Tag Archives: RJ the Story Guy

book reviews, fantasy, novel

RJ’s Dragon Saga: Engaging Fantasy Adventure with Surprising Twists

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Blurb

Jaiden’s simple act of freeing Skye, the blue dragon, along with her family became a movement to free all dragons. And that escalated to a rebellion. Now, all-out war seems to be the only solution.

Jaiden and friends Tristram, Wyetta, Gorn, and Aleena represent the surge of humanity who joined the fight for Dragon Freedom. Skirmishes, ambushes, intense battles and undercover operations transform everyday reality. Uncertainty surrounding the strength and weaponry of the Dear Leader’s human army adds to the tension.

 Mysteries, surprises, unexpected revelations and shocking outcomes mark the Final Dragon War.

Story

This is a story aimed at teenagers, but it is equally enjoyable for adults who enjoy the fantasy genre.

Jaiden has joined with the dragons to try to end their enslavement once and for all. But the only way to do this is by all out war. He discovered in the previous books that he could hear dragon speech via the means of telepathy. This ability he uses to interpret the dragons’ orders to the people who have come to help.

Many people believe the dragons to be simply dumb beasts, and despise those who go to help them.

I don’t want to reveal any more here, except to say that there are a number of twists that genuinely had me saying ‘I didn’t see that coming.’

Characters

Jaiden is the main protagonist. We see the action through his eyes as it’s written in 1st person. He has already developed in the first two books into a young man with more confidence than he had at the beginning of the series, although he still has doubts about his abilities.

During this adventure, he becomes much more confident.

The dragons. Skye is the main dragon protagonist in this book, although Trigger and Dog play as big a part. Skye is a blue dragon, the biggest and cleverest of the dragons. Trigger is a silver, and Dog a gold. The gold are the smallest and least clever.

I liked these last two dragons. Dog is small enough to get into places others can’t go, and he plays a big part in rescuing Jaiden when he’s been captured.

Skye is a compassionate dragon who understands Jaidon’s lack of confidence, and she helps him with advice and an ear when he needs it.

Aleena is girl who had annoyed Jaiden in earlier years, always hanging around him. In this book, she grows from an annoying brat into a confident young woman.

There are many other characters I could talk about, but it would make this review too long. You’ll have to read the book(s) to find out about them.

Writing

While there are a few typos in the book, there were not enough to annoy me into giving up on it. The story kept me reading.

RJ has built his world well. I could visualise the characters and the landscape, including Big Hill and its caves, where Jaiden was held prisoner. And the cliffs where the dragons had their caves, too.

The descriptions of the action scenes were well told, keeping the tension going.

There is the possibility of further adventures. I hope RJ writes them.

I give this book 4*

My ranking of books. In order to get a particular number of stars, it is not necessary to meet all the criteria. This is a guide only.

5* Exceptional. Wonderful story. Setting well drawn, and characters believable–not perfect, but with flaws. Will keep you up all night. No typos or grammatical errors.

4* A thoroughly enjoyable read. Great and original story. Believable setting and characters. Very few grammatical errors or typos.

3* I enjoyed it. Good story. Characters need some development. Some typos or grammatical errors.

2* Not for me. Story not very strong. Unbelievable and flat characters. Setting not clearly defined. Many typos or grammatical errors.

1* I hated it. Story almost non-existent. Setting poor. Possibly couldn’t finish it.

book reviews, fantasy, novel, stories

Review of Dragon Train Rebellion by RJ The Story Guy.

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Overview.

A Good Teen and YA story.

This book is the second in the Dragon Train series. It begins two years after the events of Dragon Train.

 It is an original take on dragons. There was, many years before, a war between dragons and humans. The humans won and enslaved the dragons, treating them badly and making them pull their trains.

The humans–most of them–are unaware that dragons are intelligent and can speak to each other through telepathy.

Story.

