However, not only is Lee competing against Annie, but rumors are circulating that some of the royal family have survived and have dragons of their own. Their dragons are finally mature enough for them to compete for Firstrider, a position of power that can give Lee back a small part of what his family lost. Nine years later, a new generation of dragonriders is emerging, children selected and trained on merit, not bloodlines. For too long the dragonriders held all the power while their people starved and lived in fear. What happens to the world after the dust from a revolution has settled?įriends Annie and Lee were children from very different circles when Atreus killed Lee’s father, dragonlord Leon Stormscourge, ending the uprising on the bloodiest day in Callipolis’ history. Nate has golden-brown skin, love interest Reed has dark-brown skin, and their friend Sparks is cued as trans.Ī boy-loves-boy dystopian fantasy for anyone needing a heartbreaking thrill.

This is a dystopian labyrinth leading to love, with minotaurs in the form of murder, drug fiends, and the raw need to survive.

But there’s beauty in the connectivity Nate’s band of friends find in surviving together. Acts of terrorism, conflicting castes, and meals of rotted fruit underscore the struggle. Grit, grime, and steampunk tinkering define a landscape that could easily serve Oliver Twist or Blade Runner. Plus, the head of those misfits, Reed, is the most beautiful boy Nate has ever wanted to kiss. So Nate conceals his genetics for self-preservation and to prevent the merry band of misfits he lives with from being accused of unwittingly harboring him. Liberated but orphaned, Nate faces other threats: GEMs die without a special remedy, and a street gang hunts GEMs to harvest them. Nate’s parents refused to let the privileged class vampirically use him, and they smuggled him out of Gathos-dying in the process. When lung-rot threatened the upper echelon of Gathos City, GEMs (Genetically Engineered Medi-tissue) like Nate were bioengineered for their restorative blood. A genetically engineered boy struggles to survive a dystopia and win over the boy he adores.

Fragile remedy by maria ingrande mora