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Here Be Dragons
From childhood they were bred as warriors. They win. They defeat. Now Tucker Thompson has been sent to shut them down, with or without a fight. Thunder rolls through the Australian Outback as Thompson faces an enemy wielding fire, ripping through chains, and showing no mercy for the human spirit.
While Thompson has no memory of Australia, he spent six years there. Now as a sergeant in the Alliance Military Guard, he dominates on the field, but doesn’t always know why. Even with strikes on his record, his abilities as a loyal soldier are an incredible asset, but convincing the Army Ranger team led by the feisty Captain Cheri Skye proves to be an entirely different kind of battle.
When the Guard’s motives come into question with a global audience watching, Tucker is left wondering what exactly he’s fighting for and how he will lead his crew into the Outback to chase the shadows of his past.
Fans of Madeleine L'Engle, Marie Lu, James Dashner, Suzanne Collins, Marissa Meyer, and the Netflix Original Series' "Stranger Things" would enjoy this young adult science fiction action adventure.
While Thompson has no memory of Australia, he spent six years there. Now as a sergeant in the Alliance Military Guard, he dominates on the field, but doesn’t always know why. Even with strikes on his record, his abilities as a loyal soldier are an incredible asset, but convincing the Army Ranger team led by the feisty Captain Cheri Skye proves to be an entirely different kind of battle.
When the Guard’s motives come into question with a global audience watching, Tucker is left wondering what exactly he’s fighting for and how he will lead his crew into the Outback to chase the shadows of his past.
Fans of Madeleine L'Engle, Marie Lu, James Dashner, Suzanne Collins, Marissa Meyer, and the Netflix Original Series' "Stranger Things" would enjoy this young adult science fiction action adventure.
396 pages, Paperback
Published December 8, 2023
5 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Kadee Carder
16 books25 followersFierce in a sparkly kind of way, Kadee Carder brings hope, adventure, and thrill wherever she writes. The goal is magic, the medium is ink, and the fuel is coffee. And sometimes pizza. I teach writing on the university level when I'm not dancing around the living room with my family, lifting heavy at the gym, traveling the planet (on foot or Google maps), or bingeing superhero shows.
The INSURRECTION trilogy, HERE BE DRAGONS, KINGDOM COME, IGNITE, and soon-to-be-released EARTHSHINE roll out perilous motives, twisty plots, and daring protagonists. Grab some real estate and your copy of her latest book, and follow along on social media.
The INSURRECTION trilogy, HERE BE DRAGONS, KINGDOM COME, IGNITE, and soon-to-be-released EARTHSHINE roll out perilous motives, twisty plots, and daring protagonists. Grab some real estate and your copy of her latest book, and follow along on social media.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 16, 2018
They call themselves Dragons. But are really just children. And there is something evil about using children as soldiers. Brainwashed and programmed, even chipped with superpowers beyond their understanding, the children are still mere fodder for the fighting fields. In effect, prisoners of war. Was Tucker Thompson one of them? Had he at one time been embedded with the same superpowers as these children? There were parts of his past he just couldn’t remember, but his mission to Australia, the country he claimed as home, has started to bring some of the foggy patches of his memory into clearer focus. And here he is, in Australia, with another war to fight, this one against children, Dragons.
Readers came to know Tucker in Kadee Carder’s earlier books, “Insurrection”, “Incomplete” and “Indelible”. These books were primarily Saylor’s story, a story of an orphan, lost at sea and found again; one with her own nightmares to overcome and her own superpowers to understand. “Here Be Dragons” is Tucker’s story, one that takes him home, or so he believes, to Australia, only to find a war he doesn’t want to fight and a longing he can’t squelch, a longing for someone half a world a way. As the reader follows Tucker’s journey, his battle, the man behind the Aussie accent unveils his true character. As he learns, so does the reader.
“The answer to life’s struggle isn’t to go kill or be killed,” the main character insists. And he argues his belief in rescuing the child soldiers, the Dragons, instead of fighting to kill, with poignant words that find their target in any of real life’s situations: “This war is for life itself. Life isn’t just a thing. Life is the thing. We take as many alive as possible, no matter how hard they resist.”
