Let's start with the positives. The illustrations in this book were really well-done. The dragons as they were described seemed realistic, and you can tell that Mr. Lockwood put some time and effort into designing a world that could support them as a species.
Maia dreams of one day having a dragon of her very own from her family's breeding grounds but most of the hatchlings are already spoken for by the government to be trained for the war effort. One day, while she is out exploring with her brother, they see an ancient wild dragon supposedly a harbinger for change. Unknowingly, this sighting embroils Maia in not only the ongoing war, creeping ever closer to her home and dragons, but also in an internal religious schism with the potential to be just as deadly.
Okay, here's what I didn't like: the story seemed geared towards adolescents, so I think it was mis-shelved from the YA section. Maia is very clearly a teenager trying to navigate her thoughts and feelings, having her first brush with autonomy, and overcoming ingrained guilt and anxiety over her mother's death. There's nothing wrong with that kind of story but it's not what I like to read. I was also really put off by Maia's obsession with getting a dragon hatchling as a sort of surrogate motherhood and a little grossed out by the attention paid to her by two grown-ass men, one a priest and one a soldier. Both men are interested in her sexually and make several comments about her being of marriageable age, but her character is written in such a way to make her seem too emotionally immature to consider their advances. It comes off as skeevy even when I don't think it's meant to.
The world-building outside of Maia's storyline is quite interesting. I liked reading about the efforts of dragon breeders and the wild dragons. Everything else was a hard pass for me. If you have a 10- to 12-year-old girl just getting into dragons, however, maybe this book is for you/her.
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