Storm Dragons: Lightning Born (Book 1)
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Storm Dragons: Lightning Born by Julie Kagawa is book one in the Storm Dragon series. This fantasy series centers around an imaginative world in which people inhabit floating islands above a destructive maelstrom. Special crystals keep the islands afloat but with the slow fading of the crystal’s power, the use of mages and a rogue search for an old knight are the hope for saving the kingdom.
The story opens with switching back and forth between two characters, Remy and Gem, before their storylines ultimately collide. Remy is an orphan living on Cutthroat Wedge on the fringe of the kingdom. Remy spends his time thieving to stay alive, but as the story opens he is returning Bart’s money purse to him after it was stolen by pirates. Bart is the local dragon lore story teller in the local tavern. Not soon after the opening of the story, there is a magical storm taking place in which a baby dragon falls into his lap. He swears to take care and protect the dragon despite an evil pirate mage who is offering a great reward for the dragon’s return. Gem is the princess of the kingdom with mage abilities, her own dragon, and a rebellious desire to help her kingdom despite her father’s expectations. Her storyline opens with her attending her magic school, but she is soon called back to the palace due to impending doom. After reading about the Ancients, she is even more determined to find them, hoping that they can help save the crystals and the islands from complete destruction.
Their stories eventually cross as Gem comes across a pirate ship, the Queen’s Blade, run by Captain Cutlass - a woman. Captain Cutlass agrees to help Gem in her quest. When they visit Cutthroat Wedge, their path crosses with Remy and the journey continues as they work together to save Bart and Storm (the baby dragon). Their task isn’t easy and is extremely dangerous with Captain Jhaeros seeking complete power to dominate the entire kingdom.
Noteworthy mentions/quotes:
As a fantasy novel, there is magic, mages, and dragons. While the maelstrom has magic and increases the magic’s energy and power, there aren’t any mentions of specific spells that are used or cast. There is a mention and use of creating a ghostly hand with the magic that Gem uses to open a window, lightning power, as well as the power to create wind and storms.
The history of the world that brought it to be what it currently is in the story is discussed on page 7 and 8. The characters refer to it as “the Shattering.”
Page 9 gives explanations about the dragons in the story. One important feature is that most dragons have a “magical tattoo” that “conveyed ownership, bloodline, and hatch date, so no dragon was ever unaccounted for.” Part of what makes Storm so special is that he is unmarked and is a wild dragon. Later, readers find out he is a True Dragon which is related to the Ancients Gem is looking for. “True Dragons were said to be creatures capable of intelligent thought and speech. In some stories, they could also cast and use magic” (15).
Page 19 gives Remy’s history. His father left on a ship and never returned. Meanwhile, his mother encouraged his dreams of dragons and knighthood before she died of what called “some wasting sickness.”
Mages or anyone who is able to do magic have hair that turns white over time. It is one way that people can tell who they are.
“As her father had told her: ‘The laws are there for a reason. Not even we can ignore them. If we do break the rules, we have to face the consequences like everyone else’”(24). While not present for a huge portion of the story, Gem’s father is a good role model to her, and he has a desire to train her well before she becomes queen.
“Though they were long extinct, it was said that the True Dragons were the ones who first taught magic to humans, in the days before the Shattering” (30).
Due to the floating islands, people navigate between them with the use of sky ships. As a result, there are pirates who attack other sky ships.
Jhaeros is a violent evil pirate who is also a mage. He threatens violence to anyone who crosses him. On page 75, he holds up a skull as proof of his violence should anyone cross him. He also destroys Bart’s home and there is a battle between him and the others towards the end of the story.
On page 206, he says about leaving Cutthroat Wedge, “Now we can finally leave this piss-pot island and get on with the real mission.” This is the only use of any type of foul language.
On page 106, there is a mention of the librarians at the college being “like wraiths” because of how silently they move about.
If parents are looking for a clean fantasy with dragons and are not against the magical elements, then Storm Dragons: Lightning Born is worth a read. A little slow at the beginning as all the details for the series is set in place, the action quickly picks up and Kagawa does a great job of maintaining tension to keep the story moving along. I really enjoyed the story and will finish out the others in the series to help keep parents informed.
Storm Dragons: Firebred by Julie Kagawa (Book 2)
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Storm Dragons: Firebred by Julie Kagawa is book two in the Storm Dragon series. The story continues where book one ends. Gem and Remy are trying to convince Captain Cutlass to continue their journey to an unknown island where a True Dragon with information they need lives or is thought to still leave. She somewhat reluctantly agrees and the crew is off to find the floating island. Meanwhile, Bart is tortured internally by his thoughts and actions of the past that he will soon have to face if and when they find the island.
