The first book of the series Rise of the Dragons is written by Angie Sage, the author of the Septimus Heap series. This fantasy novel has alternate story lines telling the tale of dragons – past, present, and what could be future.

Readers follow an indentured servant boy named Joss as he discovers a silver dragon egg and then has to navigate the Lennix family who turn dragons into vicious raptors. Parallel to this is Sirin who lives in our world who is going through major transitions and not sure where her life will lead. This is a captivating story is full of fantasy action, twists and turns that makes the reader wonder what is going to happen next, as well as anticipating future books in the series. It gets the imagination flowing as to possibilities in both the world of the characters as well as our world.

This book is for dragon lovers and those who love fantasy. It reminds me of the writings of Brandon Sanderson in that it captures your attention immediately while providing a lot of detail into the world that the author has created. The second book in the series appears to be by another author, similar to the 39 Clue series. Also, like the 39 Clue series, this book comes with game cards inside the front cover. In this instance, they are used to play a game. You can also go online to play the game as well.
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Scholastic Press (A Scholastic Imprint)

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  Dragons and humans began to prey on others; dragons gained a taste for human blood; dragon stepped on foot of human; could destroy a flock of sheep in minutes and take the shepherd; thought of what would happen to him if he lost the sheep; report of raptors killing character’s parents, another dragon, and all her dragon siblings; threat of stab from laser sharp claws; dragon would not pass up easy prey; thought dragon about to eat human for breakfast; reference to man shooting wolves; implied death of parents; report oF death by dragon; threat of knife; threat to fillet scales; report of people taken by raptors; adult drags minor; adult attempts to hit minor; hut destroyed; dragon fire hit tail of dragon; jolt through dragon and rider; report of human/dragon terrorizing humans/dragons; reference to dragon coughing up human bones; reference to dragon eating 2 humans; reference to lost finger and thumb via dragon; death of a flock of sheep; threat of wolves; appeared to hit first ask questions second; adult attempted to hit minor; extended scene 3 pages- adult grabs minor arm tight enough for nails to cut into skin, rope burns hands of adult, adult takes minor into head lock, adult kicks minor, dragon breathes searing breath into face, minor turns purple, minor gasps for air, minor hits minor in stomach, minor kicks minor in the back of the knees; threat of blade; deep jagged cuts on arms and legs; blood stained cloth; deep cut on leg with blood pooled on the floor; pile of bones with rotting flesh, sinew, and slime; threat of minors with knives; human grabbed dragon causing pain; dragon breathed scorched air on human; painful tug on arm; sharp nails into dragon’s skin; kicked sides of dragon; 2 hard kicks to flank of dragon; human throttling dragon; dragon passes out; human kicking dragon in the sides; dragons able to eat humans; minor slams minor into the wall; fear of being thrown off the runway; people killed human; attempt to feed human to dragon; dragon fire towards feet of another dragon; sharp barb gouges deep groves in scales and tore wings streaming dark blood; record of kills; threat to kidnap baby; threat of being killed; beginning of a bruise from having head slammed against the wall; minor kicked minor; speech to go in for the kill, get an infant dragon, tear it to shreds, and do it again and again; dragons braying for blood; fresh slaughtered sheep; cat scratched human; report of cat put to death; thought of putting little finger bone around neck; threat he would wish he was never born; report of raptor capturing parents and dropping them into the sea; firestix – weapon that burst into flames; small cut on dragon wing; thought – like a stab to the heart; extended scene 25 pages – several fire sticks fired, a few defensive fire from dragons, threat to kill, threat of death, threat to mortally wound and fall to death, firestix to wing, fire to tail, fire to face – lost scales and severe burn, fire fight, command to go for the eyes and kill, fire to belly of dragon followed by ramming burnt portion and fall, firestix to wings, firestix to tail resulting in dragon catching on fire and dying, smell of dragon flesh burning, report of 3 dragon deaths, broken wing, fire to wound; report of parent death; threat of knife; threat of cutting stomach open; arm around neck with arm pulled behind back; kick to the shins.

Sex/Nudity:  Mention of a kiss.

Mature Subject Matter:

Parental separation/death; fantasy violence; bullying; foster care; indentured servitude.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Reference to mulled wine for an adult.