Part coming-of-age, part magical adventure, this fast-paced and inclusive book is sure to please dragon fans.
There is nothing quite like Blazewrath because no other sport is played on the backs of dragons.
Seventeen-year-old Floridian Lana Torres has one dream in life: to become the Runner for Team Puerto Rico in the Blazewrath Games. Runners are the only players without dragons, but they are no less important for that. Unfortunately, Lana’s dreams may be dashed by the Sire, a former dragon cursed by his rider into human form in order to contain his murderous rampage. Now, after 20 years, he is back, seeking revenge and freeing Un-Bonded dragons all over the world. Lana’s quick thinking and cool head during an attack on Waxbyrne, a wand shop, starts her down a path to Blazewrath glory—but also leaves her inexplicably tied to the Sire, whose plans she thwarted. She now faces unanticipated violence and conspiracy involving the International Blazewrath Federation, the International Bureau of Magical Matters, the Sire, and even her favorite Blazewrath legend, Takeshi Endo. The worldbuilding is well thought out; the dragons have interesting powers and abilities, with their own individual personalities; and the action sequences are exciting and easy to follow. The world feels naturally inclusive, with numerous queer and ethnically and culturally diverse characters. Throughout, dark-brown–skinned Lana, whose mother is White and father is Puerto Rican, grapples with her self-identity, slowly growing into herself by the end of the book.
Part coming-of-age, part magical adventure, this fast-paced and inclusive book is sure to please dragon fans. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64567-079-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Incredibly immersive and utterly unique.
On a train headed to boarding school, a girl suddenly finds herself in another world where time functions differently.
After the sudden death of her father, 16-year-old Margo’s depression swerves into rebellion. But as she’s returning to her Dublin boarding school, something miraculous happens. Suddenly she’s in a completely different train car, and someone’s sitting in her seat. Moon, as he’s called, is an itinerant salesman—and he decides to help Margo. Maybe this strange girl can help fund his way out of a life shortened by skipshock: the deadly toll that constant traveling between worlds takes on the body. Each world has a different number of hours in its days; the days in Northern worlds are shorter, causing accelerated aging, while Southern worlds have days that are nearly as long as Earth’s. Semper, the ruling world, is Southern, and they’ve outlawed traveling for anyone but salesmen. But Margo’s arrival from Earth—a sealed world no one was aware of—indicates that there must be a rupture, which sparks interest in a universe on the brink of a war. In this duology opener, Margo and Moon must try to stop tyrannical Semper. Their journey is one of rollicking adventure, ever-present danger, and simmering romance. Readers will burn through the pages as they traverse gorgeous, fully realized worlds replete with their own varied dramas. Margo reads white and Moon is a member of the nomadic Lunati, who are often treated with suspicion.
Incredibly immersive and utterly unique. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781536228816
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
An atmospheric series opener well suited for a cold winter’s night but marred by careless tropes.
An orphaned thief finds herself on an unexpected journey to meet her destiny.
Seventeen-year-old Valeria has worked as an operative for the Thieves Guild since she lost her family in the Freeze of Ludminka. The freeze cut off access to lovite, the country’s most precious mineral resource, and left everyone in the mining village frozen in place except for her. When a guild mission goes awry, Valeria is intercepted by a man named Ivan who claims to be harboring her best friend, Alik, whom she had presumed to be dead following a mission a year before. Ivan promises her a safe reunion with Alik if she will join his party on a quest back to Ludminka to penetrate the mountain containing unharvested lovite deposits. Little does Valeria know that she is the key to entering the frozen environs of the mountain and that she will have a pivotal role to play in the war of the Brother Gods, the Bright and the Pale, who have awakened from their slumber to prepare for battle with one another. The icy atmosphere of this Russian-inflected debut novel is vividly rendered, and the briskly paced plot moves the story along through multiple twists, turns, and betrayals. There is some queer representation among White Valeria’s compatriots; unfortunately, the representation of the brown-skinned Adamanian people, adept with explosives and ruled by a khan who takes concubines for his harem, evokes Islamophobic stereotypes.
An atmospheric series opener well suited for a cold winter’s night but marred by careless tropes. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-287150-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
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