Samurai

Simon St George #2

by Jason Hightman

Dragons. They masquerade as their victims, unrecognizable to all but a select few. In the West, Simon St. George and his father are the last living descendants of a legendary clan of dragon hunters. In the Far East, fierce Samurai warriors are bound by an oath to defeat the dragons. Now, faced with an apocalyptic dragon plot, East and West must join forces to save mankind.

Brimming with unforgettable dragon lore and exotic adventure, Jason Hightman's riveting sequel to The Saint of Dragons delves deeper into the raging war between humans and dragons.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Fiction, Young Adult, Adventure, Adult, Childrens

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jason Hightman also writes as J. P. Hightman

Jason Hightman lives in California with his wife, Kim, and young daughter, Hannah, who has the magical ability to make anyone laugh even on their dreariest days. After studying dragon hunting and alchemy at the University of Southern California, Hightman has spent the last few years doing battle with the serpents in Los Angeles, who use automobiles to clog motorways impenetrably. You can often find him in his armor, prowling for good books and hunting any nasty dragons disguised as cynical critics. He prays he never runs into the latter. Hightman hopes the Saint of Dragons series combines the best elements of old-fashioned swordplay adventure, Japanese comic books, cinematic action, heroic archetypes, and unusual villains--all things he likes in the stories he reads himself.

Reviews

[Achinthya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turns out. . . There are more "clans" of Dragonkillers!!! And these guys are JAPANESE! Awesome, especially with Samurai!

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently had to read this book for my English class and it was a very good read. I’m not a really big fan of reading anymore but after reading it I’m starting to get back into reading. I admired all the aspects of this book, the characters, plot, setting, everything is just great.

There aren’t many books nowadays that are capable of producing characters that aren’t cliche in one way or another, but Samurai just amazes me that there isn’t a single character that I disliked. I even thought the enemies were impressive because of of how unique they were. The action is this book was top notch and actually kept me wanting to read more, It’s very detailed and that’s what makes it so great. It is so detailed that I could picture vivid images of what was going on.

I find it difficult to to find books that are right for me in terms of plot, characters, and etc but this book kept picky readers like me entertained. I most likely would have never even bothered to rea this book if it were not for my English class. I am still happy that I got to experience such an amazing book like Samurai. Jason Hightman is a very talented author that deserves more credit for this work of art.

I genuinely enjoyed reading this book so if you are reading this and considering if you should read it as well, I would say go for it. It is by far one of the best books I have ever read and that’s really saying something, considering I’m not an avid reader. Please do check out this book, you won’t regret it.

[Nathaniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this might have been slightly better than the original. I was glad to see the return of the Black Dragon, it's good to know that even in this world, there are some kind dragons out there! There's no indication of any further books, but as the story doesn't seem to have ended, I'm guessing there might yet be more. I'm not too sure whether or not I want to read them.

[Ty Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this piece was an improvements on the original. The original was a fun, turbulent, and fast paced read. The fast pace sometimes took away from my enjoyment, but the second seemed to pace itself better when introducing new characters and their implications!
A very fun read!

[Emily Cornejo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book a 3. I feel it’s a very wonderful book with a nice setting and story, but I felt it was quite predictable at times. The book had its strengths yet weaknesses, like a dish not quite up to expectation but has its aspects.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn’t terribly impressed with this book. Aldric and Simon seemed to be obnoxious foreigners who got in everyone’s way.

[Paschalis]

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[Elias · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[John Pristina801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the continuation of the saint of dragons. In this book Aldric and Alaythia are strongly in love, which for them is extremely dangerous. When a knight and magician are in love they send off a strong magic that dragons can sense any where in the world. This was how Simon's mother was killed. So one day the India dragon goes to their home and destroys it. Alaythia realizes that she is the cause so she runs away. While searching for her, Simon and Aldric stumble upon information that there is another group of dragon hunters out there with their own St. George relative. They discover the boy and go to talk to him when they get into an all out brawl. They find out that these are the boy's guardians and the fight stops. It turns out that Aldric and his brother had once stayed there for a month hunting a dragon. His brother and the new St. George's mom fell in love and had a baby. When they were leaving Sanchkio (the boy's mom) erased their memory so the dragons couldn't find them. One day the samurai discovered the son and because of his St. George blood, he is able to see the dragons. So his mother and the boy joined the hunt and now work as samurai. So the knights and Samurai team up to foil the Japenese and Indian Dragon's plot of ending the world. Along the way they find Alaythia, who helps foil their plot. In the end the two different groups of hunters make peace and save the day.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

Simon St. George is the youngest male descendant of the legendary Saint George. Simon and his father, Aldric, are also the last to carry on the dragon slaying legacy of their ancestor. Or so they think.

Their latest adventure (SAMURAI is the sequel to THE SAINT OF DRAGONS) takes them to the Far East on a hunt for an elusive group of Asian dragons. The father and son team encounter an ancient order of samurai, sworn to defeat the dragons. The samurai and the St. Georges could be powerful allies, if they can all figure out how to work together for the greater good. And if they could all stop keeping secrets and holding grudges. Things that Simon and Aldric are having a few issues with between each other.

Until everyone can unite, the battle between human and dragon rages on.

This story is about more than just the obvious battle, though. It's a battle between east and west, past and present, father and son, and the personal battle each of the main characters has to go through. No struggle is easy. There isn't a whole lot of black and white here. And each decision made, or not made, affects many people.

The top layer is a great adventure. But underneath there are many more levels. Dragons and demons have many faces, and most of them aren't what you'd expect.

[Lee Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that the book is amazing because the author puts a lot of detail to his novel, and it has a good plot to it. Although there is sometimes too much detail put into the book, it is still the best book that I have read because, it has dragons and knights in it and I am a fan of dragons and knights. Another thing that makes it so great is that it has the best beginning, that started out with action and it was so full of details that I felt what it was like fighting with the dragon, and feeling the heat of the flames.

I would recommend this book to anybody that loves fantasy and is a person who likes books that have a lot of details, and a story about two people trying to find their friend and a long lost cousin. The story also has a teenage boy with girl problems, such as, not having the guts to ask a girl out and feeling uncomfortable with the girl he likes. The setting isn't in just one place and that is what makes the book great to read.

All in all, the book has a good story and different settings, that makes it a great book for people that like what is in the book and also the genre of the book. The author of the book, gives us a lot of detail to understand the book more and he uses descriptive writing to give us the sound effects in the book.

[Dayna Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in the Saint of Dragons series. Simon St. George and his father are dragon slayers. They travel the world killing dragons who hide in human form and spread evil throughout the world. When Alaythia, the magician who helps them, leaves they set out on a quest to find her. The journey takes them to Japan where they discover a group of Samurai dragon slayers. An uneasy truce develops as the two groups must join together to prevent two powerful dragons from mating and destroying the world.

[Dominique Lamssies · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I found it for free somewhere and was pleasantly surprised. While the story wasn't anything all that special, the characterization is SPECTACULAR! I loved all the characters in this book. They're all so well drawn and full and quirky, but in a way that works. They're not quirky for the sake of being weird, it all work in the story. Seriously, read this book.

[Chris Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed the book! Would definitely recommend it as a book to UKS2 boys who don't like to read! Has everything they would like!

As a whole the book is very well written, even though I haven't read the 1st in the series I still felt like I knew enough about the story to follow along well.

[Samantha97 Stowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this series. I am sure another installment will come in time. I hate waiting. It is different from all the other dragon books out. Fast paced and you never know what will happen next.

[Anthony Bonventre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequels most of the time never live up to the original but in some ways Samurai is much better. Samurai is better than the original because it deals with pacing and story telling issues, but still has some flaws are that big plot twists that appear out of no where.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good sequel to The Saint of Dragons. Both books are very exciting and suspenseful!

[Roshni · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great sequel to the first book, with new dragon-hunters being discovered, along with an unknown relative. A fantastic book that leaves scope for a sequel, which I hope Hightman will write.

[Karen Desmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

4

[Johan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has many of the same problems of the previous book, but does make it's characters a bit more interesting. But not much.