Review Detail

The Dragon’s Apprentice is an engaging start to a new series by James Riley. We start by meeting Bianca of Skael, a starving street orphan, who meets Tia, the Dragon Mage, who summons dragons to teach 5 young people magic so they can pass it on to the world. While that would be a great story, and I was ready to hear about her adventures as a dragon apprentice, the author switches it up and turns out we are reading her 1,000-year old diary, and the true story is Ciara and her discovery of the diary and her accidental summoning of the last dragon, Scorch. Both stories are interesting starts, and now I hope we learn more about Bianca and her fate as we learn about Ciara’s path to righting wrongs with magic.
I listened to an audiobook of this story, and the narrator did a fantastic job bringing life, heart, and magic to the characters. Her accent added the ethereal quality that was perfect for a book about dragons, magic, and royal corruption.
Scorch and Ciara have a lot to learn about working together, and their emerging understanding is at the heart of the story. Scorch is a big old softie and Ciara is headstrong and determined to find justice. I thoroughly enjoyed this first book and look forward to the sequel that is out now.