"Doragon"? Seriously? Ok, I give up. I'm sorry Supernatural, I'm sticking to your TV show version, because your book ones suck. ( )

"Heart of the Dragon" is the title given to a ronin, a man who had been a samurai and is still known for his integrity throughout the province where he tries to scratch out an honest living. When he is lured to a small village for a job, it's an ambush by a demon who longed to kill a virtuous man. The lineage is followed from this good man to his petty loser of a modern-day descendant who has figured out how to enslave his ancestor for his evil purposes.
This is the fourth in the series. The story jumps hundreds of years between a rural Japanese village to modern San Francisco's Chinatown. The Winchester brothers are secondary characters until maybe two thirds of the way through, with the story changing central characters from grandfather Samuel and mother Mary in 1969, to John Winchester in 1989, to the brothers in 2009. There are demons, angels, the Triad and gruesome deaths. ( )

In my opinion, the author, Keith R.A. DeCandido, has really captured the heart of Supernatural. The way he portrays the characters in his book are very accurate to their live-action counterparts.
He also gives the reader background information that isn't explored that much in the television series, such as the times John Winchester went hunting on his own when his two sons were still young and were left at their 'Uncle Bobby's'. Also, Keith explores Mary Campbell's (the future mother and wife to John and her sons) childhood when she was a teenager and hunting with her parents.
John, Mary and her parents all hunt the titular 'Heart of the Dragon', and it's interesting to read how their actions and decisions have an impact on Sam, Dean and the other present-day characters.
Also, his story is plotted and written so well that it seamlessly fits with the plot of rhe television series, as though it could of actually of been a real episode. (To be honest, I wish it was!).
This novel has everything its television counterpart has (and which makes the series so successful): a balance of tense, sarious moments, light, funny moments and great action scenes. This, I feel is what makes this book such a great companion to the Supernatural franchise, and one I would personally recommend to all Supernatual fans. ( )

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Heart of the Dragon Series: Supernatural Author: Keith DeCandido Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Media tie-in Pages: 243 Synopsis: The war between the Angels and Demons for control of the coming Apocalypse continues. One demon has thought long term and is trying to bring into a play a fallen spirit of great power, a corrupted Samurai. Said Samurai has been banished, but reappears every 20 years. Sam and Dean's grandparents successfully banished it, as well as their father and now it is their turn. But this time, that banishment must be permanent or the Samurai will tip the odds in favor of the demons and it will be Hell On Earth. My Thoughts: Best Supernatural book yet. It was split 30/30/30 between grandparents, father and then the brothers. For me, that worked real well, as the epic emo'ness of this arc in the tv show was largely cut out and we could focus on Hunters being bad ass hunters. There was a lot of action, with everything from vampires to humans to demons and angels. Everything I liked about the first 2 seasons was in force in this book. It was simple research, hunt and kill. No whining about this, that and the other. No crying over their forsaken feelings. Just good clean hunting. My only concern is now the remainder of the books will be compared to this one. " ( )

People who want to read this book should be familiar with the television show - Supernatural. Otherwise, you might be disconnected or lost.

This book takes place after "Changing Channels" in Season 5.

Quick Review:

For most of this story, I hardly got to read about present day/Sam and Dean. The majority of the book centered around the back story of the Heart of the Dragon. Unlike the other stories in this series so far, the readers got to read about the Campbell's hunting, John hunting, and a few scenes through angels' eyes. As interesting as this was, I missed Sam and Dean.

There were also a few scenes of that took place when Sam and Dean were little. Those were cute.

The ending was tied up very neatly - a little too neatly. ( )