Content Overview
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My Opinion
(4 / 5) Great story! The story follows two dragons riders who are competing for the position of Firstrider, who is a political leader but also leads dragon riders to war. They both have incredible backstories which come into play and conflict against each other’s past. There are a lot of teen angsty issues, while dealing with more serious political issues also. The choices they have to make are never easy and they carry a lot of weight. Great read, I was thoroughly entertained throughout. I will definitely read book 2.
For the content, there was minimal language, minimal intimacy and some violence. The violence wasn’t a lot but some were intense situations that some people may have a hard time with. I recommend this for slightly more mature teens (due to the intensity of some situations) but the majority is easy to read and enjoyable.
Fireborne (The Aurelian Cycle #1)
Rosaria Munda
Game of Thrones meets Red Rising in a debut young adult fantasy that’s full of rivalry, romance… and dragons.
Annie and Lee were just children when a brutal revolution changed their world, giving everyone—even the lowborn—a chance to test into the governing class of dragonriders.
Now they are both rising stars in the new regime, despite backgrounds that couldn’t be more different. Annie’s lowborn family was executed by dragonfire, while Lee’s aristocratic family was murdered by revolutionaries. Growing up in the same orphanage forged their friendship, and seven years of training have made them rivals for the top position in the dragonriding fleet.
But everything changes when survivors from the old regime surface, bent on reclaiming the city.
With war on the horizon and his relationship with Annie changing fast, Lee must choose to kill the only family he has left or to betray everything he’s come to believe in. And Annie must decide whether to protect the boy she loves . . . or step up to be the champion her city needs.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.
Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.
Detailed Content Review
Language
F***-
H***- 10
S***- 4
A**- 4
B****- 1
D***- 4
Bas****- 4
Religious Cursing-
J****-
Chr***-
G**- 2
L***-
Derogatory terms etc-
Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking
Wine is served at a celebration.
A young man has a hangover.
A group of teens celebrate at a tavern. One young woman has whiskey.
A young woman drinks wine.
Two teens drink from a wine skin.
Intimacy, Sex, Immodesty
Teens regardless of gender, change in the same room before a competition. A young man always tries not to stare at a young woman.
A young woman kisses a young man.
A group of teens quickly undress in the same room, male and female, trying to give each other privacy.
A young woman sees a young man kiss a young woman.
A young woman kisses a young man.
A young woman kisses a young man. They are passionate and she climbs onto his lap as they kiss.
Violence, Weapons, Crime, Blood
People are being tortured. One man is left alive to watch his youngest son be tortured, the only one of his children left. Blood is everywhere. The rest of the family’s bodies lie around them. The man is then killed with a knife.
A young boy shows a knife to boys bullying a girl.
During a dragon riding competition, teens are burned. One is unconscious.
Soldiers lock a family in a house and have a dragon burn it down while a young girl watched. The young woman replays this in detail later. It is quite intense.
A family with young kids all are beaten. One is killed.
In a dragon riding competition, a young woman hisses in pain when she is burned. A dragon grabs a young woman and her dragon with its claws. The dragon retaliates and pierces the other dragons wing and fires her full heat burning them.
7 people die from a dragon attack.
A young woman is ordered to use a dragon to burn villagers as a punishment to them. She does it. A young man does it also. They have to do it multiple times. They are physically ill and shaken from doing it.
Two young men take ahold of two other teens. One punches another one multiple times.
A young man is tasked with bringing back two heads. He does it.
A man is ordered to slit a young boy’s throat.
Two teens fight with their dragons. It is to the death. One dies.
Potentially Intense Themes
Two family members died during a famine.
A group of leaders needs to divide up severe food shortages. It’s emotional and trying and heated. The decision they come to is debated often.
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I read this book last year, and I pretty much agree with your review. It was a good book. I do wonder where the story goes from here and how it evolves.
I think book 2 will be really exciting! There is so much potential in the society and government so I’m excited to see where it goes. And I love the difficult decisions they have to make, those kept me intrigued. I’m sure there will be more!