James Riley brings his trademark metafictional humor to The Dragon’s Apprentice, a whimsical fantasy romp that warns you—quite hilariously—not to read it. The story follows Ciara, a plucky twelve-year-old who accidentally summons a dragon and sets off a chain of magical events that challenge a tyrannical emperor’s anti-magic regime. With talking dragons, ancient secrets, and tongue-in-cheek narration, the book aims squarely at middle-grade readers who love magic and mischief.

Riley’s signature narrative voice—self-aware, cheeky, and often breaking the fourth wall—is clever and engaging, especially for younger audiences. The setup is imaginative, and Scorch the dragon makes for a fun and loyal companion. Ciara’s bravery and curiosity are endearing, and the mystery behind her mother’s disappearance adds some emotional weight.

However, the book sometimes leans too heavily on its gimmick. The constant narrative interruptions, while funny at first, start to wear thin, and the plot pacing suffers from the overuse of this device. Some twists feel predictable, and deeper world-building takes a backseat to the humor. Readers looking for a tightly plotted fantasy may find it a bit scattered.

In all, The Dragon’s Apprentice is a light, entertaining read with plenty of charm, but it doesn’t reach the emotional or narrative heights of Riley’s best work. A good pick for younger readers seeking adventure and laughs, but seasoned fantasy fans might crave a bit more depth.

I really enjoyed this middle grade adventure book!

The Dragon's Apprentice by James Riley is a wild ride of sassy dragons, best friends turned enemies turned best friends, and a very courageous girl named Ciara. Ciara might not always think before acting, but all she wants is to save her village and her mom. I loved watching the relationship between Ciara and her dragon develop, as well as all the ups and downs in her friendship with Meg.

That cliffhanger was a lot to handle! Also, although this author captured a kids voice well, I kept thinking Ciara and Meg where a bit older than twelve, and especially the prince acted much older than twelve. But still, I'm excited for the sequel.

This wasn't my cup of tea. I wished there was a prequel where we could've read about the original apprentices. It also read a bit younger than I was expecting. It was definitely the lower end of Middle Grade. The humor was good, but it was a bit slow.

I'm not a big fan of fantasy... which is something I always say until I read a really good fantasy book that blows me away. So let me start over:

I like fantasy books that are well-written, immersive, and original. Unfortunately The Dragon's Apprentice doesn't quite fall under that umbrella. As I said in my initial, brief review, I think it has plenty of good ideas - a story about a young girl standing up against a corrupt ruling class? Couldn't be more timely - they're just not the best executed.

The opening of the book almost made me want to stop reading altogether; I wasn't prepared for a diary-like fantasy story, and Bianca's writing style bothered me. I guess I forgot what the blurb for the book had said and feared that the whole book would be written this way; thankfully, it wasn't. But unfortunately, it wasn't written all that much better. There wasn't enough description to really immerse me in this fantasy world, which, as a result, didn't feel all that fantastical besides the inclusion of a talking dragon and some spell-casting. I guess Riley wrote a fantasy book for fantasy skeptics, which I typically am, but for whatever reason, I just wasn't feeling this one. I really just stuck with it because of the hook of Ciara trying to heal her ailing mother. I really wanted to know how she'd manage to do so.

And that solution was relatively satisfying. I mean, was I expecting it to be non-magical? I guess not. But it was difficult to enjoy because so soon afterwards did things become even more chaotic, with the warden nearly executing Ciara, her mom, and the head of the Drakes in front of the entire village, until Meg came up with a plan to stop them along with Scorch . Which leads me to my other big point: I didn't care for Ciara as a character. Like Bianca, I found her mildly annoying, and though I know she's supposed to be a rebellious tween all around, I didn't love her disobedience to Scorch. It made sense towards the end, when she cast an extra spell beyond the two that were promised to cure her mom , but I don't know, beyond that, I feel like she should have been much more responsible with her magic. Which I guess she did learn the hard way, due to the severe energy drain, but... meh. By the end, I felt like Meg would have made for a better protagonist because she seemed smarter, more responsible, and more resourceful than Ciara. Also, it might have made for a more interesting story if you had the daughter of the Captain of the Drakes rebelling against the very institution her father works for to rescue her friend from poverty and heal her ailing mother.

So, Meg was a good character (even if she unfortunately fell into the "sidelined black friend" trope), and I liked snarky Scorch a lot. But otherwise, the characters were all a bit of a drag, and I found the lack of details about what happened to the Dragon Mage frustrating. But I guess that was done intentionally, since it seems to be an overarching mystery for the rest of the planned series, to figure out what happened to her and whether or not she's still alive.

The epilogue did grab my attention, I'll admit. But as for whether I read it, I'll have to see how I feel when it comes out, whenever that'll be. (I assume sometime next year? Unless somehow Riley already has it written and set to come out later this year... I'll keep an eye out for updates on that.)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ciara is a 12-years-old girl who's hiding a secret book. She only needs to deliver the book to the Emporer, and her mother will be healed. But Ciara refuses to give up the book, and the book seems to want to stay with her. However, when she accidentally uses a spell to summon a dragon, everything might change. Can she harness the new power she's discovered and become a teachable apprentice on her quest to save her mom and her community?
This book is clever and somewhat funny. I chuckled several times. But at other times, I thought the author tried too hard (and unsuccesfully) to be funny.
I like that Ciara is a determined girl who follows her intuition. She's a heroine!
I want more information, though. For instance, where is Bianca? And who is the Revenant? I'm hoping a sequel answers some of these questions.
The quotes at the beginning of each chapter support the story and are a helpful addition to the book.

