Quest for the True Dragon: A Graphic Novel

City of Dragons #3

by Jaimal Yogis, Vivian Truong (illustrator)

Perfect for fans of dragon adventure graphic novels like Wings of Fire! Grace and friends return for a new adventure in this third installment of the bestselling City of Dragons series.Daijiang's continued pursuit of Grace has made it clear that she and Nate are crucial to his plan. But as her Hùnxuè powers grow stronger, Grace can't help but feel it's unfair she might be missing out on a normal school life. Other kids get to relax, watch movies with friends, and go on dates, while Grace is risking her life to save the world. Something has felt off about her connection with Nate lately, and she keeps dreaming of her father and his ominous insistence that she must wake the dragon kings.When a trip to rendezvous with an old ally goes awry, Grace and her friends find themselves stranded in Tokyo with only one day to wake the Southern Dragon King. But with the race against the clock exacerbating tensions on the team, can Grace get back in sync with Nate and her friends before it's too late?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Dragons, Middle Grade, Magic, Graphic Novels Manga, Childrens

Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2025

About the author

Jaimal Yogis is the author of numerous books including Saltwater Buddha, The Fear Project, and All Our Waves Are Water, which have been internationally praised and translated into numerous languages. More recently he has been writing children's books like Mop Rides the Waves of Life, which was named a 2020 Favorite by the Children's Book Review and one of the best sportsbooks for all ages by Book Riot. The next picture book in the series, Mop Rides the Waves of Change, comes out this July from Parallax Press and Penguin Random House, and his middle-grade graphic novel series, City of Dragons, also releases this fall, 2021, from Scholastic. Jaimal's award-winning journalism has appeared in publications like The Washington Post, ESPN Magazine, The Atlantic, and many others. He lives near San Francisco's Ocean Beach with his wife Amy and their three boys.

Reviews

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grace and friends try to find and wake the Eastern Dragon King, but Dr. Kim is kidnapped in the process. Shocking cliff-hanger ending.

[Olivia]

See my full review here: https://yabookscentral.com/quest-for-...

QUEST FOR THE TRUE DRAGON is an engaging graphic novel adventure. Grace is having dreams about her father and the need to wake the dragon kings, but she also just wishes that she could be a normal kid and not involved in this supernatural stuff. However, when her sister Aera calls with threats to a Dragon King and Dr. Kim unless Grace and Nate come to them, Grace feels caught. As she and her friends dive into danger once again, they will strengthen their relationships and resolves in order to save the day.

What I loved: This was a really engaging and relatable story. Grace is trying to find her place in this challenging world with normal kid stuff and her complicated connection with dragons seemingly in conflict. However, Grace is soon to learn about what really matters and the importance of the friendships she has. At the end of day, she knows what is important and will take steps towards figuring out who she is and who she wants to be.

The story has a good amount of tension, solving problems, and fighting to keep the readers on their toes. The plot is action-packed and the book moves very quickly. As a graphic novel, it does a great job of telling the story through both pictures and words. The speech bubbles were easily attributable and the panels easy to follow, which is great for middle grade graphic novel readers. Themes of family, found family/friendships, and finding your path make this an engaging and relatable story for middle grade readers.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, some of the pages could be very wordy, which may work better for kids on the higher end of the middle grade age range. There are also things that were not well described and explained, though gained through context, that will also make this work best for older middle grade readers who can read between the lines as needed. It also helps to have read the earlier books before diving into this one.

Final verdict: QUEST FOR THE TRUE DRAGON is an action-packed middle grade graphic novel that will keep readers on their toes. Recommend for older middle grade readers.

Please note that I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

love a wel written dragon book

[R1 Ireland · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the best book in the series by far.
I wasn't big on all the drama (despite it being kinda like Moon Rising) EXCEPT for Ramesh and Hikari. SHES ADORABLE!!! I loved when they where in Tokyo. Also, Iwa was cool.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I'm rating age-appropriate-ish books to potentially give to the niece for reading homework (20 minutes a day, and graphic novels count!) by whether or not she might get into it, based on the book in hand. This is a good addition to the series, but as far as reading it by itself—even after having read the first two books—I can't really say it's easy.

