There are many alluring tales in this world. With richness and fantasy that opens the imagination to places you never would have traveled before. I can with honesty say that this is one of those books.This book begins with a headstrong, extremely brave, and fiercely loyal girl. At only the age of fifteen, Hualiama (or Lia) will stop at nothing to protect her adopted family, even if she knows it’s a battle she cannot win. Need I say more?What can possibly be better than literally diving headfirst into an action filled story with flying crafts called ‘Dragonships’, Dragonet’s such as the compassionate and clever Flicker, and a girl embracing her identity and gumption? Since, of course, I must say more, I will tell you some of the wonderful attributes this book has to offer.

Hualiama engages Ra’aba, a highly skilled fighter and traitor attempting to steal the throne from the rightful king, Lia’s adopted father. Despite knowing her steep disadvantage, she fights in front of her sister Fyria, attempting to escape and is thrown from a Dragonship after being heavily wounded and dealing her own blow to Ra’aba. Sees like quite an end for our female lead. That is until a young Dragonet sees a dumb human attempting to fly and believes it’s only right to save it.

With this, our beginning characters meet with a swoop, a crash, and a few more bangs and bruises after that. Hooked yet?

From the beginning, I would cringe every time Lia was injured in some way. This became a common occurrence as Lia experiences many engaging sequences of fights and injuries along the way. However, with every injury, she rises up again and pushes herself to be better. She truly does win your heart and the reader can continually cheer for her on her journey.

The perspective is very interesting in the changing points of view that switch to and fro without any real sense of a page break. Despite this, it is quite easy to distinguish between the two characters of Flicker and Hualiama as their humor, speech, and personality easily shine through and from the first sentence you know who it is. This becomes even more apparent once Grandion, a Tourmaline dragon, is introduced.

With such a strong female lead and other engaging characters making a name for themselves in this book; you really embrace the unique and refreshing perspective of the characters.

But what is that is so amazing about fantasy books such as these? It’s the exploration. The happiness and the grief we feel through them, all the more wonderful when it’s a book that is so well written. This book has such amazing imagery that can almost make a reader dizzy with its depictions. Marc Secchia not only creates the imagery of the high cliffs, roaring waterfalls, and misty caves; but also tells you the sounds, the touch, and the aromas to an addicting degree.

It’s my ambition now to read Marc Secchia’s other previous novels in the Dragon Rider era and delve into his wonderful world of dragons.