Book Review: Supernatural – Heart of the Dragon by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Today I’m going to review the book Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon by Keith R.A. DeCandido (a.k.a. Krad). But first, this book got me to thinking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Can I tell you what’s hot? This is kind of old news, but remember how Alyson Hannigan’s character would get all evil and her eyes would turn black? Dark Willow was HOT! I’m not talking about when Willow got all vampire faced with spikey teeth and stuff. That was kind of intimidating. No I’m talking about when she would get all dark and had veins on her face and she was all ready to destroy the world. That was hot.

* * *

I don’t know about anybody else, but this makes me want to shout. “Give it to me, baby. I want to feel it! Yeah!” Besides hot dark Willow, the best thing about Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the mythos. And the worst thing about Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the mythos. There was all this back story about Buffy being the “chosen one” and how somebody else was actually an angel and then there was this demon lady and of course there were vampires and the whole worldwide anti-occult conspiracy thing and all that other stuff. That was a lot of stuff. I could never keep track of it all. But who needed to?

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, TV shows and mythos… and this book, which is based on a TV show that would appear have quite the mythos: Supernatural. I’ve never seen the TV show. Apparently, it follows the adventures of the Winchester brothers, who are two guys that hunt monsters and demons. From what I’ve gleaned about the show, it’s kind of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer in that there are a lot of implausible things going on, and a lot of people fighting supernatural beings with shotguns, magical swords and bows and arrows and stuff. The Winchester brothers come from two generations of “hunters,” as they call themselves. The book follows the adventures of all three generations of hunters as they fight a particular Japanese menace through the ages.

The Japanese menace in question is known as the “Heart of the Dragon” and is a fiery samurai ghost who is summoned by a gangster to do his dirty work. In the book, the first two generations of hunters fight the samurai ghost, but only manage to banish him temporarily. Will the Winchester brothers be able to defeat him? The book fits into the overall storyline of the TV show in that some higher stakes are involved. While the ghost is controlled by a gangster, it was created by a demon to be a tool for evil during the coming apocalypse. So while the Winchester brothers fight the ghost and the gangster, demons and angels are fighting over who will ultimately control the vengeful flaming samurai ghost, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

The book is a fast read and a page-turner. The writing is clear and gets out of the way of the story. At the same time, it basically is a novelization of a TV show, which cuts both ways. Because there is a back story and mythos that needs to be tended to, one gets the idea that a basic story outline was created, and then a laundry list of necessary mythos points was added to the outline, and then the author filled in the details. In other words, the writing ends up seeming a little bit mechanical. Particularly near the end, where there is a battle between some angels and demons that really doesn’t fit into the plot of the book and was obviously thrown in to make the book tie into the TV series.

Which is part of why I think that people who like the TV show will like this book. It ties into the mythos, and even includes a note for which TV episode it fits in after. Also, it has action, mystery, fights with vampires, some weird gore, San Francisco Chinatown intrigue, and people posing as CIA agents to get into morgues. I also think fans of Buffy would like it. Did I mention that DeCandido has written some Buffy books?

There are some annoying things about this book. Number one: I don’t want to spend too much time on this, but I feel compelled to mention that the term “half breed” is often considered offensive, and the author used it in ways that I thought were careless and/or clueless, considering everything. Number two: It does happen that the Japanese have their own word for dragon, and it’s not “doragon,” which is how they might spell the English word in Katakana. Number three: Since this is partly a travel book, I wished that DeCandido had filled in some details of Chinatown. I ended up imagining the action happening on a blank sound stage.

After that it’s just quibbles. Somebody gets shot in the knee when they should have been shot in the face. Somebody else spouts an overused R.E.M. lyric. There is no dark Willow. I ended up being entertained by the book, but didn’t love it. It sets out to entertain the reader and it gets the job done with a minimum of muss and fuss. I liked how a lot of the action was set in San Francisco’s Chinatown, where I lived for a number years. Let’s see the scores.

Creepy Factor: 2.5 out of 5 (mostly for a Picture of Dorian Gray type scene that happens at the end.)
Suspense Factor: 2 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 0 out of 5 (Yes, dear reader, zero.)
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 1 out of 5

It’s my opinion that fans of the TV show will enjoy this book. As I said, it’s a fast read and a page-turner. I just think it’s a little flat and seems a lot like an episode of a TV show, which makes sense, I guess. That may or may not be a bad thing, depending on what you’re looking for as a reader. I would also repeat that fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer might be interested.

Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon by Keith R.A. DeCandido – 2010 – Titan Books
Buy Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon at Amazon

Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy of this book. See you next time!