Customer Reviews

Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

No one buys these books thinking that they'll be reading a master piece. It might happen, but when it does, its a pleasant surprise. On the other end of the spectrum, however, I do not expect to buy a book and find myself skipping whole chapters out of pure boredom. I bought a tie-in novel on the Supernatural series-world. As a TV series where the main characters are Sam and Dean, I would've thought that they would be the center of the story. Instead, I find myself realizing that those characters are being used in this book as crutches, a useless partition curtain in between the real plot, happening in 1969 and 1989, a mere smoke screen as the author uses this fandom to pimp out his 'original' characters, who, honestly, come out as two dimensional and flat as a piece of paper. And yes, there is a whole chapter on the Campbells (Mary Winchester's parents) and a whole chapter on John hunting on his own (is Bobby really that loaded that he buys hunters he knows plane tickets to go on hunts? What is he? The head of some hunter mafia network?) but the two characters that were suppose to actually DO something and earn this book the right to be called a Supernatural tie-in novel, are almost absent from the 'plot'.

So, seriously? Worst waste of money I ever spent on books.

When I ordered this book, I was really excited about it. However, I was very dissatisfied with the storyline. Too much time was spent talking about Sam and Dean's family than about the brothers themselves. Once the storyline did circle back around to the boys, the wrap-up felt too quick, like the author was in a rush to finish the story. What could have been a great storyline overall failed to live up to its potential.

This book was extremely disappointing after having read other Supernatural books. The story line was not very exciting and it contained rarely any humorous dialogue between the two brothers. Sam and Dean were only in a few of the chapters with the rest being historical references.

Couldn't wait to get the book and when I did I was totally disappointed. If Sam and Dean are in 3 chapters it's a lot. 95% of the book is about their grandfather and John Winchester. That's fine, if I wanted to read a book about them. But I wanted to read about Sam and Dean.

Sam and Dean are merely bit players in this book. It is primarily about Samuel, Deanna and Mary Campbell and some guy named Albert Chao. I'm all for a bit of backstory (and I did somewhat enjoy the bits on John Winchester), but this was overkill, and not even very interesting backstory at that. Even the "monster" in this book, a spirit called the Heart of the Dragon, was relegated to backburner status, with the focus instead upon Chao, the man who controlled him. As a result, there wasn't much supernatural element to the story.

This author has written three Supernatural books, and of the three, "Bone Key" has been the strongest, both in plot and characterization.

I own all the Supernatural books & love all of them. This one wasn't bad, but I was a little disappointed. Keith R.A. DeCandido is a great author, but Sam & Dean weren't in it as much as I would have liked. I think the case required too much background information for a book, because it took up about 75% of it. There was some interesting stuff about Mary Winchester & her parents from when she was a teenager & also some stuff about John Winchester from when the boys were young. But there wasn't enough on Sam & Dean. It was mostly information about the case they were working. I skipped over a lot of it because it kind of bored me. I also would have liked to read more stuff about Castiel.

When I bought this book with Sam and Dean Winchester on the cover, I expected a story featuring Sam and Dean Winchester. Not a 28 page chapter about the villain, followed by ten pages of the boys, then roughly 100 pages of Samuel and Deanna and Mary Campbell, then 75 or so pages of John Winchester, then the last 100 pages of Sam and Dean, interspersed with a whole lot of the villain's point of view and a travelogue of San Francisco.

It wasn't bad, it just wasn't really good. I don't really care about the Campbells at all, and John, although he's okay in small doses, can't sustain my interest for 100 pages.

Even when the boys were front and center, it kind of felt like a Hardy Boys book, where the authors were instructed to fit interesting bits of random information into the narrative.

I don't think I'll be buying any more Supernatural novels sight unseen. I have enough books that I have to read for work...if I'm going to spend $8.00 on a book to read for my own enjoyment, I'll wait and make sure it actually features the characters I want to read about.

If you enjoy the Supernatural series on TV. You will love this book. The author did a great job of capturing Sam and Dean's characters. You get a chance to learn a more about their mom, grandparents, and Bobby Singer.

I was really hooked on this one. The great part is the way it is split up into time frames. It may be a little odd to begin with but comes together later on in a great conclusion. This has to be one of the best books so far. It really gives an indepth look into the family history and you learn more about Mary and her parents when they were hunters and what it was like for her as a hunter/teenager. Don't want to spoil anything so read it for yourself.

