Ileth has never considered herself to be "lucky" and, growing up a stuttering orphan in a Orphan's lodge, no one else would call her lucky, either. Growing up was hard, but Ileth always soldiered on and tried to make her way through, to endure it. Until one fateful day, when she meets a real, live dragon ridden by a female Dragoneer, Annis. Ileth didn't know women could become Dragoneers before that day, but Annis invites her to apply to the academy when she comes of age and to ask for her. That day changed Ileth's life. She still lived in the Captain's lodge and had to work tirelessly, but now... now she had hope of a future she very much wanted.
When little Ileth turns fourteen, of apprentice age, she makes her way across the great distance to the Dragoneers' Academy, but, as has been with her life up to that point, things are not to be easy. She finds that she will still have to work hard and soldier on... not only to advance as a Dragoneer, but initially, merely to gain admittance. Still, it does seem that something changes when she reaches apprentice age; she tends to have terrible luck... that, somehow, ends up working to her advantage in the long run. Mostly by making the best of horrible turns of events, again by soldiering on...
Life calls the tune.
You decide how you dance to it.- A Dragon Dancer's Diary (Memoir 3114)
Along her way to becoming a Dragoneer, Ileth will have to learn discipline, work hard, try to maintain her honor without fighting quite everyone, deal with the newfound interest boys have in her (and vice-versa) and keep soldiering on. And dance. For dragons. Luckily, she will make a friend or two along the way, especially among the other dragon dancers, which helps a bit. Well, that and the chance to be near such majestic creatures as dragons.
I truly enjoyed reading Novice Dragoneer. The book has a great story arch and sense of completion to it, making it a great standalone novel, so there's no reason to see if the series gets completed before jumping in. Which is good, because, according to E. E. Knight's Facebook page, it's looking like I'll have almost a year to wait until the second book, currently in the editing process, comes out - in November 2020, at the earliest. However, I am very pleased to see that this is the start of a new series and look forward to future books in the Dragoneer Academy series. Highly recommended.
