Rise of the Dragon Moon

June 15, 2019
A girl sets out across the ice fields to rescue her mother from dragons. Princess Anatolia's only 12, so she figures there's a long time left before she'll rule the Queendom of Gall--but then dragons take her mother, Queen Una. Toli's still traumatized from her father's death by dragon a year ago, which she secretly, agonizingly, deems her own fault. But her mother may yet be alive, and Toli can't see anything beyond rescuing her. In this two-mooned world of "ice upon ice, wind following wind," dangers include giant predatory beetles that live under the ice. The dragons are brightly colored and verbal but harsh and enigmatic. Even if Toli--unwillingly accompanied by her little sister and her friend, who stow away in her sled to accompany her, and a baby dragon thrust into her care by cold coincidence--can reach the queen, the dragons may kill them all anyway. Byrne's sober prose constructs a stern, urgent setting--Gall appears to have the world's only human population, and it's so isolated by temperature that it almost feels claustrophobic--eased with rare bits of warmth and humor. Some key elements of the physical geography are unclear, however. Gall is an explicitly multiracial culture; Toli and her family are white, her best friend's brown. Disfigurement and chronic pain are, unfortunately, associated with moral ruin. Grave and solemn fantasy for readers attracted by the severe. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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August 1, 2019

Gr 4-8-Princess Toli is heir to a frozen Queendom at the mercy of voracious dragons who must be paid a tithe each year in order to avoid bloodshed. Yet blood was shed when Toli was younger-her father was killed by dragons in front of her, and Toli's hatred of them burns as bright as the fire in the dragons' mouths. Inexplicably, the Dragon Queen herself snatches Toli's mother and whisks her away into the Dragon Mountain, throwing the Queendom into panic. Do the dragons want war? Peace? Or something else? It's up to Toli, along with a baby dragon she found hidden in a cave and two of her closest friends, to embark on a dangerous journey into the depths of the Dragon Mountain to uncover truths hitherto unknown. VERDICT A heavily articulated fantasy middle grade offering that may very well have readers rooting for the dragons, who seem to seethe and swirl off the pages. Fans of Erin Hunter's "Warriors" series will enjoy the world-building of this quest-driven tale.-Amanda C. Buschmann, Carroll Elementary School, Houston

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