Left me kinda "meh"

***************************************SPOILERS in a chapter by chapter rundown************************************************

Chapter 1 - Rundown of how a noble and honorable samurai is turned into the Heart of the Dragon by a demon a few centuries ago.

Chapter 2 - Castiel asks Sam & Dean to help with a spirit/weapon that only comes to this plane every 20 years. Bobby, who uses a wheelchair in this book, has some newspaper clippings about the previous fiery murders 40 years ago, and lo and behold, grandpa Samuel is in one of the pictures.

Chapters 3-9--Set in 1969 with Mary as a teenager, hunting with her parents. These aren't terribly exciting chapters, but are interesting to have a glimpse of Mary. She is a cool balance between both of her sons' personality characteristics. I like the way she is written, as well as her thoughts on hunting, her parents, and boys ... especially one shy mechanic. The main nemesis who called forth the Heart of the Dragon is a bumbling teenager who doesn't quite know what to do with the power he has summoned. The Campbells manage to banish the spirit, but not eliminate it so it will resurface in another 20 years.

Chapter 10--Bobby gives Sam & Dean an inscribed sword that their father used 20 years ago to banish the samurai.

Chapters 11- 19--It's 1989, following John's hunt for the spirit/weapon. Again, it's fun to see John in full action as a younger man. There are also glimpses of very young Dean & Sam and how John feels about leaving them with Bobby as he flies to San Francisco. The nemesis is 20 years older & more cunning and nasty as he has been waiting for the re-arrival of his weapon. I like that character growth, even in a baddie. It's amusing that John knows other hunters went after the weapon 20 years ago, but he has no idea it was Mary. I'm roughly 200 pages into a 300ish page book and I'm getting a little anxious to get on with the part with the boys as Sam & Dean are who I really want to read about.

Chapter 20--The Heart of the Dragon resurfaces. Nemesis is now much older & wiser & formidable. He had been studying demonology as well & is a little more equipped. Nice character progression.

Chapter 21--There the boys are. On their way to San Fran & still having a few issues between them for the whole sneaking off with Ruby & starting the Apocalypse. And speaking of the Apocalypse, the original demon who first created the Heart of the Dragon has come to collect her weapon she made just for this time. She's not at all pleased that the nemesis has control of it. Two Baddies at odds. I like that. Could get a whole lot more dangerous.

Chapter 22--Sam's hurt. Yikes, poor face. Sword's gone.

Chapter 23--Nemesis knows it's John Winchester's kids & is excited to see if they are as tough as their dad was. That doesn't sound good.

Chapter 24--Angels are involved now? Not so much, they are just getting killed by the demon who wants the samurai, showing how BA she is.

Chapter 25--Sam & Dean are on their way to talk with a hunter/professor who understands the sword's inscriptions. Of course the demon kills him before they arrive.

Chapter 26--Face off with the demon chick. She lobs a few insults about Sam's bruised face & him being Lucifer's vessel, but takes off when Dean pulls out Ruby's knife. Cas shows up. It still bothers me that in all the Supernatural books they spell it as Cass. That's just wrong. His name is not Casstiel. Nemesis sends The Heart of the Dragon to kill the brothers, but since Cas is there, he restrains him, though barely. However that gives the samurai a chance to tell them that he doesn't like doing the Nemesis's bidding & he actually tells them how to free him, not just banish him for another 20 years. Seriously? That kind of bugs me. Way too easy. Whatever.

Chapter 27--Showdown between the demon and Nemesis. Fairly ingenious. More humorous than exciting. The Heart of the Dragon is summoned to them. Sam, Dean & Cas show up. It's the big climatic scene where all three threats are taken care of, but unfortunately, even though everything is tied up nice and tidy--it's not all that climatic. After wading through two-thirds of Campbell & John past, I was hoping for more. This was just meh.

Epilogue--Zachariah ruminates about his part in secretly leaking the information about the samurai's return to Cas to get the Winchesters to play their part. This last chapter is actually the most chilling.

I do recommend Heart of the Dragon. Don't hate it, just not jumping up and down enthusiastic over it.