Sagaria

“Sagaria” by John Dahlgren is the story of Sagandran Sacks, a teenage boy who suddenly finds himself holding the fate of the Earth and two other worlds in his hands.  When Sagandran went on a trip to his grandfather’s house, he just expected a normal trip.  But when his grandfather goes missing after telling Sagandran a tale about a portal to another world, Sagandran went exploring and found a whole new world, no, two new worlds of adventure awaiting him.  Will Sagandran ever see his grandfather again?

After entering Sagaria via an old well, Sagandran soon made company with a talking rat called Flip, a snotty princess named Perima, a frog knight called Sir Tombin, and a forgetful old wizard named Samzing.  With this band of oddballs from every corner of Sagaria, Sagandran learned that he was in possession of a powerful crystal that could hold the future of Earth and two other worlds, Sagaria included.  But Sagandran also knew that he had to save his grandfather.  So he went to the Shadow World to face the evil sorcerer Arkanamon and free his grandfather from the necromancer’s clutches.  Will Sagandran be able to defeat Arkanamon and save the world?

The book was a fun but rather long read weighing in at 582 pages.  One of the few things that I didn’t like about this book versus others like it was that it didn’t have a strong villain.  Also, the battle at the end of the book wasn’t as much a battle as it was a beat up the villain party.  Other than this, the book was rather entertaining and offered some good heroes such as a perpetually grumpy rat and a human-sized frog knight.

I would recommend this book to people who like adventure and fantasy books.  There is a prequel book titled “The Tides of Avarice: A Sagaria Legend” that was a very enjoyable read.  “Sagaria” by John Dahlgren book was a moderately engrossing read, but not always as interesting as the prequel.


Sagaria
John Dahlgren
Didier Millet, Csi (2011)
ISBN 9789814260527
Reviewed by Ben Weldon (age 14) for Reader Views (4/12)