#crackingstarttoaseries
- Nutty Bookworm
- Apr 6
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 6
Book Info:
The Dragon’s Apprentice by James Riley
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publishing Date: April 1, 2025
Synopsis:
In this hilarious fantasy adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of the Story Thieves series, a girl strikes a deal with the ancient, cranky dragon she accidentally summoned to teach her the forbidden magic she needs to save her mother.
STOP. Don’t read any further. There are magic spells in this book, and the Emperor has forbidden anyone from learning magic, because it’s way too dangerous! If you try one of the spells, any number of terrible things might happen (or so the Emperor says).
Don’t be like Ciara, a twelve-year-old girl living in the tiny village of Skael. When she used a spell from within this book, she ended up summoning a dragon. A DRAGON! Those things breathe fire! From their mouths! She’s obviously doomed.
And don’t listen if Ciara tells you that dragons won’t hurt humans, and that they even once taught us magic, a thousand years ago. Definitely don’t pay any attention to the fact that the dragon she summoned, Scorch, might be willing to help rescue Ciara’s mother and free her village from the Emperor and his Warden, because it’s all obviously a big lie. So put this book down, and forget about it. Magic is just way too dangerous. After all, you wouldn’t want to summon your own dragon, would you?
Book Links:
About the Author:
James Riley is the New York Times bestselling author of the HALF UPON A TIME series, the STORY THIEVES series, the REVENGE OF MAGIC series, and the new ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME series. Contrary to what previous biographies have stated, he is a) real and b) not the character Nobody from his STORY THIEVES books. Where would people even get that idea? (Spoiler: From him. He totally made it sound like he really was Nobody. He thought it’d be funny. We’re sorry.) He was born in Connecticut, where he lived for only a short time before moving to … well, quite a few states. He currently lives in Northern Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C., because that’s where his cats are. He has three of them. Other people think that’s a bit much.
James is currently working on the final book of the ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME series, so he might be a little busy. But feel free to e-mail him with questions at jamesrileythatwriterguy@gmail.com, or ask him anything on his blog.
Author Links:
Website: https://jamesrileyauthor.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesrileyauthor/
Tour Schedule:
I liked the premise of The Dragon's Apprentice which was well executed and Ciara was the right fit to be the main character. As for Scorch I found him a right grump but he grew on me and his interactions with Ciara were hilarious at time and my least favouite was the Warden as I found them too cliched for my liking.
I have giving The Dragon's Apprentice 4 stars and will be continuing on with the series as I liked where it was leading to.
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