Readers are soon brought into the secret Bart has been harboring for years, what led him to the island with the True Dragon in the first place, and what transpired while he was there. Most of Bart’s internal struggle is for naught. As the entourage comes face to face with Aerunal, the True Dragon, Bart is quickly released of his guilt as Aerunal is pleased to see him and lets Bart know that there is no grudge or anger for his departure years before. Unfortunately, Aerunal is not able to truly help the quest to save the world. However, he passes on what knowledge he has to Storm and then as a result, Aerunal passes away and disappears. Storm now has the coordinates to reach the island of the elves which is the next leg of the journey.
As they are leaving the island, Jhaeros is present and coming after them fast. After some quick maneuvering and thinking, the Captain and crew are able to escape and continue on their path to find the island of the elves. Once they reach the island, the main characters travel abroad, come face to face with an elder to learn their next steps, which is to go to the Forbidden Zone to seek the archives for the information they are after. Once arriving at the Forbidden Zone, Ravanar, a True Dragon, seeks their destruction to keep them from entering. After an intense battle with Ravanar, the children, Bart, and Captain Cutlass enter the archive to be met by a ghostly keeper of the records. The whereabouts of the machine they seek is revealed and the quest leading into the third and final book of the series is set in place.
Overall, the story is clean with good themes of cooperation, compassion, and responsibility. Magic is still very much a part of the story. It is used to help evade and defeat their enemies. There is also the ghostly specter towards the end of the book. Parents should be aware of these fantastical features as it may not be something you want your children to read. With that being said, there aren’t any incantations or use of spells on anyone. The magic ability is related to crystals and elemental powers - lightning, fire, wind, etc.
Noteworthy Quotes/Mentions:
Sailors are superstitions about dragons. On page 36, they “make a sign warding against bad fortune.”
Lysander is attempting to teach Gem how to use her magic ability. “I’m not talking about making pencils float,” Lysander scoffed. “Like you said, levitation is baby magic. I’m talking about elemental magic. Destruction” (50).
Gem is thankful for Remy and his friendship. “She’d once thought she could handle almost everything herself, but the more time she spent away from home, the more she realized there was so much she didn’t know” (89).
Bart gets so drunk he becomes sick and needs a doctor (105). This is due to his internal torture about his past actions to Aerunal. Parents could consider talking with their children about how his external actions are a result of his thought pattern. How we as believers are to take every thought captive.
Bartello in his past is accused by his other knights as having a “lust for glory” which ultimately leads to his trouble later on (125).
When Bartello meets Aerunal for the first time, he must confront the way he has chosen to live his life - that he has no wife or children to care for his absence. Bart’s ultimate response to their conversation is “No. I never had time for that. Probably a good thing. No child should grow up never knowing his father” (140-141).
According to Lysander, the crystals that they need to keep their ships and world afloat are actually alive, much like trees are alive. “Lots of people don’t know this, but the storm crystals aren’t just hunks of magical rock; they’re actually alive. Of course, they don’t breathe, or eat, or think like we do, but they do have a …I guess you can call it a spirit, which resides within the crystal” (165).
On page 168, there is a mention of the magic of the crystal filling Gem.
Starting on page 203, the history of the magical, fantastical world is told to the reader. It begins with a time when humans, dwarves, elves, and dragons lived peacefully together. The reason for the fading power of the crystals is soon disclosed and the characters discover what they are really facing and why.
For Aerunal to give Storm the information he needs, Aerunal must pass it on and pass away. He says, “All lives must end eventually, Bartello, even ours. We are not immortal. Truthfully, I have known my end was near for a while now. Even before you left. [...] I am happy that my final act will be one that matters” (219).
Bartello begins to train Remy and Storm to be Sky Knights. He tells them, “Regardless, the vow that every sky knight makes before they are initiated is this: ‘I do swear, as a sky knight of the crown, to protect those in need. To help those weaker than myself. To offer aid to those who ask, no matter what differences separate us. To uphold the ideals and virtues of the sky knights, and to act with honor in all aspects of life’” (242). There is much in this vow that parents can tie to scripture and good character.
Once reaching the elves, the characters are taken to a sacred grove of their ancestors where the ancestors speak knowledge to the elder there (280-284).
The story is fast paced and readers will be quickly swept away with the action and storyline that keeps the characters moving from one challenge to another. Once book three is released in 2026, I will make sure to add it to my “to read” list and get a review for you as soon as possible.
