting balance between having enough mystery to keep me reading, yet not so much that I felt frustrated by the lack of information given. It's revealed that the people on Earth vanished sometime in the past (from the other world's perspetive) because they became too technologically advanced for the gods' tastes. Yet it doesn't explain how 678 ended up on the other world, as well as a few others in the past. It's also explained that the gnomes and dragons used to have a friendly relationship that went sour, but gives no reason why the hostility continues at such a high level. I liked the fact that I could know the basic history of both worlds without feeling flooded with too much information, while still being left with questions.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and I hope that new chapters will be added someday so that some of my questions may be answered. Barely anything described in the description has actually happened in the story as of yet, so I'm curious to see how it progresses from here. I would recommend this to any fantasy fan who enjoys a story told in the third person and is largely narrative.
Click on the external link if you wish to read this story.
