Breath of the Dragon

by Shannon Lee, Fonda Lee

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 341
Series: Breathmarked #1
Rating:

Synopsis:

A young warrior dreams of proving his worth in the elite Guardian Tournament, fighting not only for himself but the fate of everything he loves.

Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of proving his worth as a warrior in the elite Guardian’s Tournament, held every six years to entrust the magical Scroll of Heaven to a new protector. Eager to prove his skills, Jun hopes that a win will restore his father’s pride—righting a horrible mistake that caused their banishment from his home, mother, and twin brother.

But Jun’s father strictly forbids him from participating. He believes there is no future in Jun honing his skills as a warrior, especially considering Jun is not breathmarked, born with a patch of dragon scales and blessed with special abilities like his twin. Determined to be the next Guardian, Jun stows away in the wagon of Chang and his daughter, Ren, performers on their way to the capital where the tournament will take place.

As Jun competes, he quickly realizes he may be fighting for not just a better life, but the fate of the country itself and the very survival of everyone he cares about.

Fonda Lee and Shannon Lee’s Breath of the Dragon is a fairly well-trodden fantasy story, kinda YA-ish, that feels very much like a shounen manga. Martial arts, magical abilities, a conflict between two halves of a once-united country, a contest to become the guardian of a magical scroll, a rebellion, etc. It doesn’t come across as particularly original, which is not to say that there’s nothing fun about it, but it doesn’t stand out as much as I’d hoped.

There were a few surprises, like the eventual way things were worked out between Jun and Yin Yue — I hadn’t expected the animosity between them to be handled quite that way, or at least, not at the point it did/in the way it did. I wasn’t in love with the love triangle between them and Ren, so I was kind of relieved that didn’t get much of anywhere (yet, I’m sure that’ll change in the next book).

Overall… yeah, I don’t think it stood out to me. I liked some of the concepts, but Jun didn’t really sing to me (Ren might’ve been more interesting) and I found things a little predictable. It was fun, and there’s not a lot I’d point to as actually being bad, but I don’t know that I’d continue with the series, personally.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)