Ian Campbell has never felt comfortable in his own skin let
alone around other people. Then comes the recurring dream, a
dream where he's surrounded by dragons of every color, dragons
who can speak to him, dragons who call him Prince Erus. He can
hardly focus on high school when his dream world feels more
real to him than his boring human life.
But what if it isn't a dream? What if Ian is really Prince
Erus, a golden dragon who was hidden in the human world for
protection? What if it really is his destiny to defeat the
black dragon Acerbus and return the land of DRACONIGENA to
peace and prosperity?
If he accepts this truth, he'll have to abandon his human life,
his parents, and his best friend. Not to mention, he'll have to
master all seven abilities of the dragon races to defeat
Acerbus, the dragon who killed Ian's parents and rules
DRACONIGENA without mercy.
Over the summer, my niece started hinting that I should read
DRACONIGENA. Then her hints turned to strong recommendations
and then finally to a straightforward plea. She feels very
strongly about DRACONIGENA and wants everyone to read it.
Steven Spriggs, the author, is my niece's math teacher. Any
teacher who can inspire such passion for reading (while in a
math class no less!) in his students deserves some serious
praise. Not only do his students want to read his novel but
they want to share that story with others. Bravo!
The story begins slowly as Ian/Erus is introduced to his true
identity and learns about his dragon self and that world. The
worldbuilding in DRACONIGENA is a work of love and passion for
Steven Spriggs. The world and dragon culture is detailed and
fully-realized. The physical world of DRACONIGENA is loving
described, and the varied geography lends itself towards
explaining each dragon race's unique ability.
Nearly half the book is dedicated to Erus's training in his
dragon abilities and there is little conflict during this first
half of the book. Ian/Erus's guilt at leaving his human parents
is mentioned but almost as an afterthought rather than a
constant and real conflict.
Once the training is complete and Erus and his guardians gather
an army against Acerbus, the pacing picks up. Spriggs does a
good job of showing battle scenes with enough detail to show
the major action without bogging down the pace. Without giving
away too much, I do wish I had seen more of Acerbus throughout
the book. His story and his origins are a large mystery
throughout, but there is only one chapter where he's physically
present. His threat and Erus's uphill struggle to defeat him
would have had more impact if Acerbus had played a larger in-
scene role. The story went a little longer than it should have,
dragging out the ending unnecessarily.
Overall, I was happy to read DRACONIGENA. I could see from the
detailed world and the large cast of characters that Steven
Spriggs loved writing this book and envisioned an epic
landscape of magic, dragons, and the ultimate battle between
good and evil. I hope he continues to write, learn about the
craft, and inspire more students to follow their dream.
Like many high school students, sixteen-year-old Ian
Campbell doesn’t
fit in, but Ian isn’t your normal teenager. The only
people Ian can
confide in are his parents—who he looks nothing like—and
his best
friend—who watches over Ian like a hawk. Everything
changes with the
dream. He begins to find himself in a strange land every
night, with
the dream ending at a tower circled by seven dragons of
various colors.
One night, the white dragon addresses Ian as Prince Erus
and reveals
his destiny. Thousands of years ago, the golden dragon
Primus appeared
bringing peace, and the black dragon Acerbus appeared
bringing conquest
—both mysteriously wielding the abilities of all seven
races. Acerbus
was sealed away outside of time, and Primus became king
with his
descendants ruling throughout history. When the black
dragon escaped
his prison and killed Ian’s parents—the last king and
queen—Ian was
sent to Earth for protection.
Ian must accept the truth, abandon his human life and
parents, and
become the prince the dragons need him to be. Throughout
his journey to
master the seven abilities, Ian will find acceptance,
friends, family,
and love. However, all the while Ian worries how he can
defeat Acerbus
when neither Primus nor his father could.
Excerpt
The Dream
I awoke lying in grass that rose high above my head.
Startled, I sat straight up not knowing how I got there.
The last thing I remembered was going to sleep in my bed.
Could this be a dream? I thought. I looked around the
field of grass with a few trees scattered about and saw
what looked like a forest a short distance away. Flowers
of various shapes and colors of which I had never seen
before littered the area. I had gotten into bed around
midnight; it was pitch black outside. But as I stared up
at the bright blue sky, I found the sun to be near the
apex of its journey. How much time has passed?
As I walked around the open field trying to get my
bearings, I started to realize that everything felt too
real to be a dream. The colors were too bright and my
surroundings were in focus, nothing like the haze in my
usual dreams. Most of my dreams were the usual flying
through the air; I had never dreamt anything this real.
