After having mixed feelings about the previous series I was reading, I decided to pick something else. A book that promises an interesting twist on dragon rider fantasy.

This book is quite strict on rules in the world – both the magic system and worldbuilding. When it comes to the latter, this takes form especially in the fact that most people pretty much don’t have a chance to affect their lot in life, which is decided by what their parents were. This rigid order is believed to be the key against the dangers of chaos, represented by the Scourge, conspired of large deadly insects and reanimated or corrupted (formerly) living beings. The dragon riders, seen as the peak of this orderly system, are the main defense against this scourge.

Holt, as the main character, gets to be present as a batch of eggs is laid, pretty much by chance. And he gets to see another harsh part of this world – the dragon mother senses the laid eggs and those she deems deformed or unworthy are discarded. Holt defies this order by stealing one of the eggs – which would, under normal circumstances, be punished by death. But the town gets under attack and the dragon riders who were supposed to protect it are dead, except for one who has survived (but lost his dragon) and one relatively young – a princess of one of the kingdoms who had given up her role (which was already quite a stretch of the rules). And Holt, as the son of a cook, gets pulled into a bad situation where he finds himself on the run from the town’s ruins, with his freshly hatched blind dragon, and with the hints of a wider conspiracy.

With many riders dead, he and his dragon might be important to saving the world, if he manages to wield the power he gains from the dragon’s bond and become a warrior. Aside from dealing with the conspiracy in play, he also needs to deal with prejudice – people of high rank see him as an intruder, while commoners don’t see him as one of their own anymore. His training especially isn’t easy on him and even a good deal of improvisation that leads to him making an impact in the final battle might not be enough to sway others into trusting him – not yet, at least.

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Read date: 25.4.-9.5.2025
Published: 1.9.2020
Goodreads/Amazon rating: 4,34/4,6
My rating: 90%
Length: 534 pages (Kindle edition)
My highlights

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This was quite an enjoyable read, though a bit longer than the books I’ve read so far – but I found that a good thing, given that the series I put aside suffered from a lack of development in these short books. That said, one thing that felt quite weird to me was in the early book – the dragon egg is mentioned to grow, which is quite a weird take as eggs typically don’t do that. But I guess this being the most jarring thing is a good sign. The magic system has depth but is easy to grasp, which is also a major benefit.