The remote island island, Masquapaug has been dragon-less for generations. 15 Year old Anequs finds a rare dragons egg and kick-starts a series of events she never saw coming. She bonds with the dragon and her people who remember the days of dragon riders. but, this tale is one that has a common theme, the outsiders who conquered her island have differing opinions on the dragon riders and with great disdain they ship Anequs to a dragon riding academy on the mainland, where if she can not thrive there her dragon will be killed. the world may be changing but, is it for the worse? This moving, fierce tale shows that any one with the desire to change it for the better just may be able to.

I stopped at 10% but easy four stars for the right reader. It feels very young adult and should probably be marketed as such. I wasn’t personally engaged with the writing style. This is somewhat niche, but would go over well with the high schooler age group. Probably too niche for our small libraries though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

The story takes place in a rapidly industrializing, vaguely steampunk world where colonizing forces have almost entirely wiped out Indigenous peoples and the dragons native to their home. When Anequs finds a dragon egg she knows that her life is going to change drastically. Although her people have had knowledge of dragons for centuries, the colonizing Anglish neither acknowledge nor respect their history or culture. Anequs chooses to leave her home and attend a dragon school but faces discrimination, racism, and classism as she pursues her goals.

My only complaint is that I felt like Anequs never made a mistake but this is a minor quibble with an otherwise fantastic story. I'd hand this to teen and adult fans of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series.

A solid fantasy tale with bildungsroman vibes and an anti-colonial mindset.