Erin Swan

I received an ARC of this title from School Library Journal in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Relationships are at the core of Erin Swan’s new book, Bright Star. Elf, dragon, and human kingdoms have shared the land of Paerolia for centuries, but times are changing across the kingdoms. Females have been forbidden to participate in the Pairing Ceremony, where young dragons choose their Riders, for centuries and the human council of judges is in danger of being overthrown by a tyrant. When a young girl named Andra surreptitiously observes the annual Pairing ritual and inadvertently attracts the attention of an extraordinarily rare dragon but the Pairing is not completed, tragedy and warfare ensue. After being forcibly removed from her home, Andra joins the elves, wild dragons, and humans in open rebellion to the status quo. She must choose between the person she was and the person she might be, with all the corresponding consequences for either choice. The relationships are well drawn between the main characters and particularly engaging between the Paired dragons and their Riders. Swan depicts a society in transition with undercurrents of feminism, racism, and oppression in a dynamic world blend of the pragmatic and the magical. Recommended for fans of Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina series and Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy.… (mere)

I literally just finished this book five minutes ago and I'm still processing everything. I'm not sure if I can really discuss it without spoilers but I'll try...so here goes.

A prophetic dream haunts several generations of this family and force various members to make (heartwrenching? crazy? sad? traumatic?) decisions that spur them ultimately (and 200 years later) toward the revelatory meaning of the dream.

Yeah, that about sums it up. But it's also about climate crisis, familial wounds, healing those familial wounds, and how sometimes old hurts can be soothed...or not. Gods, there is a lot packed into this story. I loved it, I really did, but I'm trying to come to terms with it all. It's left open to where, if you're a pessimist, the ending is sad. If you're an optimist, there is hope in the ending.

Really trying to write how I see things happening beyond what was written in the book because I'm leaning towards the optimism. Read the book. It's a deep, moving, and well crafted story.… (mere)