Title: Diego’s Dragon, Book 2: Dragons of the Dark Rift

Author: Kevin Gerard

Publication Date: April 6, 2015

Publisher: Crying Cougar Press

Pages: 214

Recommended Ages: 10+

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Summary

A Prophecy, an Ancient Calendar, and a Battle for Earth’s Survival. The turning of the 26,000 year cycle is approaching. The fifth sun promises a time of peace for all creatures. Magnifico, Estrella, and the Sol Dragones eagerly await the new age. Vipero hopes to alter the ancient prophecy. He orders the Dragons of the Dark Rift to find and eliminate the Sol Dragones. If they succeed, nothing will stop him from destroying Diego’s world and claiming ownership of Sol, a star with unlimited spiritual power. Diego and Racquel travel with their dragons to the Dark Rift, the entrance to the magical realm known as the Xibalba. Together with the Sol Dragones, they battle Vipero’s immense army in a fight to save or shift the Mayan prediction. The fate of earth depends on victory or defeat, and Diego is the key. His choice – to betray Magnifico or stay true to the Sol Dragones – will determine the outcome of the conflict.

 

Book Review

I received a free ecopy of this book for an honest review.

The Dragons of the Dark Rift is quite different from the first book in the series, Spirits of the Sun. The first half is mostly about the history of the dragons, the universe in this fantasy world, and their current war over Earth’s sun. While it was interesting and had some action, there were times that I felt it got too in-depth and I skipped some of the history.

Diego, the main character, is now 12 years and and is training to help his dragon, Magnifico, to fight in the war. I was surprised that there wasn’t more about Diego’s family in this book because they were so prominent in book #1. A new character, Estrella, is introduced. She’s Magnifico’s mate and she’s my favorite. Estrella is strong, courageous, loyal, and more level-headed than Magnifico.

The end of the book more than made up for the times when it was slow at the beginning. It was exciting, there was a lot of action, and it had a good ending. 

At the end, there are translations for Spanish phrases used throughout the book. The translations are helpful and are a good idea, but they were usually easy to figure out based on the context in which they were used.

The Diego’s Dragon books are definitely a series that older children who like fantasy would enjoy.

 

About the Author

Kevin Gerard lives in San Diego, California, with two feline friends, Jesse the WonderCat and Little Man. When not writing or teaching statistics at Cal State San Marcos, he enjoys walking the grounds at the San Diego Zoo, hitting the waves at Cardiff State Beach, and hanging with his brother, nieces and nephews at the local Pizza Port. He also enjoys playing Halo on the internet; look for him in the rocket games as one of the characters from Diego’s Dragon or Conor and the Crossworlds.

 

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