ISLE OF DRAGONS

A teenage girl sets out on a mission to a mystical island to save her father in Thompson’s opening work of a planned YA fantasy trilogy.

Sixteen-year-old Jade of House Sol is a member of the nobility and part of a kingdom undergoing political strife due to recent attacks by dragons. She finds her life upended after authorities arrest her father, Carison Sol, on spurious charges. Thompson clues readers in to her protagonist’s nascent magical powers, and she may need them as she sets out to locate the Isle of Dragons, where she heard that her dad is being held prisoner. Along the way, Jade encounters siblings Miria and Dan, whose missing parents were experts on dragons, and she teams up with them to find the fabled island that gives the novel its name. Although Thompson portrays characters’ motivations simplistically, there’s a vivid sense of action throughout the work, which includes dragon confrontations. A midnovel flashback provides some insight into Jade’s character, but she’s often a cipher without a great deal of interiority whereas Miria, on her own personal quest to discover where she belongs, burns with an intensity that propels the narrative forward. Although the author doesn’t develop the work’s villains at length, one pursuer—Kaylen, a young woman who’s scarcely older than Jade—pops up in some of the more memorable action sequences, and her ambitious nature offers an intriguing counternarrative to the rescue tale. The dragons are smaller and often less dangerous than some of their fantasy cousins, but they have an intriguing connection to magically inclined humans, including Jade and Miria, who must tame one to make it to the Isle of Dragons. The conclusion opens up new avenues of adventure for sequels.

An earnest, action-packed debut that promises future character development and complexity.