A really cute and fun story about a world where dragons are real and are tasked with helping the human race learn magic. Centuries after the Dragon Mage and her dragons have disappeared, Ciara finds the Dragon Mage's journal and ends up summoning back one of the dragons - just in the nick of time. This is a fun mid-upper elementary adventure that students in grades 3+ are sure to enjoy.

This is a humorous mid grade story about a young girl, Ciara, who finds a magic journal written by an ancestor of hers. She accidentally summons a dragon and life gets very interesting.

There are the usual bad guys, a ruler who is greedy and a narcissist, his minions who follow his every order, and the far off Emperor who is behind all the bad things going on in this small medieval type town. Ciara wants to save her ill mother, who was arrested, and Scorch, the dragon, promises to teach her the magic she needs to do this.

Overall, this was a cute and funny book and I'd be interested to see if there are any sequels on the horizon!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

What if you found a book, one that said dragons were real and that all people could do magic with the right training?
Ciara did what any kid would she summoned a dragon.
This wonderful fantasy adventure story sets up a world where it seems like the bad guys won, rewrote history to restrict magic.
While it is clear that this book is part of a series it is a good first book keeping the readers interest from the first chapter. Kids will love the idea that a magic book could let them do magic even summoning a dragon, adults will appreciate the dragons ability to burn away lies.
My only hang-up is that for the purposes of world building there wasn't enough description, I was looking for a bit more about the dragon (size limbs movement etc.) and about the town/cities/country maybe a map would help?
The intent might have been for us to use our imagination but for all that the dragon did and the journey taken by the warden and Drakes I just wanted more.

Such a fun story for children and I didn't mind reading it out, which is a total win. It's charming and funny with a little suspense but no scares. I would recommend this for any little fantasy lover.

My 8 year old and 10 year old kids really loved this book. We read it a chapter at a time as a bedtime story, and they looked forward to bedtime because of it. (My kids also just really love bedtime, they're weird.). It's written at a level where my 10 year old could have definitely read it on his own.

I enjoyed the mystery aspect of "what happened to Bianca and the others" and "how did the innacurate stories get spread." I did think the book was trying too hard in some cases to be funny or tried to drag a "comedic" bit out for too long and it ended up being annoying. However, I can see kids enjoying it.

This was a strong start to the Dragon's Apprentice series, it had that element that I was wanting from the description. James Riley does a fantastic job in writing fantasy book and this was no exception, I really enjoyed the way the characters and world were presented and developed. It was everything that I wanted in a opening chapter and was glad it was everything that I was looking for and am excited for more in this world. It uses the dragon element perfectly and had that feel that I was looking for and was glad it was so well done.

Female middle grades fantasy with dragons. This is perfect for an 8-12yr old reader with an interest in fantasy. Everything is age appropriate and adventures not scary.

# The Dragon's Apprentice
# 4/14/2025 ~ 4/14/2025
# 5.0 / 5.0

The Dragon's Apprentice is a highly entertaining story about love, loyalty, and learning how to navigate through all of life's challenges. Delightful characters, well written and seamlessly stitched together in a story of challenges with a happy every after ending. Every story has a "bad guy" and this one has a doozy, rich wanting to be richer, and evil. You will root for the dragon in this story for sure. James Riley writes for younger readers but will definitely appeal to older readers and adults who enjoy a happy ending with a bit of a messy story along the way.

What a fantastic book! The character and world building were both excellent. It was well written, thoughtful, and full of magical fun. I enjoyed the entire story and was not even too upset about the cliffhanger ending, thanks to the author's funny comment about cliffhangers. I will definitely be reading the next book!

It's getting hard to write or find a fresh twist on a fairy tale these days. Here is one. Skael is a typical fairy tale village, though there's no mention of a royal family. Dragons are real, though they dislike humans and have been avoiding Skael. Magic is real, though nobody in Skael knows how to use it. People are regularly exhorted to wait for the return--as a magically preserved living person, or an instruction book--of the Dragon Mage, a fearsome warrioress whose teachings are relayed to the people by the Warden. Only young Ciara knows the Warden is corrupt (he's hoarding the magic medicine her mother needs to cure the Skael Cough). She knows that even before she finds an old book and learns that she's the heir to one of the six students the Dragon Mage had persuaded six dragons to teach. When she tries to read the book, she summons the dragon Scorch.

He doesn't want to be her teacher, but, because this is a fantasy aimed at middle school readers, you know how it will end. They will confront the Warden. They will cure Ciara's mother. They will find out what really happened to the Mage, the dragons, and their "apprentices." Scorch will decide he likes Ciara after all. Adults know this has to happen but why spoil the fun of finding out how. The story will make even adults chortle, if not chuckle.

What's not to like? The cover illustration seems to me to invite a younger audience than the story addresses. Adults and older children may be asked to read this book aloud to younger children. How bad is that?

Her city is being taken over by a sinister man. The citizens must work for him and then give him back their pay to live. They are also becoming sick from the Skael cough. Ciara needs to help,to save her money there and her town. Will the book she discovered hold the key? Full of adventure and goodness, this book will delight readers of all ages.

James Riley does such a great job of writing for middle grades. His books are great adventures with characters that learn lessons along the way. I loved this story and really can't wait to read the next in the series and see where the story takes us. Even the synopsis of this story catches and brings in readers.

This book was great! I could really see some middle grade readers getting into this. I am going to reccommend it to my kids and those who appreciate dragons and magic.

A truly adorable read, Ciara's voice is really well done and Scorch is hilarious. It does take a little bit to truly kick off but I think it will be a fun family read or some reluctant reader's first favorite book.