Title: The Child of Fire and Earth
Author: Barry Ryerson
Publication Date: August 1, 2021
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy
Number of Pages: 210
From Goodreads: Hew had always dreamt of being a knight. Take that, villain! Yes, princess, of course I’ll rescue you. Thank you, your Majesty, yes I am great with a sword. Unfortunately, being a farmer’s son made that dream impossible. Real life was more about cleaning animal mess and checking for weeds.
Until he met the dragon.
It opened up a hidden world of magic around him. Faeries. Hobgoblins. Monsters, shape changers, brownies; you name them, he met them.
But there was a problem.
A blight to the north was making magic fade from the Earth. If it disappeared completely, then everyone would freeze to death.
Yes, that included Hew’s annoying little sister, but even she didn’t deserve to be frozen. He would have to be brave and defeat this blight. The question was…
What could a nearly eleven-year-old do?
Thank you to Lucy at Lucy Turns Pages for providing me with a copy of this book through their amazing book promotion service. If you want to read more indie books, reach out to Lucy to find out more! All thoughts and opinions about the book are my own.
The Child of Fire and Earth is a magical middle-grade fantasy book, mostly set in medieval England, that was a lot of fun to read. It was full of dragons and other magical creatures, and it features a hero who is tossed into a hidden world he didn’t know existed. It’s full of exciting moments, including dragon-riding and a sky battle. If you like middle-grade books and dragons, this book is worth checking out.
The main character in this book is Hew. Hew dreams of being a knight, but in reality, his life is full of household chores and farming. His world is turned upside down when he meets a dragon, and a few months later, he sets off on an adventure to save the magic. I liked Hew. I liked that he was curious about the world around him and wanted to learn new things. I also liked that he was brave, even if sometimes he was a little headstrong. I liked watching him grow as a character, and I’m looking forward to watching him grow even more in the next book.
The best thing about this book is that it featured dragons. The main dragon in this book is named Zelina, who is pretty cool. Zelina needs Hew to help her get to the bottom of why the magic is disappearing. They go on quite the adventure with the help of some other magical creatures. I liked that Zelina took Hew in as her apprentice and how she taught him all about the magical world he didn’t know existed.
I liked the magic system in this book. It was relatively simple and element based. I liked that every species of creature was made up of two elements and the explanation of how the elements worked.
This book had its fair share of exciting moments in it. There are some fight scenes and moments where I wasn’t sure how things would play out. These moments made this book a quick and engaging read, making me want to keep reading to find out what would happen next.
Overall, this was a fun middle-grade book, and I’m glad I read it. I liked the characters and the magic system, and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel.
Rating: 4 Stars!