Panic started to set in as I couldn’t come to a
conclusion of how I came to be there.
Despite my worry, I couldn’t help but notice the beauty
and wonder of my surroundings. Having always spent my
life in the city, I never got the chance to play in real
fields of grass or climb a tree. The only grass I had
ever walked on was in one of the small city parks. As I
began to walk in the direction of the trees, hoping to
find someone that could tell me where I was, my thoughts
turned towards the previous night in an attempt to make
sense of how I left my bed. My parents and I had gotten
into an argument because they wouldn’t let me go with my
best friend on his family’s upcoming trip. Braylon’s
family was going on their first ever vacation, and they
had invited me. There were only a few weeks of school
left till summer and everyone was making plans. In
retrospect, I knew my parents didn’t have the extra money
to give me. I shouldn’t have yelled at them, I thought.
Especially after everything they’ve done for me in the
course of my life. My parents were always thankful to
have me, and they would often tell me how proud I made
them. The doctors always told mom and dad that they
couldn’t have children, and then one day they found out
they were pregnant with me. They always called me their
miracle baby. If I can get back home, I’m going to
apologize for the stupid fight. After the argument, I
went up to my room childishly refusing to come out and
finally went to bed. So how did I get here?
The light breeze that blew through the air keeping me
cool and carrying the fragrance of the flowers was nice.
As I approached the trees, guessing the breeze wouldn’t
be felt in there, I could hear what sounded like birds
and other animals scurrying about the forest. The grass
was not as high in the shade of the trees so I was able
to walk a little faster, although the occasional looking
brambles made things difficult. I had to be careful
where I stepped since I was barefoot. As time went by,
it was hard to tell how long I’d been there, I began to
notice that the sounds of the animals vanished as I made
my way through their forest. The animals seemed to be
fleeing from my presence, but I assumed this was natural
of wild animals when a human was near. Admittedly, I
wasn’t much of an animal person to begin with. I liked
animals, but they didn’t like me for some reason. Every
time I got near someone’s pet it would freak out and try
to get away from me.
The trees were various shapes and sizes with some of them
being enormous. I came across one tree even larger than
a red wood. I had seen pictures of those massive trees
but they didn’t compare to this one. The sound of
running water eventually caught my attention after
dealing with the deadened sounds of the forest. My pace
quickened towards the lovely sound, as I was parched from
all the activity. The stream wasn’t very big, only a
couple of feet deep and about ten feet wide. I knew
enough about survival from TV that you shouldn’t drink
water out of a stream without boiling it first. However,
I didn’t have anything to start a fire and knew I would
never be able to make one from the things around me. But
then I thought this is just a dream, so I plunged my face
into the surprisingly cold water and began to drink my
fill. I had never tasted anything so good and
refreshing. After quenching my thirst, I stopped and
looked at my disheveled appearance in the water’s
reflection. I was an okay looking person in my opinion.
My parents always thought of me as handsome, but I never
fit in well enough with the other kids at my school to
ask a girl out on a date. I always felt out of touch
with most of the world, like I was a step out of pace.
My skin was smooth, minus the few scratches my body had
endured today, with deep purplish blue eyes, and blond
hair that bordered on bright gold in the sunlight. I
always liked my unusual golden hair and eyes; they made
me feel special. I had taken a growth spurt after my
sixteenth birthday and was now one of the biggest boys in
my school. With my thirst under control for the moment,
I resumed my search for rescue.
After what seemed like hours of not being able to see the
sun’s path well due to the trees, I came to another wide
open field with tall grass. The cool breeze was
welcoming again, but my heart sank to realize that I
hadn’t found anyone yet and no houses were in sight. I’m
not cut out for this, I thought. I am a city kid. I’m
book smart, not survive on your own smart. As I scanned
the horizon trying to pick a direction, I saw what looked
like a building set off to the presumable east. My
spirits soared as I hurried in the hope of rescue. It
was almost like swimming, forcing my way through the tall
grass and heather. I tried to keep my eyes on the
building or at least the general direction if the grass
blocked my way. After a while, I noticed that it wasn’t
a house, but a tower with birds flying around the top.
Well, if I can see birds flying around it, then the tower
can’t be that far away, I thought.
