Also by this author: The Promise, The Drummer Boy, Sinner, Green, The Dream Traveler's Quest, Into the Book of Light, The Curse of Shadownman, The Garden and the Serpent, The Final Judgment, Millie Maven and the Bronze Medallion, Nine, Millie Maven and the Golden Vial, Millie Maven and the White Sword, Millie Maven, And They Found Dragons, The Blue Boy and the Red Princess, The Light of the One, The Dragon Rider Who Saved the World, Children of Zion
Series: The Dragon Rider Who Saved the World #2
Published by Scripturo on October 22, 2024
Genres: Children's, Fiction, Fantasy
Buy on Amazon
The saga continues as the Order closes in on the Guardians who desperately cling to the promise that the golden dragon, Darrian, will save them from destruction.
But there is a problem. The dragon is only a juvenile and nothing like the fierce symbol of protection they had imagined. To make matters worse, the rider that the dragon has chosen is far too young and inexperienced to ride him, much less save the world.
With endearing patience a deep bond is forged between rider and dragon as the Order closes in to crush them all.
It was prophesied that the Golden Egg would hatch once the dragon within found its rider. For generations, the Guardians have watched over the egg, keeping it hidden and away from those who would have it destroyed. This egg was their hope at redemption. They did not expect an Outsider to be the Rider.
The last thing Emilia wants is to be Rider. She doesn’t even understand what that is. She didn’t even believe dragons existed until she saw the egg. In fact, until a couple days ago, she didn’t even know the Guardians existed. Now, she’s had to flee the order into the desert and found this ragtag resistance her saviors. When a new friend shows her the fabled Golden Egg, it hatches. Emilia is the Dragon Rider.
The Unknown Path features two storylines. The first and most prominent is Emilia’s bonding with Darrian—the Golden Dragon. Said golden dragon is pretty much a golden retriever. The Dekkers pull this characterization off very well, finding a balance between Chosen-One-prophesied-to-destroy-all-evil and child-playing-with-their-puppy that brings a bit of humor and whimsy to the storyline without feeling out of place in the overall narrative.
The second storyline is the Order’s—under the control of the Dragon Queen—attempt to find the dragon and kill it before it reaches full maturity. Not a whole lot of time is spent on this storyline, but it involves quite a bit of intrigue and some further insights on what to expect from the Dragon and its Rider.
Overall, this is the perfect bridge book for the trilogy. Some of it is fluff, but it’s substantial fluff that teases out the trilogy’s theme, expands its lore (mostly avoiding some of the foundational lore issues I talked about in my The Golden Egg review), and gets readers connected to the characters of Emilia and Darrian. The Unknown Path deepens the story, drawing readers to the big conflict that will end the series but first allowing us to get to know the characters and their world. One of the major criticisms I’ve had of the Dekkers’ middle-grade work are the points where it does too much and not anything all at the same time—expanding the world through exposition while rushing through the actual story. Here, they get it just right: expanding the world through the storytelling.
While there’s not really a beginning or end to this story and it’s a period of rest without big conflicts, the Dekkers use the power of relational connection to keep reading turning pages. It’s not fast-paced or action-filled or even meant to stand alone, but its focus on the relationship between Emilia and Darrian is a fun and captivating character study that makes the stakes of Rise of the Fire Walker even higher.