Book review: The Saint of Dragons by Jason Hightman

This was a thrift store purchase from Savers. I picked it up because the premise sounded really interesting. Amazon/back of the book summary:

The ancient dragons -- of the time of the legendary Saint George and earlier -- have never disappeared entirely. Instead, they've moved undercover -- and into human society. Now one lonely schoolboy is about to learn where the dragons have gone ...

Educated at boarding schools, Simon St. George has never met his parents. When a ragged-looking man shows up claiming to be his father, Simon is skeptical, and when the man kidnaps him, he's indignant to say the least.

Then the man claims to be a descendant of England's Saint George and a career dragon fighter. Why should Simon believe any of this nonsense? But what if the man is telling the truth? What if the dragons know he's out there?

Rich with the dragon lore of legend, the saint of dragons continues and enlarges on the tale of the centuries-old conflict between dragons and humans that rages even today.

Neat, right? You know I love me some Chosen One/mythological creatures are still around stories. A lot of the elements from this book are very familiar: parentless boy at boarding school, picked on by classmates, dreams of something larger, learns of his fantastical lineage/destiny, etc. Overall I thought this book was good, if a bit done, but the writing was off somehow. Things went by too fast, and very little was fleshed out or explained in a satisfactory way. I was unsurprised when I read the author's note in the back, where he said he went to film school and wrote a screenplay about this book. It definitely reads like a movie, where we go from scene to scene and it's all very visually minded, but it lacks that true novel feel. We don't feel truly settled in the book or story; we're kind of just watching it whizz by.

Hightman definitely places plot and thrills over characterization; the characters feel like movie tropes in the way they interact with each other, and it doesn't feel real. I think Simon is the most fleshed-out character, but that's because we're seeing the book through his eyes. He makes a lot of stupid choices in the book that are incredibly annoying to read. Why don't characters in fantasy books read other fantasy books? I have to include this quote from one of the Amazon reviewers about this book because it's perfect: 

The plot reads like a series of short adventures and nothing seems very hard (including escaping from somewhere no one has ever escaped from). Like Rowling's books, there are plenty of inconsistencies with details only making sense for a specific scene and then being thrown out the window.  ~Joshua Koppel

There are a lot of cool inventions and world-building (as it were) things that we don't get explanations for. There are runes on the special dragon-fighting armor that enable the wearer to fly when touched! But how? What language are the runes in? How is the armor made? Most of the cool stuff is handwaved away with "a magician made it". There's also a prophecy that falls flat. Personally there are too many things jam-packed into this book.

The title is misleading and makes it sound like the St. Georges are the patron saints of dragons, rather than their sworn enemies. There's also a plot [SPOILERS] where dragons assimilated into human society by posing as them and are in charge of every political party in power/crime syndicate/big evil business/etc., which is way too close to the antisemitic lizards in charge of everything conspiracy (google it). I don't think this is what the author had in mind, as many people don't know the lizards conspiracy is about Jewish people, but still. The dragons were stereotypes of the countries they were from, especially the Chinese Black Dragon. I thought it was super weird that the black dragon was the only nice dragon, but the magic that emanated off of him was still dark magic that did bad things like make acid rain and conjoin people who walked next to each other on the street???? idk. I think dragons are cool and I wish more of them had been good. [END SPOILERS]

Anyway, this was entertaining enough and was a pleasant enough way to pass the time. Kids won't have the same complaints I do about the writing and pacing; in fact, it might be a good book to hand a kid who prefers movies to books. You could definitely do worse than this book, but if the things I mentioned drive you nuts, I wouldn't recommend it. If I come across the sequel, I'll read it.

trigger warnings I'd apply to this book: blood, gore, animal (ish) death, human death, magical violence, violence, fire

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: early December
From: thrift store
Format: paperback
Status: giving away 

Dragons I have appreciated

Apparently today is Appreciate a Dragon Day. Who am I to let this auspicious holiday go unobserved.

• Smaug (from the book, although I tolerate CumberSmaug). He's awful, but he's badass. Never over using gemstones to make armor for his chest and belly!
• as awful as the books are, Saphira (I don't remember her name exactly), the main dragon in the Eragon books. She's cool.
• Mushu from Mulan, of course. 
• I also liked the Great Stone Dragon a lot and have always sorta felt disappointed that he didn't come to life like Mushu did. And when Mulan sits in/under the statue while it rains???? Most badass seat ever
• I feel like I read at LEAST one book where the girl protagonist (a princess usually) befriended the dragon, turning that trope of dragons vs. princesses on its head. I feel like this happened in the Frog Princess books, among others.
• The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame. I love that dude; he's the Ferdinand the Bull of dragons.
• The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin. This is actually the only thing by him that I've read, and it is lovely and sad.
• EUSTACE WHEN HE WAS A DRAGON omg I knew I was forgetting someone important
• the image of the red and the white dragons from underground fighting each other in The Once and Future King has always stayed with me, but idk if I appreciate them
• I feel like there are scads of other dragons I've read that I'm not remembering
• the most recent dragon book I've read was called The Dragonwatcher's Guide or something. It's a "nonfiction" scrapbook type book for the newbie dragon scholar. I liked it.
• Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon (the movie, I've never read the book)
• Puff the Magic Dragon feels forever