Terrible things happen to those who insult witches. The people of Sky know this very well, because they have had first hand experience with it. When William Welkin, a townsperson who had married a witch, accidentally insulted their guest, who also happened to be one of the most powerful witches on the world. She cursed him, and the rest of the town, causing them to never be safe on land. With the help of his wife, they found a way to live in the sky, and they were safe there. As long as an earth-dweller never found them, they could live in the sky in peace.
Decades later, the small village in the sky had grown into its own small country. The people had split up into districts, and social hierarchy was beginning to be rediscovered. In the middle of it all, was a girl named Eve. Newly struggling with the loss of her brother, Eve spent most of her time comforting her brothers twin, or staying in bed. But when a massive earthquake shakes Sky, and a boy from down below shows up in the clouds. Eve manages to get stuck protecting him, and they must go on a journey to track down the old witch, and get her to remove The Curse That Struck The Sky.
Hated by the people she's sworn to protect, dragon rider Neely Lynch searches for her stolen dragon while struggling to control the dark powers inside her.
*****
After the Culling of Naughton -- a horrific slaughter that led to the murder of several dragon riders and the destruction of two separate armies -- Neely Lynch is on the warpath. Unbeknownst to most, Neely and her friends survived the Culling and are determined to reunite with their kidnapped dragons at any cost (even if that means leaving a trail of broken and bloody bodies behind them). But finding her dragon soon becomes the least of her problems when Neely discovers her disappearance after the Culling has only added to her reputation as the infamous Vidalin Rider. Hated and scorned by the people she's sworn to protect, Neely must find a way to prove she's not the villain everyone thinks she is before her dark and deadly powers, which are slowly growing beyond her control, transform her into the very thing she's trying not to be.
[The Rider's Legend can be read as Book 3 in The Rider series, or as a standalone -- but note that it will spoil Book 1 and 2]
[[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]