In a land where human riders can communicate telepathically with their pegasus steeds, one man has made a special study of how the ancient peoples fought off a scourge of monsters called chimerae. When the chimerae return, he entrusts a book full of his research to his niece, Kie. She and her stysteed, N'Rah, must take the book to the capital city and somehow convince the emperor to use these ancient battle techniques. Kie has been practicing using special weapons that her uncle taught her about, and she is hoping to demonstrate how effective they are against the monsters.

The best part of this book is the strong bond between the humans and their skysteeds. These are complex relationships with hundreds of years of tradition and outdated laws governing how they communicate and work together; but at the end of the day, the relationship between rider and skysteed is very personal and intimate as they hear each other's thoughts. It was so interesting to explore the different aspects of these relationships, since every human and every skysteed is so different. They don't always communicate easily or understand each other, so there was a lot of room for the story to expand around these delicate and multi-layered connections between them.

I loved Kie's character! She is really smart, but doubts her intelligence because she has trouble reading due to dyslexia. She has some great character development as she gains confidence in herself and her own abilities. Every person she meets is impressed with her courage and practical good sense, and when they express their appreciation and show that they trust her, Kie finally begins to recognize these strengths in herself.

The plot is really well-constructed as different threads from different characters begin to come together and overlap. I really loved that the focus is on Kie, but we also see a lot of supporting characters with excellent arcs that dovetail beautifully with Kie's adventures.

There are lots of battles, and legends, and magical mysteries, and training, and more battles. Kie has to navigate the difficulties of politics and she confronts some high-born people. She makes some enemies, and makes some friends.

Overall, I enjoyed this book so much! The friendships, the magic, the legendary monsters, and all the beautiful world-building swept me away into a fantasy land that I can't wait to dive into again in the second book.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.