Jai dreams of being a dragon rider. He dreams of freedom from the Sabine Empire and a world in which he can lead his people, the Kidara, to freedom. But even though he has his dragon, Winter, she is still growing, just as he’s still growing in his own power. And the road to victory is even more fraught than he had hoped.
Because even when he finds a tribe on the Great Steppe, they are not his people. More, they are outcasts, the Tainted, and he finds that he knows little of the customs and political intricacies that take place in these vast grasslands. He is a stranger amongst his own kind, and that is even more apparent when he reunites with the Kidara, for Jai’s uncle rules, and is loath to cede power to his nephew. And even if Jai was sure he could take the reins of the leadership, he isn’t sure he could actually hold them.
But the legionaries and Gryphon Guard of the Sabine Empire are wreaking havoc against the other tribes of the Great Steppe, and Jai is forced to learn a lifetime’s worth of knowledge in a matter of months. From taming the massive khiroi that make up the tribe’s calvary, to levelling up his magic, to becoming a true warrior, worrying over the fate of the woman he loves, and strengthening his bond with Winter, Jai is a dragon rider with a massive weight on his young shoulders. And his greatest hope is that the shoulders of Winter will soon be strong enough to help carry him.
Taran Matharu is the New York Times bestselling author of the Summoner series, which has been translated into 15 languages and has sold over a million copies in English. He was born in London in 1990. Taran began to write the Summoner series in November 2013 at the age of 22, taking part in “Nanowrimo 2013” and sharing his work on Wattpad.com. The shared sample of the story went viral, reaching over 3 million reads in less than six months. In addition to Dragon Rider, he is also the author of the Contender series, out now. His books have been published in the UK, Australia, the Commonwealth, the US, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Taiwan, Brazil, Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, Denmark, Iran, and the Netherlands.