I mean, I'm judging for a young reader who got into Wings of Fire starting from the NEWEST book, rather than reading them sequentially! So that itself isn't a factor. However, coming into this cold feels like a taller order than it could be, since I even had trouble coming back to the series for book TWO. Like, a LOT of the very start of the book is Grace and Ramesh trying to sneak out to a rooftop, just so Grace can talk to Nate. It makes sense in the flow of the series, but it's not a good entry point for newcomers.

Would the niece care? Maybe not! Maybe she'll like it anyway, just because the art is pretty and dragons are cool and she doesn't remember what she read in a few pages anyway. (I don't actually know—Granny's the one supervising and just asking me for recommendations and only sometimes giving feedback since she doesn't think I'm that interested since the niece and I have barely interacted due to distance.)

So. *I* like the book, with caveats:
+ good art
+ representation!
+ interesting twists
- a little hard to remember what happened before without re-reading
- romance drama (though, kind of hard to find stories WITHOUT romance drama)
- definitely has "middle child" syndrome in that it is neither a good opening nor a stopping point—MAJOR cliffhanger
- (I'm surprised the "Happy Birthday" gambit paid off, but there aren't many other convincing ways to have gotten them out of that, I guess)

Definite recommend for fans of the series, hesitant recommend to anyone just finding the book by itself and giving it a try (sorry, future free library recipient).

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75? Mainly for art? Takes place in Japan, following the previous books’ pattern of being worldwide! Colors and illustrations are still pretty neat. Loved the koi and the dragon drawings with the water!! This work focuses more on the interpersonal relationships within the 4-person friendship group. James likes Grace, Rameshi gives James bad advice, James follows said advice and tries to use Jing to make Grace jealous, which works. Grace and James have a bunch of miscommunications, leading to the whole group having miscommunications. Grace and Jing make up as best friends, and Grace and James talk at the end and resolve to be friends BUT THEN Grace kisses him on the cheek as friends and I was like ???? ???? ???? HEY??? With Rameshi's long-distance-gf-but-not-really in the picture, it was just...really concentrated on couples and dating, and I wasn't a huge fan of that for a middle grade graphic novel? It felt like a filler and didn't really feel...fully developed. I did enjoy the discussion on Grace considering what "normal kid" things she's missing out on, and having her confront her own jealousy of her best friend Jing (which is pretty common!). I also liked the message that you can't just go out and do it all on your own - sometimes you need help, and friendship can help you solve a lot of things. The whole pearl-holding-together-tell-everyone-what-I-love-about-them scene was kinda cringe. It feels like a long movie that keeps going with the cliffhanger ending (Grace's dad is alive?? Sends a video message and says it's really him LOL).

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't care for the dating advice from Ramesh. James was right, he should have just been honest. I love that there are more dragons! The koi that turned into a dragon (Iwa) is gorgeous and I love the Eastern Dragon King! He is beautiful and spreads Spring around. Looking forward to the last book to wrap things up.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book in the series and Grace and Nate are heading into new adventures. After they escape Daijiang, they arrive in Tokyo with only one day to wake the Southern Dragon King, Ao Qin. The artwork is amazing and these four friends have not reached the end of their adventures. An amazing surprise awaits Grace at the end!

[Cindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

No way! Wow what a cliff hanger! This story just keeps getting better and I am impressed that three books in it still is able to keep me on tue edge of my seat with enough surprises and twists to keep me guessing as to what could happen next. Man, I wish the next one was already out. Waiting for the rest of this story is going to be hard, but totally worth it.

[Ada · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG, I loved it. It was probably the best book in the series so far!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this volume was still fun, I feel like the story is being dragged out a little too much. I just want to have more happen plot-wise.

[Lucy Kirby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume felt bogged down by its romance sub-plots, but the dragons continue to be the spotlight.

[Ada · Rating 5 out of 5]

When are they gonna update the Goodreads? It was amazing!

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and exciting read! I didn't realize there would be more volumes! This one is quite the cliffhanger!

[ALCUVI · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5⭐️