Riding Through Fire

The Dragon Tributes #1

by Charlene Hartnady

The dragons on Draig Island are not your run-of-the-mill kind. They’re something else entirely…

I cannot believe my bad luck when an embossed envelope arrives at my door just one week before my twenty-fifth birthday. Which just happens to be the cut-off date for being called up for the testing of the blood. I thought I was in the clear, turns out that I was wrong.

I don’t know all the ins and outs of the whole dragon tribute selection process, only that it has something to do with a person’s DNA. If the scientists find what they are looking for in my sample, I might be sent as a tribute to the dragons.

Yes, actual dragons.

Not that I’ve ever seen one of the creatures, mind you. Apparently, they do exist; they just don’t mingle with us on account of being extremely dangerous. I mean, they’re huge, breathe fire, and have sharp teeth and claws. Bottom line, dragons and humans do not mix very well.

With that in mind, I’m not sure why they need human tributes. Every year for the last fifty-nine years, our government has sent them thirty people. Of those handed over, some return months later with no memory of their stay on the island. As for the rest, who knows? It’s baffling and terrifying in equal measure.

Quite frankly, I hope I never find out what goes on at Draig Island. I keep telling myself that only thirty end up going. Not that many, considering that tens of thousands of blood samples are taken. My odds are good. I’m not going to get called up.

I’m not!

Then I receive another embossed letter telling me that I have been selected. I need to pack and get my affairs in order. I leave for Draig Island in one month with no guarantee I’ll ever return and no idea what is to become of me. I’m not panicking at all.

This story contains mature themes/language.
Also, be prepared for a ton of growls, dirty talk, and a hard-won HEA. Hulking, skulking, foul-mouthed, brooding dragons ahead. You were warned!

Genres: Dragons, Fantasy, Romance, Shapeshifters, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy

382 pages, Paperback

Published April 19, 2025

About the author

Charlene lives on an acre in the country with her husband, three children and an array of pets including a snake.
In her spare time you can usually find her typing away franticly on the computer completely lost in worlds of her making. She is an avid believer that it is the small things that truly matter like the feeling you get when you start reading a new book or a particularly beautiful sunset.
Charlene likes to write bite stories her readers can sink their teeth into. Sign up for her latest release newsletter for more information http://mad.ly/signups/96708/join

Reviews

[Jace]

DNF 23%
This book.... Is just not for me.
After reading a bunch of other reviews I am absolutely baffled on how so many people can 5 star it.
First of all, Hunter is an awful character. She is annoying and whiny as hell. She complains about everything and is completely self deprecating about everything. If there's a way to describe something about herself more negatively, that's what we get.

Granted I didn't read it too long but the image I have of her is of a short plain fat lazy woman with no drive for anything who's accomplished nothing in her life but a shitty job and failed relationship.
Yeah, who wouldn't want to read her story?

She gives up so easily. She approached the first challenge already knowing she wouldn't make it and gave up with only a mile left to swim.
Then spent the following week to finally work through it.
She's also super snarky, always making shitty attitude filled comments but doesn't have any actual umph to back it up.
She's just.... Not the kind of character I want to read about.

The rest of the story is basically one big mystery for unknown reasons. They have no idea why they're there, they're just doing what they're told, or else.

Blah.

It's like this author read the hunger games and decided to slap together her own book, except with a less thought out plan to explain why the fuck they're there doing trials so she just kept in shrouded in mystery until she figured it out.

[Devon]

did we all read the same book?

So…. A book about dragons and I’m 60% into the book angry with the misleading blurb that made me read this at all.
And…. The First 🌶️ scene has me cringing 😬.
Hunter is the MFC and forced to participate and go to Draig island as a tribute. Apparently offered every year to the dragons. (The dragons we don’t see for most of the book) And the whole reason for being there at all seems pretty vague even when it is explained.
She’s self deprecating, fat-shames herself (along with every other side character) and has a whiny childish narrative. I can’t stand her.
Dagger… ok man you like who you like… it’s not even about how she looks with all the fat jokes and midnight snacks..but the way she acts its annoying and unbelievable.
Great idea for a novel a hunger games type troupe but with an overweight and out of shape complainer.

[Melissa]

DNF 12%

I wanted a story with dragons, not a boot camp story. Pass.

[S&Sreads]

I have been catfished , or book fished
Because some one is lying here . The description of this book matches literally just the first part of the book , everyone who is writing five star reviews talking about the FMC is a force to be reckoned with THE GIRL CALLS HER SELF FAT LAZY ashe gives up on the first trial and she only had a mile left , and dagger who is supposed to be her love interest makes fat jokes to her , they basically go to the island and go through an academy do random trials all the while not telling them why they are there and also not telling them anything about the dragons … so like 70% of this book had no dragons …. And that’s the only reason why I even picked this book up was for dragons
This booked wasted my time , time I can never get back and I fully regret it
DNF

[Destiny]

I tried...I really wanted to love you, but no matter how many chances I gave you, you always fell short.
That is what this book is. Wonderful ideas and concepts, poor execution.
Dialogue- Juvenile and cringe.
Plot- Not well planned out. Some parts are vague, others give everything away.
Romance- Where? I couldn't find her.
The chemistry between the main characters- I think she is out with romance somewhere.
The antagonist - 2nd grade bully at best. (he seriously had the worst lines in the whole book.)
Secondary characters- UGH.
Best friend-
Ending- WTF did I just read? It made no sense at all.
Character development- Out to lunch.

So, um, yeah. Read if you want but I wouldn't recommend it at this stage. If the writer rewrote the story then maybe I would read it again because the concept was great.

[Abigale]

How does this book have almost 5 stars? I'm almost convinced we all didn't read the same book. Hunter has to be one of the most annoying main female character I've ever read. Honestly I was kind hoping she would have just drown in the river that's how insufferable she is.

[Abbella DiNoto]

uhm? not the story I expected to read

I got bored in the beginning, I skipped through a lot of the fodder. Missed what happened to Octavia in the process. Even the smex could not hold my attention. But I guess it was a good plot. Just very very different. Did not like all the secrets it was unnecessary angst. I get the secret was necessary before coming to the island and leaving the island. But. Once there it’s stupid to not just lay it all out right from the start. Did not like the lies. I guess the ending was satisfying I’m not really sure I wanna read the next book. Unless it’s on kindle unlimited and then I still gotta think about it.

[Samantha]

Cliffhanger with no resolution

Let me start off by saying that this book would have gotten at least 3.5-4 stars. The story was unique and interesting. However, it’s incredibly frustrating that it left off on a huge cliffhanger with a lot of loose ends and the story is going to focus on someone else in the next book. We still don’t know what the bite means, and the saren thing is a huge deal that we won’t really get to see develop from Hunters POV. There’s a lot that deserved to have been explored between Hunter and Dagger and the dragons in the next book, but at this point I don’t even want to read it knowing they are not the focus. I really don’t understand why Authors write a series only to switch out the main characters from book to book. It’s incredibly frustrating.

[nina]

2.5 stars

I didn’t enjoy this a lot….
I also skipped a good portion of the middle of the book because I was bored.

I don’t really care if it was trying to be realistic, but Hunter’s nerves and difficultly getting through the training was not interesting whatsoever to me.
For that reason I didn’t really like the heroine.
Also it was weird how passionate she was about that bagel with cheese. Like damn.

I can also say I was not a fan whatsoever of the hero. He was an asshole and rude to the heroine (mildly), but still, that’s so not my type of hero. I’m tired of that trope. At least hunter held her own though, that was good.
But yeah, this H was boring af. I don’t even remember his name. And I feel like he was emotionally underdeveloped.

The pacing of this book was weird too. They spend 90% of the book training miserably, some hookups and then BAM last chapter the “big reveal”. Like we didn’t know the mfs were dragons from the start? Bffr. Don’t treat readers like we’re stupid.
AND THEN the bonding happens in a short paragraph, we get an ily from the H, and the book is done??? No explaining, barely any conclusion. Man am I glad I skimmed. It felt like a waste of time.

And then I check the other books and find out that book 2 is not even about Hunter?? Like she didn’t even get a real conclusion! How is book 2 just moving on??

