Fledgling (Dragonrider Universe, #1) (Dragonrider Chronicles, #1)

by Nicole Conway

Can one boy stand between two kingdoms at war?

Jaevid Broadfeather has grown up as a wartime refugee, hiding from the world because of his mixed heritage. He feels his future is hopeless, until a chance encounter with a wild dragon lands him in Blybrig Academy, a place usually forbidden to anyone but the rich and royal. But Jaevid's case is special; no dragon has voluntarily chosen a rider in decades, so the proud riders of Blybrig must begrudgingly let him join their brotherhood despite his bloodline.

Lieutenant Sile Derrick, a sternly tempered man with a mysterious past, becomes his instructor and immediately takes a peculiar interest in Jaevid's future. While struggling through the rigorous physical demands of training, things begin to go awry. Jaevid witnesses the king's private guards kidnapping Sile in the dead of night. When none of the elder riders are willing to help him, Jaevid begins a dangerous adventure to save his instructor.

Everything Jaevid learned at the academy will now be put to the ultimate test.

• ISBN10: 1492993786
• ISBN13: 9781492993780
• Publish Date: 20 October 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 298
• Language: English

Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

"If your really gonna make this deal with me, you have to show me. Show me I can trust you" So starts a relationship between a wild dragon and a halfblood that will have you hooked from the very start of the book. I felt that the book had echoes of the relationship you see between hiccup and toothless in How to train your dragon which for me worked as it a great movie.

I love how Sile stands up for Jaevid "Any rider chosen by a dragon must be allowed to join us that is our first law." The wild dragon choose Jaevid so who are these people to say he not a dragonrider just cause he of a mixed heritage that by the end of this book saves a few characters more then once. For by not letting Jaevid in to the academy "You'll be suggesting that the spirit of the dragon no longer matters at all, that we've bred them down to stupid beasts no better then winged pedigree dogs" what a statement of fact about how strongly Sile feels about Jaevid becoming a dragonrider.

As Javeid steps in to his place in the academy he learns "We all start at the bottom as fledglings, in this brotherhood, respect must be earned." So Sile has stood up for him and said you should be here but now you must prove it.

Their are strong lessons to be found in this story which i feel is great for the middle age crowd such as "You can't just condemn someone, no matter what they've done. Everyone deserves justice, even traitors" Jaevid says this about Tyron a character who truly treats him with no respect, and betrays him more then once in the story.

Towards the end of the story one of my favorite scences happens when Jaevid talks to Icarus the dragon of the evil character in the story. He uses his new found knowledge of being able to communicate with animals and he says "I'm going to have a word with the king" its a very powerful scene for Jaevid is basically showing that dragons can thing for themselves and if their master is truly cruel justice will be swift and harsh.

The final thought I will leave you with is one of the strongest lessons Jaevid learns in the story "Bravery is not an immunity to fear, it is rising up to meet it with the hope that nothing is impossible."