Review of "Dragon Twins" by Chriss Bury

​Score: 91+/100 (9.1+ out of 10)

A kid's imagination is a powerful thing!

This book follows Ambrose, a boy obsessed with fantasy, especially dragons!
All day, Ambrose thinks and daydreams about dragons and having magical powers: flying, healing, and using super-strength. He's accompanied by his gecko, Simon, whom he imagines being his personal dragon.

He is treated like a weirdo and crazy person by the school and other students, particularly Tommy, a sickeningly malicious bully who keeps threatening to hurt Simon. Tommy and his cronies routinely torment him, grabbing Simon and squeezing him, planting worms in his food, and even spitting or pouring things into his meals to make him sick. They trip him in hallways, paint dragons on his walls to get him in trouble, and mock his obsession with dragons at every turn. What horrible, terrible people! Tommy is one of the most despicable, unlikable characters we've ever come across. A true scumbag!

Like, Tommy shoves him in a metal bin. Do you know that people have actually gotten trapped, suffocated, and died in bins like that? This is practically attempted murder!

We hate to say it, but Ambrose does come across as disturbing. No, he's not malicious and doesn't want to harm others, but he seems to be a danger to himself.

There's a scene in here in which he is about to self-harm with a boxcutter to prove to himself that he has "healing powers." This is legitimately insane! Honestly, this scene should not be in this book, espcially considering that it's likely intended for middle-grade, juvenile, and YA readers—especially impressionable age groups.

It also doesn't help Ambrose's character at all. It makes him seem like an unhinged lunatic who needs major psychological/professional help. If you just ignore that scene, the book, plot, and characters work well enough on their own. There was no need for something so horrific and extreme, even though he doesn't go through with it. Just the thought and implications are mortifying.

However, it does make you think a little bit about how dark and grim Ambrose's real life is. Outside of his fantasies, he's an orphan who is relentlessly bullied and looked down upon, treated like an unwanted outsider. Fantasy serves as an escape for so many people, and Ambrose takes it to the extreme.

Anyway, not everything and everyone in Ambrose's life is a miserable downer. Mr. Quan, the school janitor, serves as a Gandalf-like, comforting, supportive presence to Ambrose. He may be a nominee for Best Supporting Character. It's so doggone unfortunate that he isn't in more of this book. It really is.

As you might expect in a book like this: magic and dragons are more than the stuff of myths and legends, they're real! And Ambrose himself is a living embodiment of that.

Ambrose is actually a prince, the son of King Darius and Queen Aria, the rulers of what can probably be described as the "Dragon Kingdom" or "Dragon Realm." Speaking of dragons, it turns out that Simon is actually a dragon named Casius! And Casius has a sister, Sophie/Sopherea, who can also take on an owl form.

However, the book isn't named after Simon & Sophie, it's actually named after Ambrose and his twin sister, Afiria. The two essentially serve as the main protagonists of the novel.

Unfortunately, Ambrose, Afiria, and the Dragon Kingdom is menaced by a dark force led by Morfran, a dragon overlord, and Malachi, a powerful black dragon (and Morfran's son).

This book is effectively and thematically a lot like Keynin Battles books: the wish fulfillment of a young man with all of his fantasies coming to life.

It's still an interesting and fun little read.
Oh, we can't wait until Tommy gets his!

Check it out on Amazon!