Jaidon is visited by the Dragon, Skye, whom he rescued from the dragon train along with her mate and three youngsters. She wants his help in freeing the dragons from slavery.

Jaidon goes with her to where the free dragons live–a less than hospitable place, where he is enlisted to help.

I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll leave it there.

Characters.

Jaidon is a believable character. He has problems with his father, as many teenagers do, but he is loyal in his determination that the dragons should not be enslaved. He is likeable and brave, too.

The dragons all have different personalities. Skye seems to look on Jaidon as one of her own children and there are occasions when he thinks she is behaving like a mother. Her mate is not quite as certain of Jaidon as Skye, but is willing to trust him, in order to gain dragonkind’s freedom.

And there is one very scary dragon who has never been enslaved. He is a huge blue called Helmut. He has his doubts about Jaidon, but decides that he has to trust him, but only up to a point. 


Writing.

RJ draws a clear picture of the dragons and their situation. He makes us feel sympathy for them. I think there is just enough description of the surroundings for us to be able to envisage it.

He certainly makes Helmut scary!

There were not many typos, although I did notice a few, but the grammar and punctuation were flawless. 

Do you enjoy teen stories? I know quite a lot of adults do! Let us know in the comments.

I really love dragons, and have them in most of my fantasy books to date. If you would like to read about my dragons, click on the covers in the sidebar. They are available in all formats and from many platforms.

You can also buy merchandise related to the books by visiting

V.M. Sang

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Review of Dragon Train by RJ the Story Guy

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Overview.

I enjoyed reading this book by RJ the Story Guy. It is a Young Adult story, but can be equally enjoyed by ‘fully grown’ adults. It fits the clientele it’s aimed at very well.

Blurb

Jaiden, a 15-year-old farm boy, lives near Hilltop, a Medieval-type village and has never been more than a few miles beyond his home. He lives with his widower father who works the boy hard and treats Jaiden rather abusively. In this world, people have enslaved dragons as beasts of burden and as something like guard dogs and soldiers.

There are three kinds of dragons characterized by their various colors: gold (dog-sized) dragons trained to hunt and serve as guards; silver (about the size of a cow) trained to carry gold dragons on their backs and to serve as soldiers and hunters; and blue dragons (somewhat larger than an elephant) who are trained to tow Dragon Trains (powered by a low-flying dragon rather than a steam engine). The gold and silver dragons aren’t very intelligent, but obedient to humans and easily trained. The blues however, are very intelligent and can communicate with each other telepathically although most humans are not aware of their ability to communicate. For many centuries dragons and humans were enemies, but in the last couple of generations, humans have become clever enough to overwhelm and enslave the dragons. But the blues long for freedom and escape from human control. Jaiden and Skye, an escaped blue dragon, encounter each other and a close, friendly relationship develops as the blue dragon, with the young man’s help, escapes servitude towing a Dragon Train. The pair avoid capture while they are pursued through the forests and caves of the Emerald Forest. Eventually, they travel to Portville, a large city where the Dragon Train camps and training grounds are located.

But can the pair free her family and escape to a far northern land where dragons may live free?

Story

The story follows Jaiden and Skye through their adventures, where they meet problem after problem. It is a tale that makes you root for Jaiden and the blue dragons.
The humans are not, on the whole, shown in a very good light. Most that we meet seem cruel, rather stupid and selfish.

Characters

Jaiden begins the tale as a rather innocent 15 year old. He has been no farther than his village and consequently is rather innocent. However, his adventures with Skye improve his self-confidence and he develops well in the book.

Writing

The writing is good. The descriptions place us in the world without it being over descriptive, which I think would be a bit off-putting for YA readers who want to get on with the story.
The only thing I would quibble with is that RJ uses the word ‘lay’ wrongly when it should be ‘lie’. Otherwise, grammar and spelling are excellent, with no typos.

Conclusion

An excellent read, and a book I would recommend if you want an idea for a Christmas present (or any other time present) for those difficult teens.
I have given it 5*.