Anyways for that reason, and because I don’t like what I’ve read in the reviews, I won’t be continuing with this series.

Disappointed and it wasn’t what I was expecting, I can also admit it just wasn’t for me, which is why the rating I gave is not so low, to be fair.

Also please someone explain to me why he was calling out “fuckcake” as they were doing it??? Tfff is that 😭

[mm_smut_reader]

DNF 60%

I can't wrap my head around the fact so many people gave this book 4 or 5 stars.
I've read less cringy staff on Wattpad when I was 14, ffs.
The main characters are full adults that act like teenagers and only think with their genitalia. More than half of the book is them saying or thinking how horny they are. What about feelings?
I didn't feel the connection between the MCs and I had to DNF at the beginning of their first spice scene.
I felt so uneasy because it just didn't feel right.
The idea was overall good but a lot of things didn't make sense. You literally kicked her out of her team to not fu*k her, but as soon as she's in another team you do it? Are you a little confused boy? Jesus.

"I don't make love, I fu*k" he said. "I fu*k!" Brother ew, what's that.

[Nat Smithy]

What the h was that. I love this author, but her books can be hit or miss. This was a big fat miss. The story was weird, no real direction. They had to go through tests and trials, for what? A little bit of dragon action in the end. And after the action, there was nothing much that happened after that. And the h was the most annoying woman this author has written. She was so argumentative and bitchy to the H, I just couldn't understand why they even got together. It didn't make sense.

[Jessica]

3.5 stars.
This book honestly wasn't what I was expecting it to be at all. I don't think it's because the synopsis / blurb was misleading as such, but looking back, it certainly didn't give away even a whisper of what to expect on Draig Island.
Nevertheless, it was interesting and no matter the plot, could you go wrong anywhere when writing about dragons?
I am slightly disappointed that the following books are not a continuation of Hunter and Dagger's story, but I will read them regardless.

[lena]

Came here for the dragons and didn’t even see a dragon until 300 pages in😒. It was just survivor and dauntless training put together. But unfortunately I was locked in.

[LT]

don’t recommend

I waited a bit before writing a review to decide if I was being too harsh, but I do not recommend this book. Part of it is the author’s way of trying to create a tense situation for her characters, but the FMC is basically kidnapped and essentially tortured by the governing political body to “save” the rest of her society, and instead of fighting against it she just keeps saying over and over “sometimes you have to make the best of a bad situation,” which means in this context “well there’s nothing I can do to stop them from killing my friends so might as well do what they tell me and sleep with one of the guards.” The guards keep telling the prisoners “life’s not fair” whenever anyone complains, which makes sense to say if a tree falls on your house in a tornado, not if you are the ones designing a political and governing system that kills people if they resist you. The FMC is supposed to come off as reasonable but she just seems like a self involved idiot. Don’t read.

[May]

I was really enjoying the premise of this! It gave me serious 4th wing vibes, training college for dragon riders etc. I laughed, I enjoyed the writing. The main character was sassy, fun and had an awesome arc.
Although my gripe is that it felt like half a story. It was a slow burn romance in the best way. But the issue was the book stopped just as the plot got exciting and the characters really started to develop. And the next book in the series is from a completely different characters POV! So we don't get to see Hunter's growth now she's discovered the truth. It was just so disappointing!

[Anorielt]

3,5 Sterne.
Bei dem Buch bin ich echt zwiegespalten.
Die Beschreibung ist ziemlich wage und man wird praktisch 80% des Buches im Dunkeln gelassen was nun eigentlich genau abgeht. Dazu ist die Prota Hunter teilweise doch sehr anstrengend und Dagger in vielen Situationen nicht der netteste. Ich muss zugeben das ich viele Stellen nur überflogen und flüchtig gelesen habe, zumindest in der Mitte des Buches. Ab 70% wurde es dann endlich interessanter und besser und obwohl ich das Buch nach 100 Seiten beinah abgebrochen hätte, werde ich mir jetzt doch den zweiten Band noch anschauen da dort ja all die Geheimnisse schon gelüftet sind. Das Ende fand ich viel zu abrupt. Wäre kein Problem gewesen wenn es im zweiten Band mit Hunter und Dagger weitergehen würde, tut es aber leider nicht, deswegen fühlt sich das Ende ziemlich abgeschnitten an und als würde da zumindest noch ein Epilog fehlen.

