Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

…” This morning might hold my last chance to escape execution.” What? Ok, that has my attention. Megan Willis is a strong, determined soul, caught in an impossible situation. She is willing to do what it takes to be reunited with her mother.
She has seen horrors, not even grownups have witnessed. (Like trafficking of human children, and villains that are doing experiments on kids. It was not a graphic discussion, just mentioned.) Megan races against time, because today could be her last.

The stakes are high, Megan is forced to make hard choices in doing what she believes is right. Things have changed and shift into high gear facing challenge, after crazy challenge. I appreciated how the author showed this young one’s inner struggle with “kill or be killed.” Life was a gift. Does there have to be killing? Could things be handled another way? Do the ends justify the means for the greater good?

The author is brilliant and imaginative as he does a beautiful job of taking readers on a fast-paced adventure that has themes of compassion, forgiveness, family, and shows how they are learning what is right and/or wrong for themselves. I like what the author said about love, and strong family bonds with people God puts in our path and those connected to us by blood. I enjoyed how Megan learns about real love, …” Real love sacrifices. It shows mercy. It heals. “

There is a plethora of evil villains out to get Megan and her team. They can’t run away from them fast enough. I could visualize the Star Wars/Star Trek feel of this space opera, I mean going places they’ve never been before, and meeting all types of creatures with a variety of languages being spoken. I adored the authors’ well-timed humor in some heavy situations. It was fun to see kids could just be kids when they had a chance to. I loved seeing this story played out through children and what they learned & watched their parents do. They don’t do everything exactly as their parents would, because they see things differently now that they had to make hard choices.

This is a wonderful, fascinating, absorbing summer read. It’s a fun escape and one that would work well for your next book club pick. I hardly noticed how long this book was, I was caught up in the adventure, and couldn’t put it down.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I requested and received a copy of this book by the publisher/NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins!
The Book Club Network blog https://psalm516.blogspot.com/

A sci-fi juvenile novel. A space theme, coming of age. The plot was interesting with elements of danger. I liked how the author didn't shy away from hard subjects (human trafficking) and handled them well, despite it being a teen novel. I just felt the characters were a little too good at everything and found some of the story to drag along.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It has a space dragon god or whatever, which is so cool!

I enjoyed all of the science-fiction aspects like the ins and outs of the spaceships, the different planets and alien species, the super powers of the kids. All of those aspects were a lot of fun and well developed and just worked so well for the story. I like that this book despite being for teens also tackles harder issues like trafficking, slavery, and death. Bryan Davis handles those issues well and realistically, even though it's science-fiction.

I wasn't a huge fan of the plot because it seems to go in loops and repeats the same things happening over and over. The kids escape! Then there's trouble! They escape again! More trouble! I understand the author doesn't want to make everything too easy for the characters, but it just seemed to take forever to actually get to the point of the story and there were a lot of problems for one novel. Originally when I requested this book, I was under the assumption it was middle grade based on the characters' ages, but I guess it's considered YA, which makes the length a little less intimidating. The events are exciting, but it came across too long with too much happening.

I also didn't connect with the characters as much as I would like. Part of this is because while we're told over and over the kids are like 11-13 years old, they act much older, closer to the 15-17 year range. They have tons of knowledge about how to do stuff and survive and make plans, and then someone would use a fairly big word and they wouldn't know what that meant. It threw me out of the story every time. The other reason I didn't connect as well is because a lot of this book is telling and I never quite found myself immersed in the story enough.

There are aspects of this book that really well done and this book will definitely find its readers. I was hoping for something that would sweep me away a little more than it did.

A Young Adult novel that has themes of Star Wars and other science fiction novels that is full of action and adventure.

Search for the Astral Dragon follows a young girl, Megan, who is on a search across the planets to find her mother. While searching for her mother, Megan witnesses horrors throughout the planets causing her to join with a group of teens to fight and become a voice for those in need. Together they will race to help each other and those around them before it is too late.

I wanted to like this book, I really did, but I had a really hard time getting into it and staying engaged with the characters and story. I have read others by Bryan Davis and enjoyed them but for some reason couldn’t get into this one. Even though I had trouble getting into this one I do think it is a good one for young readers that are big into science fiction and fantasy type novels. Megan is an intriguing protagonist, if the story had been a little quicker picking up speed to get me engaged, I would have been more likely to keep reading. While it wasn’t the right fit for me, I do believe young readers will enjoy this clean read, which is something I think is important with so many books incorporating mature content while still aimed at a young audience.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

I adore unique fiction, and this is such an interesting premise. I recommend because of the story itself, writing style, and its ability to transport you into a different world.

I've read Bryan Davis for 20 years, so seeing him go in the space opera direction intrigued me. From the start I was caught up by the setting and the Davis's talent for unfurling the story bit by bit until you realize it is far more complex than you imagined. My one wish was that he warmed up faster...he hooks you bit I usually have to choose to commit to the first third of the book knowing the payoff will come and this was the same in that. It is lively and has unique and humorous characters I just wish we got a fill dose of the Davis power to tell a story in the first chapters, as the warmup may be just a bit too slow for readers who need to care pretty quick or they won't keep reading. Davis's longtime fans will not be disappointed.

To me, the start of this book read as if the author had an brilliant idea, a story he wanted to tell. But instead of dropping the reader in the middle of the action and then explain what had happened later, the author instead sloppily, and hurriedly, threw the first 15% of the book together before they got to the "real story"

At which point, I'm horribly upset at the book where I don't think I'm able to complete it.

Not only where there horribly inconsistencies in how the main character acted, she was blasé and mature and confident handling the corpses of everyone slain onboard, but was naive enough, young enough, to think "Oh this guy is betraying his captain, which btw is a tyrant, to help save me from being tortured but also a slave, I can't possible trust him".

Which is the whole crust of the book, how the MC ends up having to pilot the ship by herself to start her adventure.

It also suffered horribly from a lack of "show, don't tell".
The Captain was a tyrant, he tortured the MC - Said MC kept repeating this over and over and over to the reader, but we never saw a lick of it.

Every single crewmember other than the dude who helped "rescue her" is dead (okay so that other kid also survived), and she doesn't even blink. But god forbid the son of the so-called Tyrant might be a slave on this alien planet: better go save him instead of focusing on getting to my mother.

Tho, to be fair, that last part could be part of shock. She might be under shock over the whole ordeal. But I, as the reader, shouldn't be sitting here making arguements like that. Not if there is no hint, no word, no nothing in the book to suggest it other than the fact she acts like a 40 year old veteran sometimes, but a kid when it comes to deciding big plot decisions.

I'd be less upset if she wasn't 13, a fact that got repeated a million times. Oh, no, I'm sorry "haven't yet turned 13". I'm assuming that means 12.
If she was 16, or better 18, this would still be a young adult story, still a coming-of-age story, with years to explain where she might have learnt to be stoic in the face of mass murder.

I'm almost 90% sure the story gets better after this, but I've been opening up the book and trying to read from the 15% mark for over a week and every time I want to toss the book into the wall (which would be expensive considering I'm reading on an kindle).

This really felt like the author was like "Oh young MC on an adventure, captaining an ship with a snarky AI" idea, but was so rushed to GET there that the beginning got all bundled up.