From the Bookshelf of Mock Newbery 2026…
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What Members Thought
This was definitely not one of those books that I was sad to finish reading. In fact, I skimmed the last 70 pages or so, and really, I still got what I needed from the story. This isn't a bad book, but it is underdeveloped. It focuses a lot on plot and setting, with very little character development or background. I just didn't care about the main character - Al. The setting is really intriguing - fantastical kingdom ruled by dragons where everyone is ranked from 0-7 at the age of twelve. But th
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(Review of an Advanced Reader Copy, so basing this on things that may change by the final print) Okay . . . so this lands at about a 3.5 for me. Which is pretty amazing considering I was ready not to be won over at all by a "dragon" book. A lot of the plot elements in here are not particularly new: a society living under dragon overlords are all ranked on their testing day--and that rank will define their place in the world. Al is a young man who expects and hopes to get a high rank number . . .
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Everything changes for Al Pilgrimmor on Testing Day. Instead of receiving a high score and going on to a satisfying future, he is classfied as a zero. His family is forced to avoid him, almost no one is willing to help him, and others are trying to kill him. As he runs for his life, he finds the strength and determination to survive with the help of some new and old friends. This fast-paced book kept me reading quickly to find out just how Al would manage to survive and to solve some of the book
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This was okay. I like books about dragons but this didn't fully develop for me and honestly the dragons weren't all that active as characters. I found the potentia, porta, magic aspect a bit confusing - the world building just wasn't there for me.
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Well-paced plot, interesting characters; good world-building. The dragons in this novel are truly evil, not the companion dragons of Pern, or Ivy's Ever After.
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Mar 12, 2013
Rachel
marked it as to-read
Apr 17, 2013
Karyn The Pirate
marked it as to-read
May 23, 2013
Terrie Hinojosa
marked it as to-read
Jan 04, 2014
Monica
marked it as to-read
Jan 09, 2015
Books_the_Magical_Fruit
marked it as to-read