[Tandi]

This book was ok. I liked the general idea, but some parts were slow. As well as, even though each book is very much about a different couple, it felt as though the main couple from this book didn't get to finish their story. There is an overall story that makes sense to be continued in the next book, but I felt as though I still had several questions about the main couple and it felt like I got left on a cliffhanger.

[Renee Bock]

A lot of talking

It’s a fairly good storyline and the plot is kind of there and just keeps thickening. With that said a lot of the book is a lot of talking and explaining about what a room, building or even an area looks like. A lot of the stuff is way overexplain and it got a little bit ridiculous. I got to the point where I seriously read the first 20 chapters and then skipped closer to the end. I hope the rest of this series is written much better. Less descripting and more action.

[Elizabeth]

DNF at 29%.

My eyes could not stop rolling as I listen to the info dump that is the ridiculous premise!

[Cathy]

New series new author good story

[Lin Cunningham]

I read a lot of this authors books but this one is an exceptional take on Dragons.
I was gripped from the start as Hunter was such a compelling woman who was not thrilled at being chosen to go to Draig Island as a Tribute. She had so much she wanted to do with her life that did not include being forcibly sent away as a “lucky” candidate but even better she was not afraid to speak her mind even to the trainers.
Dagger was taken aback at her sass but could see she was a force to be reckoned with.
This was so good & I read it really fast but that ending was far too soon leaving me wanting the next book right now!

[Megmund]

If there was a continuation of this couple it might have been bumped up to 3 stars, but as it finishes at what I would consider to be the halfway point in a romance book this is sitting at a comfortable 2 stars.

My main gripe with this book was the poor world building. We are kept in ‘suspense’ for the secrecy surrounding the Draig and why people are forcefully conscripted each year, but if you’ve read much urban/fantasy romance books before you know exactly what is happening. The secrecy feels very much like a way to keep the reader’s engaged and wanting more, but if anything is severely damages the plot and Hunter’s character. Because of the secrecy we are given vague info-dumps as to what is going on and never SEE the threat these recruits are supposedly fighting. There are no larger stakes outside of the threats from the supposed ‘good guys’ if they don’t submit.

If the world building issue had been solved then Hunter would have made an ‘ok’ protagonist, as opposed to the weak one we got. She is very wishy-washy, flopping between defiance and glee in her situation. A few good orgasms and she’s all up for mandatory conscription!

Hunter and Dagger’s chemistry was the best part of the book and yet is still subpar compared to other books in this genre. Their character interactions and relationship is what I would expect for the first half of a book, not an entire one. I’m just not convinced.

SPOILERS FROM HERE

Just for my last point, because this is really where this drops down to 2 stars for me, is the fact that the Draig council are in fact still portrayed as ‘the good guys’ at the end of the novel

The Draig Council, who strip people of their rights, force them to undergo training that they are in no way prepared for, with the threat of death if they don’t blindly obey. Not to mention that it is common for these people to be permanently maimed or killed in said training. The group that mandates this are the ‘good guys’. I was fully expecting an ‘uno reverse’ situation where we find out that they are being lied to but nope, at the end Hunter is very happy with her successfully passing the training and being forcefully conscripted into this war.

Stay delulu, girlie

[Kim Pow]

Not bad

A bit abrupt but definitely interesting. Although Hunter was excessively chatty and downright annoying she did have endearing qualities. Interesting plot twist.

[Megan Janssen]

So I liked it for the most part, but overall the ending just felt really rushed to me.

I liked the tension between the FMC and the MMC, I really loved how it was forbidden without really being forbidden. Like they could sleep together and the world wasn't going to end, no matter how dramatic Dagger was. But the last 50 pages was like BAM this thing and then BAM this thing and then BAM one final thing that completely changed the entire premise of the situation the characters found themselves in.

