It is helpful to have read the Last Dragon Chronicles, but not essential. My teen loves that it trusts readers with rich world building.

This book began with an action packed scene of Gabrial, a young blue dragon, fighting G’vard, an older white dragon, for the chance to raise hatchlings. The mother dragon and her two eggs lay deep inside a nearby mountain, and the two males must try and take a scale off of the other first to be declared the father. When the dragons battle, they have the ability to use one i:mage - an illusion or hologram of sorts to help defeat the opponent. Gabrial uses his i:mage to make a mountain seemingly erupt while G’vard chases him, and even though the i:mage was supposed to be fake, the mountain physically shook, and the dying cry of a mother dragon rang out. After the mountain stopped crumbling, the dragons realized the mother was dead, the female hatchling was alive, and the male hatchling had vanished. Gabrial was charged with the death of the mother and possibly the male hatchling, and in a sign of dishonor, his name was changed to Abrial. His mentor was sent to work in the fhosforent mine while he was assigned to be a sweeper, or patroller, of the Wearle’s territory. As he made his first round, he did not see the small human-like creature known as a Hom on the ground, hiding a small dragon that just hatched. Meanwhile, in the fhosforent mines, feverishly Abrial’s mentor worked. He kept digging until his claws were nubs and kept eating the glowing pink crystals. When Grendel, the dragon appointed to raise the living baby dragon, visited the mine to check on him, she was shocked to see him insane, and when he tried to attack her with fire, the flames consumed him. He wasn’t the only dragon taking irresponsible portions of fhosforent, as some dragons that were part of a special fighting force known as the Veng had eaten enough to turn into dark, twisted creatures that spat acid instead of breathing fire. Abrial found one while patrolling the territory and defeated it, but found a dying dragon at swordpoint with the missing baby dragon nearby. The dragon told Abrial that he was going to die, but Abrial could still save the hatchling. After following the plan, both the dragon on the ground and the man who killed it were dead, but Abrial and the hatchling were alive.

The Hom who had been unnoticed by Abiral, known as Ren, had snuck into the dragons’ territory covered in their dung to hide his scent. He explored and climbed all the way up a mountain, and found an inner passage. As he entered, an earthquake started, and he found himself with a mother dragon, about to die. She shielded one small dragon and was calling to another, but it was trapped. Ren quickly ran forward to save it, but before he left, the mother silently said “GALAN AUG SCIETH” and shed a fire tire, marking her death. This granted Ren power he would not know until later, when he would use the horn in his pocket. When Ren went back to his village, he was treated with frustration, because unbeknownst to Ren, his father had led a searching party for him which left his father’s horse and several clan mates dead. When Ren revealed the horn and baby dragon to his father, he was met with a harsh response, but was knocked out and he and the baby dragon were captured. They were going to be sacrificed, slain by Ren’s own father. However, in a desperate escape after his father was murdered before him, Ren and the baby dragon were separated, and Ren ran into dragon territory to meet a blue dragon flying above. The dragon roared so loud his ears started to bleed, and before Ren fell unconscious, he said “Tada” - father. He was brought to many caves and thrown around before he was taken to Elder Givnay’s cave, who was the strongest i:mager in the Wearle, to have his mind read. After sharing his memories until the time he had left he mountain with the baby dragon, where the dragon was attacked by an adult with a broken fang, Givnay broke the connection and he and Ren were met with two other dragons who brought them to the first cave he was brought to in the beginning. There he was reunited with the male hatchling, but separated almost immediately, and it was decided that Ren would be brought to the top of Skytouch, for the dragons wanted to see if he was the leader of the evil dragons. There Elder Givnay brought up the horn that Ren could use to produce fire, for Givnay wanted to kill the dragon mother who had become one with Ren. However, just as Givnay showed Ren that becoming a mutant could be controlled, one of the mutant dragons attacked Givnay. Ren was able to kill it with fire from his horn, and it pushed both Givnay and the mutant over the edge, but Givnay managed to knock down the ledge that Ren was standing on. As Ren fell, sure it was the end, he was saved by a familiar blue dragon - Gabrial.

This was an amazing book to read, and I loved the action it contained! The book was very immersing, and if I flipped to a random page, I could immediately get drawn into the scene. It was very interesting that even at the start of the book with the disappeared Wearle and the battle for courtship there was a lot of suspense, and I think I love this book most for its suspense and action. I love the depiction of the dragons and how their rank was (usually) based on how their colors changed, and how their eyes varied, as these were new ideas for me. The switching narrative (from dragon to human in this case) is often confusing in many books, but I felt here it left good suspense. I wish I could have learned more about the fhosforent mines though, as it was not described as brilliantly as it could have been. The book had a strong start and a satisfying ending though, and it really makes me want to read the next book! ( )

Literary Merit: Good
Character Merit: Good
Reading Level: 4-7
Recommend: Yes
A human boy named Ren encounters many dragons who have come to Erth to investigate why the first wearle of dragons disappeared. Ren's infatuation with the scaled creatures leads him to rescue a newborn dragon. Little does Ren know how much this decision will cost him. The story unfolds in five parts that reveal what is happening to both the humans (referred to as Homs) and the dragons, and both sides are flawed with their anger, fear, and lack of forgiveness. D'Lacey's quick-paced plot will keep readers (even those who usually don't choose dragon books) turning the pages to see who will be the next to die and who is plotting against whom. All dragons' names begin with the letter G, so the list of characters with a brief description of each helps the reader to keep the characters straight. The glossary defines ideas and terms used by both the dragons and the humans; this is especially useful for younger readers. ( )