Review by Alli Prince
Scion of the Dragon is a thrilling tale about San, the dragon Heir, embarking on a quest to restore honor to his lineage. It’s a story about true strength, resilience, and respect.
From the very first chapter, we are swept into the story with our main character, Sanav, attending the festival of heirs to restore the Dragon Lineage to its former glory—no matter that his Master has told him it’s a pointless journey.
Scion of the Dragon is the perfect book for young male teens. The story has heavy themes of loyalty, honor, and respect. It’s thrilling, with many action-oriented martial arts-inspired fight scenes, and poses wonderful questions about which master you will choose to serve.
Throughout the book, Sanav wrestles with striving to bring about justice in his way and, by the end, learns to rely on others and listen to the guidance of his elders.
If you have trouble picturing action descriptions, this book may be a bit difficult to follow. However, these quick-paced fight scenes are well-spaced throughout the book and broken up with Sanav’s emotional journey.
The book ends well, with enough closure to not be considered a cliffhanger, yet with enough left unsolved to allow for a sequel!
Spoilers are ahead, and buckle up because this book was a ride!
The book begins with Sanav striving to uphold his Master’s name. He quickly enters into the Festival of Heirs, where it is clear that he is unwelcome. There is great mystery in this section, as we are left wondering what Master Hito has done to deserve such a disgrace from the Emperor and why Sanav is so hell-bent on restoring his Master’s name and the Dragon Lineage.
The Emperor and Masters of the lineages agree to let him attempt to restore his name through the duels during the Festival of Heirs. While Sanav awaits this, he is attacked by some of the Heirs and then attacked again by an assassin. Around this time, a young boy named Xael is sent to help him. Xael proves to be an excellent side-kick and helps Sanav, despite Sanav’s initial protests. The intrigue in this section is potent as Sanav struggles with tradition and what is right!
Together, Xael and Sanav see one of Master Hito’s old friends for healing before the Heir Duels. During one of these duels, assassins come and kill Master Hito’s friend. They bury him and then complete a series of duels; all the while, Sanav struggles with his internal conflict of harming the emperor and biding his time, completing the Duels to redeem the Dragon Lineage’s legacy. His internal conflicts are so potent that watching him sort through these complicated emotions is thrilling.
Sanav completes the duels and then must challenge the Masters of the Lineages. He quickly loses the first duel and is sent back to his home, where he attempts to kill himself to save the rest of his soldiers and those under his care. He is stopped by Kirima, who informs him that her master has been taken captive and that two of the lineages are coming for the Dragon. They team up and together defeat the armies and travel back to the capital, where they face off with the story's true villain, the Pheonix Lineage, who has blackmailed the Emperor into doing their bidding.
They fight and defeat the Phoenix Lineage, and the Emperor redeems the Dragon Lineage at the cost of Sanav being banished from Xineue forever. The story ends with Sanav and Xael on a boat, searching for the most powerful lineage, Komainu.
I loved Sanav's emotional journey, which was well-paced and broken up by all the fight scenes. The hinting of a more extraordinary lineage points to Christ and the power that he can give. While that wasn’t well discovered in this book, it is very well set up for discovery in a sequel!
If you love fast-paced, action-oriented books that wrestle with the hard themes of justice, loyalty, and true power, then this book is definitely for you!