I liked the FMC a lot. I liked how she wasn't the standard 'pretty' without being a completely "I'm not like other girls." I like how she had subtle changes while going through things, that was awesome. But overall she got thinner, stronger physically, and then has some magical power that had never been mentioned, is explained in half a paragraph, and then the book ends to go to another characters book? I might read the next one to see how it goes as I did really like the dragons but it just left me sitting there puzzled after the last page.

[Cayt]

people who gave it 5 stars - did we read the same book??

Dialogue is so cringy. It’s millennial-coded to hell. Not in a good way, I mean in the OMG :3 So Random Vine Boom kind of way. Calm down with exclamation points please. Not every thought needs to be a shout.
FMC has 0 backbone. Genuinely no clue how people said she was “strong” like where????
Male love interest is downright boring.
I’ve read wattpad stories written better than this. Like this would get straight up booed off A03

Also, as of February 2025, the current cover is AI generated or had AI overlay help. The tattoos are AI and the hair is as well. i do not for one second believe a person made this cover entirely on their own. And with the dialogue, I’m sure the author got some “help” if you know what I mean. If you can’t be effed to pay for genuine artists to create a cover, well it’s no surprise your book is the worst I’ve read in 2025 thus far.

[Shelley C]

Riding Through Fire🔥🐉

OMG, I loved this first book in the Dragon Tributes series❣️It’s unique and so different from what is out there.

Hunter receives an email stating that she has a month to get her affairs in order as she is going to live on Draig Island. When she finally arrives, nothing is as she expected and she’s suddenly thrust into a world where she has to prove she can survive. Dagger is her mentor but unfortunately, they are attracted to each other which certainly makes life a little more interesting but also complicated😳

I can’t wait for the next book…absolutely loved the ending and want more ASAP😍 I received an advanced copy and voluntarily leave my honest review❤️

[Ali]

Sigh.

I really like this author, but this book was extremely frustrating, and was very difficult to get through because of the annoying aspects of certain characters and also the way it ended was super strange. I’m not gonna continue the series, but I am going to try and read some of the other books by the author.

[Shannon Hiller]

Omg. I’m so frustrated by this book. A huge secret that was pretty freakin obvious. So many unexplained events, and a cliff hanger with NO SECOND BOOK. F- this whole author. What an absolute waste of my time.
The book was decent but written like my 13 year old. The average sentence had about 5 words. So choppy with no flow at all. Just run from this book.

[Knits Reads Games Sings]

Calling this a DNF because I started just skimming around 30%.

This is one of the dumbest books I’ve ever encountered. Just… there is absolutely nothing here to recommend it, and the high rating is frankly embarrassing. The writing is juvenile. The characters are juvenile. And the plot is more full of holes than a sponge.

First: tribute is entirely the wrong word. The so-called “tributes” are not, in fact, anything of the sort. Conscript, recruit (which is used once on the island), draftee, or even candidate would all be better descriptors. Of course, then the characters couldn’t spend the first chapter worried about what the “tribute” label meant, but it’s not like the worrying achieved anything.

Second: the secrecy is pointless, poorly thought out, and counterproductive. The entire world thinks that people have to be given to the dragons every year for an unknown purpose, or else. What possible harm could be done by telling at least the candidates why?! More importantly, how is telling them the truth more harmful than letting them imagine being eaten? And how idiotic is it to tell the people you’ve dragged away from their homes and lives that they haven’t earned the right to see the proof of your fantastic claims? Again, they already know that there are supposed to be dragons. That’s not a secret. Letting them see one so they can take the reveal seriously should be a no brainer. But nope, the author needs an excuse to drag this shit show out, so the “tributes” will wait until the last chapters. A choice that directly kills one of their oh-so-precious and desperately needed candidates.

Which leads to a third point: with how desperately needed these “tributes” are, the people on the island are awfully blasé and callous about death. If they really need them, why are they forcing them to do these deadly, pointless challenges? Especially when having a tenth of them die each year is normal? That is an entirely preventable attrition rate.

