Brandon Berntson

When We Were Dragons
Author: Brandon Berntson
Date: 2013
Pgs: 144
Disposition: eBook
_________________________________________________

REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
Worlds collide and now mankind and dragons are living side by side. Pieces of their world and pieces of ours have been mashed together in the Collision. Shapechanging humanoid dragons and gods walk the earth. Good and evil shall war over the soul of this new place. The key may be a young boy’s magic. If he can master it in time. If he can learn. If he survives.

_________________________________________________
Genre:
Teens
Science Fiction
Fantasy

Why this book:
It was free. It was dragons. High hopes.
_________________________________________________

The Feel:
I love the worldbuilding and the concept.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Dilladale and the dragons don’t seem nearly worried enough about what has just happened to their world.

Lane, who we all know is a traitor...uhm...are there some pages missing from the story?

The world is awesome. There has to be a better story to tell here. Or maybe a shift in focus. Or maybe, I’m just not the target audience of this story.

Hmm Moments:
The dragonmen sitting with Dilladale being regaled with the full secrets of their world myth and treating it like the awakened usually treat the more fantastic elements of religion. Cynicism hiding in dragon world lore as a commentary on modern religion...slick.

WTF Moments:
For as big a disaster as the Collission would be, and it only too a week for Dilladale to find America’s leaders and form a committee. Seems like there would be HUGE disruptions...and fear, lots and lots of fear. Not even to mention that Americans wouldn’t recognize the authority of a committee formed in such a manner.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
Humans wouldn’t be that accepting.

For not knowing what is going on, Dilladale sure is informing the hell out of the story while sitting around a campfire. Lots of telling going on, not much showing.

Whole lotta overly telegraphed significant looks where “she looked at me and I looked back at her.”
_________________________________________________

Last Page Sound:
Meh. Not for me. I looked at the other reviews and maybe you should too. I’m apparently in the minority. No book can be all things to all people. I’m not going to recommend it to anyone.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
why did I read this
_________________________________________________… (mehr)

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

Donny's Day is the surreal, graphic tale of Donny, who has been running from demons ever since the day as a child that he stole and read from a book that let them into the world. It's short, very short coming in at fifty-five pages of story. More than two thirds of it is back story and dream sequences and there's no attempts to separate reality from delusions. But the imagery is strong, and creepy, straight out of the best "What was that?" horror movie moments. Berntson is a skilled writer. Donny's Day is just too musing and dreamy and lacks the forward momentum and engaging plot to be a satisfying read to most everyday readers. Private collectors who enjoy tales heavy on mood and theme will find enjoyment here, but public collections catering to a larger swath of readers will probably not.… (mehr)