Karah knows of the dragons. Karah knows of their unquestionable loyalty, of their service to their riders. She knows of their strength, of their impenetrable scales and mighty muscles. Of their bravery, of their battle-readiness, their strategic minds and calm demeanors. She knows they are unbeaten when it comes to victory and majesty.
Despite being an orphan and a street-child, Karah knows of the dragons.
But when a series of events leads to her meeting her own dragon, Karah realizes she knows less of the dragons than she thinks.
Because the dragon she meets is not a legend. The dragon she meets is not infallible, not untroubled, not calm. The dragon she meets is not victorious, not majestic.
The dragon she meets is scared, broken, a heap of golden scales, a broken puzzle. However, as the bond between the dragon and Karah grows, Karah realizes that it's a puzzle she's willing to put back together again. Even if it means undertaking a mission that neither Karah nor her dragon will ever come back from, justice must be served, and it will be served - in the form of well-planned vengeance.
Things, though, aren't as simple as they seem. As Karah finds out more about the mysterious figure that shattered her dragon, she realizes that her own past plays a part in this too. And something bigger than that, bigger than both of their pasts, is brewing.
A revolution is simmering, and what started as a revenge mission may just be the catalyst for something bigger.
The fall of an empire is coming.
Trumpet-song plays, and war is just around the corner...
But are the rider and her dragon ready for it?
#36 in dragon
#15 in arabia
#17 in exile
#131 in revolution
#139 in identity
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]]