And the challenges are pointless. They don’t do a damn thing to prepare the candidates to succeed. Even if the theory is that overcoming them builds confidence and mental fortitude, people don’t need to be in danger of dying to do either. Also, absolutely nothing is done to curtail or correct the bullies in the group, when the underlying arrogance, insecurity, and utter lack of empathy are clearly barriers to success in the overall endeavor. Letting people be horrible gives the FMC more trials to overcome, but it makes no practical sense to the plot.

Honestly, the author just seems to like writing people being asinine and/or hateful. Including the male lead.

Loved the bit where vacations were hand waved away with families signing NDA. The secret is so secret that they won’t even tell the candidates until the last possible moment, but over the last 60 years some 1500 former tributes have been regularly going home and nobody noticed? Even though one unplanned encounter with an old friend could ruin the whole “never returned” story? Again, though, why is that level of secrecy necessary or desired? What does it hurt if people stop being afraid it’s a one way trip?

Then there are the dragons. I don’t find anything new or novel in having the dragons be beastly; that was the original point of werewolves: the transformation was uncontrollable, as was the shifted wolf. But pairing a more animalistic dragon side with the ability to shift on command is problematic. Which is really the whole reason for the tribute system; the dragons need humans to help them manage their beasts. Unfortunately, I think the author has made the divide between the two halves too huge to be practicable. We’re told that the divide is so large that the dragon half may kill a person the human half considers a friend. Which is wonderfully dramatic, but… why, then, would either half want to shift? The human would fear what the dragon might do, and the dragon would resent being controlled. The two would always be in conflict. The whole society would be untenable.

Also, the red dragons cannot be both mindless beasts and parties to territory agreements. That would be like saying the coyotes have agreed to stay out of your yard. Pick one. Similarly, Fang cannot let his recruits snicker at the FMC doing pushups, and then later claim that recruits must respect each other. Pick one.

[Renee]

eh

The packet of information tells them as much as can be told, but they don’t tell them that they need to dress for warm or hot weather?
If there are 30 tributes, why would anyone be getting room of their own, there should be two to every room, it should not matter what team they’re on, they should be assigned randomly pairing up. How are they to convince people to remain when they don’t foster it? The first team member to finish the challenge that was before them got to have a room of their own, but then it’s indicated later that if someone else is the first to finish a challenge, they would get their own, so they’re making the one who had their own room move to be in a room with someone, it’s taken away from them. Mmkay.
Hunter says she’s 5 1/2 feet tall in chapter 1 of the book, which is not all that short for a woman. 12 chapters , she said she’s 5 foot both nothing. Which is it? Again, she said she was 5 1/2 feet tall, which is not short for a woman. Also, she has to climb five fights of stairs to get to her apartment every day, likely more than once in a day on several days, doing so for the several years of living there, there is no way that she is utterly unfit. That’s just ridiculous.
It is written Dagger tells the tributes “There are seven elements. Only seven,” to the obstacle course they have to complete, yet all written out there’s 10 obstacles. Hunter is going over the course, she says there are 4 walls at the start of the course, 1 narrow balance beam, 1 rope bridge, 1 set of monkey bars, 1 log gauntlet, 1 mud pit, 1 final wall of cargo net. The 4 walls are to be seen as one element. Why is the beam and rope bridge not one element then? They’re supposed to complete it within five minutes.
Halbert is overdone. They are 20 to 25 year olds. And it’s already been shown to him that his behavior is unacceptable by the superiors, including his own, so why would he continue? Be allowed to continue? Zero sense. What is this, middle/junior high school? How are they to convince people to remain if they don’t even create environment for that amongst the people? How do they convince that people need to remain to be against the red dragons when they are allowing people to behave like the red dragons? And there absolutely no sense in Halbert continuing to harass her, and certainly not have the behavior of interfering with her going to a dragon, physically picking her up? Interfering at all. I just got more and more ridiculous. It was absolutely stupid and brought this story further down. Convenient writing for having him burned to death. Much better would have been not one dragon bonding with him and leaving him out, even indicator him not being under desirable and inferior, being deliberately rejected by every dragon and everybody knowing that. All this harassment by him and he does not get to live with the fact that she was very much chosen over him? Straight rubbish.
This story didn’t quite make it that’s for me, not much for characters or world building. Not interested in continuing the series.