Synopsis
A young warrior dreams of proving his worth in the elite Guardian Tournament, fighting not only for himself but the fate of everything he loves.
Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of proving his worth as a warrior in the elite Guardian’s Tournament, held every six years to entrust the magical Scroll of Heaven to a new protector. Eager to prove his skills, Jun hopes that a win will restore his father’s pride—righting a horrible mistake that caused their banishment from his home, mother, and twin brother.
But Jun’s father strictly forbids him from participating. He believes there is no future in Jun honing his skills as a warrior, especially considering Jun is not breathmarked, born with a patch of dragon scales and blessed with special abilities like his twin. Determined to be the next Guardian, Jun stows away in the wagon of Chang and his daughter, Ren, performers on their way to the capital where the tournament will take place.
As Jun competes, he quickly realizes he may be fighting for not just a better life, but the fate of the country itself and the very survival of everyone he cares about.
Review
Fonda Lee has made a name for herself the past few years in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi space for her Green Bone Saga novels. Jade City was one of the best books I read in 2024, and while I haven’t gotten to the next two novels in yet, the series has won numerous awards cementing its spot atop many year-end lists.
But Fonda got her start writing Young Adult and Middle Grade books like Zeroboxer and Exo. This week she returns to the world of YA writing with Breath of the Dragon, writing alongside Shannon Lee, daughter of the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee. In fact, story elements are actually drawn from some of the writing of Bruce Lee himself. Together, the pair have crafted an energetic and intriguing YA novel with many timely themes.
The book was a tad predictable as the reader navigates elements from Karate Kid, The Hunger Games, and even a little Kung Fu Panda for good measure. But even with the plot that felt familiar, it was constantly moving and even throwing in some unexpected twists from a political standpoint that felt prescient given the geopolitical situation these days.
The book is billed as the first part of a duology. I expect the second book to be focused mainly on Jun’s twin brother who was sidelined throughout most of Breath of the Dragon. We saw Jun’s twin, Sai, in the prologue and then mentioned a few times throughout. However, while we got Jun’s scrappy underdog story in this installment, I imagine we’ll see what life was like for Sai as one of the Breathmarked in the second book.
As a YA book, it succeeds. In fact, there are so many boys who struggle to find books that interest them and I know that I can point to this one and know the action and main character should be right up their alley.
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