Fireborne

Fireborne (2019) is a young adult fantasy novel by Rosaria Munda. It is the first installment in The Aurelian Cycle trilogy and follows Lee and Annie—two teenagers navigating a reborn world following a brutal revolution. Annie is a former serf whose entire family was executed by dragonfire. Lee is a former aristocrat whose family was murdered by revolutionaries during the Red Month. Raised together as orphans following the revolution, they’ve now tested into the governing class of dragonriders and plan to battle it out in a tournament to determine who leads the republic’s dragon fleet. As political tensions rise and old loyalties are tested, Annie and Lee must navigate their feelings toward each other and their beliefs about justice and power to decide which side of the coming war they fall on.

This guide refers to the e-book edition published by Penguin Random House in 2019.

Plot Summary

Annie is an orphan from the village of Holbin Hill whose family was executed by dragonfire at the command of dragonlord Leon Stormscourge years ago. Only she was spared and was sent to Albans Orphanage. Leo Stormscourge is the son of Leon and watched his entire family slaughtered alongside countless dragonlords and their families the day the Revolution struck and took control of Callipolis. While few fled to seek refuge in New Pythos, the First Protector Atreus spared Leo, and he was sent to Albans Orphanage, where he took on the name Lee and faded into obscurity. Through their friendship, Annie learned of Lee’s identity but never admitted to it, and Lee learned of the atrocities his father committed against others.

In the months following the Revolution, Atreus set forth a metals test all citizens can take that determines class ranking—Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron—with the highest rankers allowed to attend a Choosing Ceremony for leftover dragons and eventually compete for the title of Firstrider, an aerial command role in the military. After testing highly, Lee and Annie attend the Choosing Ceremony and are chosen by a pair of Aurelian dragons. After years of training with their dragons, 16-year-olds Lee and Annie prepare to compete for the title of Firstrider alongside many peers including Cor, Crissa, Power, Duck, Locus, and Rock. The first battles reveal that Cor, Lee, Power, and Annie will be moving forward in the competition.

Specific classes are added to their curriculums following the opening ceremony of the Firstrider Tournament. During Dragontongue Poetry, Lee is shocked to recognize a former court tutor of his, Richard Tyndale, teaching. Though they hide their recognition from the others, Tyndale speaks with Lee after class. He admits he is in contact with others from New Pythos who would love to speak to Lee about reclaiming Callipolis from the inside. Lee refuses the offer because he believes the new regime to be a better alternative to the old one.

The threat of New Pythos is considered small until one day a fleet of dragons is sighted on the Callipolan fleet patrols. Lee is shocked to see his cousin, Julia Stormscourge, alive and leading the pack as Firstrider. His reaction before his fleet retreats worries Annie, who believes he might defect for his kin, but Lee assures her otherwise. Following the Pythian sighting, Atreus makes a public announcement of their growing threat, and Lee, Annie, and their peers are scheduled to make routine morale visits to various cities to ensure the citizens can handle the threat. Two weeks later, Lee receives a letter from Julia asking him to meet her. Their meeting reveals that she wants him to join their cause.

Meanwhile, Annie and Lee train for their respective next round of fights, which they both win against Power and Cor. Now opponents in the finals for Firstrider, Annie and Lee separate for training. Annie practices with Power while Lee practices with Cor and Crissa. During a morale visit to her hometown of Holbin Hill, which was previously devastated by dragonfire several times, Annie is spat upon by many unhappy villagers who believe her father would be ashamed of her for becoming a rider.

The Lycean Ball approaches and the city guard is relaxed for the night. The Pythians orchestrate an attack on a nearby island called Starved Rock, taking advantage of the distraction from the event. There are a few casualties, and a message is left for Lee to aid them in reclaiming Callipolis or watch them cause more destruction.

After poetry class one day, Annie overhears Tyndale and Lee speaking about corresponding with New Pythos. Rather than report Lee, Annie decides to report Tyndale to the Inner Palace. During the Firstrider Tournament’s finale, both Annie and Lee’s dragons spark mid-battle, causing Lee’s dragon, Pallor, to fire a scorching blast at Annie, knocking her unconscious. While she is tended to afterward, Lee’s victory is celebrated, and he is awarded the title of Firstrider. When Annie wakes, she is given the honor of Alterna, his second-in-command.

Shortly after the tournament is Palace Day, which publicly celebrates the Rebellion—and the massacre of Lee’s family. For the first time, Annie looks at photos of Lee’s family and reads the articles of their executions. She feels disgusted with the following celebratory parade afterward. In the night fog, an attack is waged on the Medean by a sparked Pythian Fleet. The Pythians set fire to the entire Callipolan trade fleet, destroying most of the year’s textile exports, and putting the nation at risk of famine.

The riders are instructed to begin traveling to town daily to collect resources. If citizens do not comply, they are to burn them with dragonfire. Though they are not happy with the return to the dragonlord methods of taxation, Lee and Annie do as they are told. However, when the resources are collected, they are presented with another issue. The chief physician of Callipolis’s math shows that losses will inevitably occur and discusses with the riders, General Holmes, Atreus, and other members of leadership how to ration the food. Lee and Annie are appalled to realize that the higher classes are given larger rations, leaving the Iron to suffer with the smallest.

Lee receives a message from Julia about a meeting at the Riversource of the Far at sunrise on the first of the coming month and leaves the note tucked away in his office. The following morning, Lee asks Annie to show him her hometown and her house and tell him exactly what his father did to her family. After Annie reveals it in stark detail, Lee reveals the details of his own family’s murders. When they return to the palace feeling lighter after sharing their burdens, they are confronted by Power, who has found the note Julia sent Lee.

Power attempts to apprehend them but with the help of her dragon, Aela, Annie overpowers him instead and marches them all to Atreus’s office in the Inner Palace. Lee and Annie reveal everything to Atreus including Lee’s identity as Leon Stormscourge’s son, Leo. Atreus is shocked yet receptive to the truth, though he orders Lee in confinement and gives Annie his role as Firstrider temporarily. Afterward, Annie reveals the truth to their peers, which is received with mixed emotions.

A week later, Atreus gives Lee an assignment to prove his loyalty. He must meet with Julia as specified in her note and return with proof of her death or else never return at all. Lee accepts the assignment and spends his last night in a cell with Annie, who visits for company. In the heat of the moment, they kiss passionately before Lee leaves. While Annie is explicitly ordered by Atreus not to wait for Lee’s return at Pytho’s Keep, she becomes suspicious that Atreus plans to meet Lee alone, so she gathers her peers and a few other authority figures and does so anyway.

They discover Atreus waiting for Lee’s return with a retinue of guards and the group makes their presence known just before Lee returns with Julia’s body. Having successfully completed his mission to kill his own kin, Lee renounces his birthright as a dragonlord and proclaims his loyalty to Callipolis. He is fully reinstated as a Guardian but rejects the offer of Firstrider, Instead, Lee insists the title belongs to Annie and that he’d be honored to become her Alternus.

A flashback reveals that on the day Atreus overtook the palace, he’d given the order for his guards to kill Lee, but a soldier of his spared the boy anyway. In the present day, Annie is summoned to meet with Dora Mithrides, an elite of great influence who has taken a vested interest in Annie and Lee’s futures in leadership.