Runesworn: Stone One

by Taylor Night

From fantasy author Taylor Night comes the debut novel in a breathtaking new romantasy series, RUNESWORN, ideal for fans of Rebecca Yarros, Sarah J. Maas, and Cassandra Clare.

When 20-year-old street thief Lyra Ashborne breaks into a legendary library to afford medicine for her dying guardian, she accidentally awakens an ancient dragon and discovers she can read the forbidden Draconic language that has eluded scholars for centuries. Sentenced to death for her crime but rescued during a barbarian invasion, Lyra finds herself hunted across war-torn realms while learning to harness magical powers that could either save her world—or destroy it.

Torn between the idealistic Prince Cassian who risks everything to save her and the cynical rogue Riven who understands the brutal realities of their world, Lyra must master her abilities and begin a perilous quest to collect ancient tablet fragments—unaware that her newfound powers threaten the very foundation of a society built on stolen magic.

The RUNESWORN series transports readers into an electrifying fantasy realm where magic comes at a deadly price and ancient secrets threaten to reshape civilization itself. Following a street thief turned unlikely hero as she navigates forbidden romance, deadly political intrigue, and world-altering discoveries, this epic saga delivers unexpected twists and heart-pounding suspense that will captivate both young adult audiences and devoted fantasy enthusiasts seeking their next unforgettable adventure.

Future books in the series will soon be available!

Genres: Fantasy, Amazon

194 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2025

Reviews

[Monty]

⭐️⭐️½

Unfortunately, Stone One by Taylor Night wasn’t quite what I expected. While it’s marketed as adult fantasy, it read much more like a YA novel, which made it a miss for me personally.

I struggled to connect with the characters and never really felt invested in their journeys. The story itself felt like a fairly generic dragon fantasy and didn’t offer much depth or originality to pull me in. I found myself listening more out of habit than excitement.

That said, I listened to this on Hoopla and it was perfectly fine as a background audiobook while cleaning. I can also see this being a solid read for a younger audience or for readers newer to fantasy who enjoy dragons and straightforward world-building.

Not a standout for me, but it may land better with the right reader.

[Crystal0503]

Problems I had with the book is it continually rotates through different narrative and unfortunately this isn't a time where this was done well. Some text throughout the book is quite redundant yes we understand her motives are to save her mother do we need to hear it that many times? And some of the narrators just seemed pointless unless later they will have more to offer. About the book itself Lyra is off to try and save her mother (for all intents and purposes) while gathering information in the pub she finds out their was a load of treasure supposed to be taken into the inner ring library, problem is it isn't only guarded by actual guards but runesworn, so she knows her chances are limited but she refuses not to try. After finally scaling 4 floors and getting in a windows now she just has to find out if she can find something worth selling that she can get out without notice. Problem is as Lyra is going along the library it almost feels as if the library is leading her and then she discovers she can read draconic text that only runesworn are supposed to be able to read. As she continues her journey she is lead to 2 tablets and a dragon statue the only problem is when she reads the tablet the dragon comes alive, and slaughters 6 guards before leaving her behind... tell me how do you explain that? Lyra decides to try honesty in her court hearing so when Prince Garreth asks her why she is honest about her mother being ill then he asks her why the location she is honest again now the next question is where everything goes bad because when he asks what happened next noone believes the girl from the outer ring read runes, freed a dragon but they do believe she some how managed to kill all those men, so she becomes a laughing stock and sentenced to death. Drakkmor (the dragon) figures he owes her for releasing him from captivity so he saves her from being killed, but will this bring more problems or less? Sadly we end the book with one Prince hellbent on bring her back for punishment and embarrassing him in front of the royals and another Prince determined to find her and save her because he feels she could help change the course ahead, all while their father the King heads of to fight a barbarian war.

[Avid]

This needed to have someone give honest feedback before being sent in for publication. It could be a good book. However, the young heroine comes across for the most part as a broken record repeating the same phrases over and over until I dreaded reading anymore. At the start her quest to save her guardian was noble. A quarter into the book, I got it already, and frankly, 1/2 way through the book, I simply wished she'd either shut up or it would be too late and they could talk about something else.

An unlikely match occurs in the book as well. Not only with her rescuers, but also with what she's willing to do.

It's a story the is far-reaching.

[Jinty McTavish]

I listened to the audio book of this one and felt like the narration wasn’t done super well. It was really hard to distinguish who was narrating. And as others have noted, there are too many narrators. I don’t think it’s necessary.

I also felt like not much happened in the book? But I’m interested to read more…

[John Kowalski]

A cool premise!

I liked the premise, the magic system and the dragon. Lyra was a relatable character. The relationship of Cassian and Gareth is sure to continue in unexpected ways. Definitely enough to lure me back for the next installment!

[Gerry O'Brien]

A bit tedious but interesting

This book was a bit of a slog to get through, but overall it is a fantastical journey.
A complaint I have is the author just ended the story at a capricious spot, not like he was actually sending a book, more like a chapter.

[Steve Lill]

This is about the best book 1 I have read

This story blends great characters with strong action and a good shot of magic into a fantastic opening for an epic series. On to book 2!

[pauleyjoe]

I guess I wasn’t expecting a YA Romantasy. The youth and trusting and extreme morals despite being rebels and thieves just didn’t work for me. I won’t be reading more of this.

[Rona Cameron]

4.5⭐️ really enjoyable read. I like the multi POV's and the page count being a mere 200ish pages is great.

[Lawrence Wachter]

Romantacy Not for Me

Taylor did do a good job with the storyline and character development. As a man I don’t care for the way the story is told.