However, after a time I began to notice that I didn’t
seem to be closing the gap between my hopeful salvation
and myself as quickly as I thought I would. I began to
realize that the vanishing point of the horizon had made
the tower look smaller than it really was. The more I
walked, the more the tower arose in front of me. A new
thought then occurred to me. If the tower is bigger and
farther away then I first thought, then those must be
very large birds to be seen from such a distance. Maybe
the tower is an aviary for these massive birds? In any
case, someone must still be there after building such an
elaborate structure.
I kept my laser-like gaze on the tower in front of me and
moved as quickly as possible. I pushed aside my thirst
and hunger, telling myself that food and water awaited me
ahead. As I approached the structure, I began to see the
ornate details. Each block was very large and seemed to
fit almost seamlessly together. Strange symbols were
carved into the light colored stone that I could not
decipher, but yet some part of my mind thought they
looked familiar. Finally, exhausted, I came right up to
the tower’s stone wall and put my hand to it. As smooth
as polished marble and much bigger than I first thought,
I couldn’t imagine how anyone could build it and for what
purpose. There didn’t seem to be any windows or doors.
A monstrous roar snapped me back to my surroundings. I
looked up to see what had caused the unnerving sound and
felt the blood drain from my face. In my haste to get to
the tower I never looked up to see the birds, and I knew
that would cost me my life. I understood now why I was
able to see them from such a distance. Those were not
birds circling the top of the tower, they were dragons!
Seven massive beasts, what looked close to fifty feet in
length and various colors flew around the tower. Red,
blue, green, brown, yellow, orange, and white flew above
my head like vultures circling a meal. The sound of
their huge wings, the wingspan must have been at least
one hundred fifty feet, was like thunder. A part of my
brain registered the fact that I should be running.
Although if these creatures, it was hard to think
dragons, wanted to eat me there was nothing I could do to
stop them.
Just as I started to slowly take a step back, the white
one descended towards me. Startled, I tripped over my
own feet. As I fell to the ground, I instinctively
rolled over throwing out my hands to brace myself. Pain
registered in my right hand as I cut it on a rock
protruding from the earth. Well, if it wants to eat me,
the smell of blood isn’t going to make things worse, I
thought absurdly. I heard and felt the ground rumble as
the creature landed behind me. I rolled over expecting
to be met with an outstretched mouth about to swallow me.
However, to my astonishment it was just standing there,
all four legs on the ground, not even looking like it was
about to strike. I didn’t know what to do. Is this some
kind of cat and mouse game and it’s waiting for me to
run? Slowly, I got to my feet making sure not to make
any sudden moves. As I stood up, I noticed the other
dragons still circling above. I guess the white one gets
the sole pleasure of devouring me.
I stood there expecting to be attacked at any moment. I
foolishly took a defensive position, as if I could stop
it from doing whatever it wanted. The rational part of
my brain was screaming at me to get out of there, but
some small part was telling me that everything was all
right. When I actually started to look at the dragon, I
couldn’t help but notice that it was beautiful. My first
guess was right as it looked to be about fifty feet from
head to tail. The body and tail each looked to be about
twenty feet and the neck to the end of the head ten. The
color, white as fresh snow, was dazzling in the bright
sun. The scales were clearly visible in a perfect
hexagonal tessellation. The wings, bat like and a
slightly duller white, were furled against its body. The
legs of the dragon, as big as a man, ended in gray claws
that could easily disembowel me if so desired. The front
feet, more resembling hands, flexed slightly, while the
back feet looked more like a dinosaur’s. Its long tail
slightly swayed back and forth, like an impatient cat.
The head was large with two sizable gray horns protruding
about where the ears of a cat would be, with a few
smaller horns running down the side of its head. A row
of spikes started at the base of the neck and ran to the
end of the tail. The eyes were a deep purplish-blue; the
exact same color as mine, and set back into its head
above the large jaw.
Everything about this creature told me that I posed no
threat to it, so why wasn’t I dead? The dragon dropped
its head and stared me right in the eyes. As I stared
into those eyes, with a vertical slit for a pupil,
something occurred to me. This wasn’t the stare of a
dumb animal like a cat or dog; no there was intelligence
in those eyes as if it was summing me up. It cocked its
head a little as it stared at me. Without even realizing
it, my left arm outstretched with my hand out. As if
it’s really going to let me pet it, I thought. What am I
doing! Its mouth opened displaying long rows of teeth.
I didn’t know if it really could breathe fire, but I knew
I was going to die whether by flames or just being eaten.
A sound began to buzz in my ears, the creature roaring?
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