The Saint of Dragons

The Saint of Dragons is a fantasy novel by Jason Hightman. It is his first book and the first of a series, the second of which is called Samurai.

Premise
The premise of the novel is that Dragons are in fact very real and have evolved. They are malevolent, demonic beings who thrive on human misery. They are now no more than seven feet tall, bipedal and use their immense magical powers to make themselves appear human. Due to their superhuman intellect and magical powers they have clawed their way to high-ranking positions in society but are as eager to make others poor as they are to make themselves rich and so use their money and power to make humans miserable. According to one of the characters, Aldric St George, Dragons evolved from the first evil thought that humankind had, whatever that may have been. Dragons have somewhat longer lifespans that humans but are by no means immortal as the oldest Dragon in the series is no more than two hundred years old. The Dragons are also relatively easy to kill.

Plot
The story opens with a Dragonhunter named Aldric St George infiltrating the mansion of an ancient Dragon. The Dragon, despite his condsiderable age is still quite powerful and succeeds in killing Aldric's brother along with their entire party before finally being destroyed. As he dies, the creature mocks Aldric saying that he knows he has a son and his fellow Dragons are going after him.

The book then introduces the main character, thirteen year old Simon St George who attends the prestigious Lighthouse School For Boys in a fictional New England town called Ebony Hollow. He appears young for his age, has a crush on a girl in a novelty shop near his school and lives with the rather dull school caretakers. Simon has never known his parents and is treated as something of an oddity by his arrogant fellow school pupils.

One night when Simon is window-cleaning, something he does as a favour for the school he meets a somewhat deranged-looking man (who is actually Aldric) who claims to be his father and tries to get Simon to come with him. Simon refuses.

On Halloween Night, during a party Simon gets bored and goes out into a corridor where he overhears the headmaster talking to a man in a white suit who claims to be his father. The man leaves, leaving Simon feeling curious.

Whilst crossing a field Simon and some of his fellow pupils are attacked by some thugs who attempt to abduct Simon who is rescued by a man on horseback who is revealed to be Aldric and whom Simon recognises as the deranged-looking man who claimed to be his father. The man takes Simon back to his ship which is named The Ship With No Name. This is ironic as obviously the ship does have a name, that being The Ship With No Name, therefore its name is in fact a misnomer. Aldric reveals to Simon that the two of them are descended from Saint George the Dragonslayer and that Dragons are in fact very real and it is their job to hunt them down. Aldric is in possession of a book called the White Book of Saint George which contains the name of every Dragon in existence along with their Deathspell, the incantation required to destroy them. To vanquish a Dragon one needs to apply their hand to its chest and speak its Deathspell. Aldric and his late brother, Ormand have travelled the world killing Dragons and there is only one left : the White Dragon of Manhatten, the brother of the Dragon Aldric killed at the beginning of the story.

In New York, the White Dragon who goes by the name of Venemon has developed a crush on a human woman named Alaythia, an artist whose work nobody but he appreciates. When a Dragon makes love, they incinerate their partner who effectively becomes a living flame. Venemon thinks Alaythia would make an excellant flame and goes round to her apartment for dinner. He seduces her with a magical painting which he has made and is about to take her when Aldric and Simon arrive. Aldric and Venemon do battle and Aldric destroys him but a fire is started in the process.

Aldric and Simon escape along with the unconscious Alaythia. Aldric and Simon then discover to their horror that there is one more Dragon alive in Venice. Alaythia who possesses magical powers and can read the language of Dragons accompanies them to Venice where they encounter the Water Dragon, Brakkesh, an Italian gangster with an obsession with jewellery. In the ensuing battle Brakkesh proves himself a formidable opponent and Simon almost inadvertantly sets fire to all of Venice. Nevertheless Brakkesh is eventually forced to flee. Aldric, Simon and Alaythia go to the Dragons mansion which is brimming with water and infested with eels on account of Brakkesh's status as a Water Dragon. They discover that Brakkesh is planning world domination and in fact there are two Books of Saint George one of which is at the legendary Coast of the Dead, a place feared even by Dragons.

Aldric, Simon and Alaythia journey to the Coast of the Dead where they discover the other book and find that there are thousands more Dragons in the world. They immediately leave but are apprehended near Russia and taken into custody. Aldric discovers that the Russian Military is under the command of the Dragon and they escape the detention centre and track down the Russian Dragon who has a mansion in Moscow.

The Russian Dragon goes by the name of Russki and is quite old. He appears to be schizophrenic and has an obsession with cats. He is part of the Venetian Dragons plan to unite all the Dragons in the world and eradicate humanity and the Venetian is currently on his way to Moscow but because of their close proximity the Dragons' magic is going out of control causing Russki's fire to develop a mind of its own and defy him.

When Aldric, Simon and Alaythia arrive at the Russian's mansion, Brakkesh the Water Dragon of Venice has already arrived along with Tyrannique, the Dragon of Paris. They eavesdrop on the Dragons' plan and discover that although Brakkesh is the ring-leader he answers to another Dragon whom he refers to only as "the Master." Simon blows their cover, shooting Brakkesh in the heart and the three Dragons attack. In the ensuing confrontation Aldric, Simon and Alaythia fall down a trap-door and are attacked by Fire-Creatures, conjured by the Dragons who make their escape. Simon shoots the glass dome in the roof causing the snow to fall down on the Firelings and he, Aldric and Alaythia escape. Alaythia feels like she isn't getting enough respect from Aldric and leaves, much to the distress of Simon.