Tucker, the protagonist, is challenged with every step he takes towards the ultimate goal of winning this battle against an evil superpower. He is told, and he accepts reluctantly, that he is some kind of Dragon and that every minute of his life is a battlefield. When he confronts the antagonist, Rapton, the evil genius behind the Dragon child soldiers, he is told “Allow what you never thought would change you to change you. Let the light shudder upon your skin. Allow our darkness to heal your scars. Here we raise up, sharp and new. Here we forge new life. Here we eviscerate what once was weak and weave the fire into force. Here be Dragons. Torrent! Welcome to the war.”
Life is all about change, some good, some not so good. Tucker learns, as we all must learn, to “Be powerful. Be consistent. Never quit. Finish the mission.”
Once again Kadee Carder has provided readers with a compelling plot of good versus evil. It is set in a futuristic world, one struggling to regain its technological abilities after a Flare knocked out all the satellites, leaving the planet literally in the dark. But even without technology, there are those who find a way to create superpower advances out of the technology scraps left behind from before The Flare.
On the surface, this novel is a good dose of sci-fi and futuristic drama. Deep down, the realistic characters, with their daily struggle, not only for survival but also for understanding their sense of purpose in life, meets the need of young adult readers who, similarly, are seeking a meaning of life. The message is clear: work hard, stay the course, and look for the good in everyone and everything. Life can be good.
A good dose of drama, suspense mixed with the classic battle between good and evil. Well done!
http://beyondtheordinaryincanadiansto...
Readers came to know Tucker in Kadee Carder’s earlier books, “Insurrection”, “Incomplete” and “Indelible”. These books were primarily Saylor’s story, a story of an orphan, lost at sea and found again; one with her own nightmares to overcome and her own superpowers to understand. “Here Be Dragons” is Tucker’s story, one that takes him home, or so he believes, to Australia, only to find a war he doesn’t want to fight and a longing he can’t squelch, a longing for someone half a world a way. As the reader follows Tucker’s journey, his battle, the man behind the Aussie accent unveils his true character. As he learns, so does the reader.
“The answer to life’s struggle isn’t to go kill or be killed,” the main character insists. And he argues his belief in rescuing the child soldiers, the Dragons, instead of fighting to kill, with poignant words that find their target in any of real life’s situations: “This war is for life itself. Life isn’t just a thing. Life is the thing. We take as many alive as possible, no matter how hard they resist.”
Tucker, the protagonist, is challenged with every step he takes towards the ultimate goal of winning this battle against an evil superpower. He is told, and he accepts reluctantly, that he is some kind of Dragon and that every minute of his life is a battlefield. When he confronts the antagonist, Rapton, the evil genius behind the Dragon child soldiers, he is told “Allow what you never thought would change you to change you. Let the light shudder upon your skin. Allow our darkness to heal your scars. Here we raise up, sharp and new. Here we forge new life. Here we eviscerate what once was weak and weave the fire into force. Here be Dragons. Torrent! Welcome to the war.”
Life is all about change, some good, some not so good. Tucker learns, as we all must learn, to “Be powerful. Be consistent. Never quit. Finish the mission.”
Once again Kadee Carder has provided readers with a compelling plot of good versus evil. It is set in a futuristic world, one struggling to regain its technological abilities after a Flare knocked out all the satellites, leaving the planet literally in the dark. But even without technology, there are those who find a way to create superpower advances out of the technology scraps left behind from before The Flare.
On the surface, this novel is a good dose of sci-fi and futuristic drama. Deep down, the realistic characters, with their daily struggle, not only for survival but also for understanding their sense of purpose in life, meets the need of young adult readers who, similarly, are seeking a meaning of life. The message is clear: work hard, stay the course, and look for the good in everyone and everything. Life can be good.
A good dose of drama, suspense mixed with the classic battle between good and evil. Well done!
http://beyondtheordinaryincanadiansto...
July 18, 2018
Another good read from Kadee!
While it took me a bit to get into this book, Kadee did not disappoint in the end. This was a great spinoff of the other three books which successfully broadened the world Kadee is creating. It was fantastic gaining insight into Tucker who was one of my favorite characters from the other three books. You can defiantly read this one by itself and enjoy it but I would highly recommend reading the other three first. I hope Kadee continues to build this world with more great stories and characters.
While it took me a bit to get into this book, Kadee did not disappoint in the end. This was a great spinoff of the other three books which successfully broadened the world Kadee is creating. It was fantastic gaining insight into Tucker who was one of my favorite characters from the other three books. You can defiantly read this one by itself and enjoy it but I would highly recommend reading the other three first. I hope Kadee continues to build this world with more great stories and characters.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews