‘City of Thieves’ by Alex London: Blog Tour Review About An Alternate World of Dragon Battles & Rival Gangs! (+US Giveaway)

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the CITY OF THIEVES (Battle Dragons #1) by Alex London Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

• Title: City of Thieves
• Author: Alex London
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Pub. date: 21 September 2021
• Series: Battle Dragons #1
• Page count: 272
• Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
• Source: Rockstar Book Tours
• Genres: middle-grade, fantasy, action & adventure

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In a modern mega-city built around dragons, one boy gets caught up in the world of underground dragon battles and a high-stakes gang war that could tear his family apart.

Once, dragons nearly drove themselves to extinction. But in the city of Drakopolis, humans domesticated them centuries ago. Now dragons haul the city’s cargo, taxi its bustling people between skyscrapers, and advertise its wares in bright, neon displays. Most famously of all, the dragons battle. Different breeds take to the skies in nighttime bouts between the infamous kins―criminal gangs who rule through violence and intimidation.

Abel has always loved dragons, but after a disastrous showing in his dragon rider’s exam, he’s destined never to fly one himself. All that changes the night his sister appears at his window, entrusting him with a secret…and a stolen dragon.

Turns out, his big sister is a dragon thief! Too bad his older brother is a rising star in Drakopolis law enforcement…

To protect his friends and his family, Abel must partner with the stolen beast, riding in kin battles and keeping more secrets than a dragon has scales.

When everyone wants him fighting on their side, can Abel figure out what’s worth fighting for?

Content warning: bullying, parent with a chronic illness, injuries to animals (dragons), violent dragon battles, gang violence

Since as far back as I can remember, I would pick up any book with dragons in the story. I read The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, then Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman to name a few. How To Train Your Dragon movies are one of my favourite movie series and make me cry every time I watch it, so yeah, I am head-over-heels in love with dragons! So, pitch a story about futuristic dragon battles with a cover as beautiful as that of City of Thieves and I. Am. Hooked!

Abel lives in the city of Drakopolis where humans have domesticated dragons and gangs or “kin” rule the streets. Dragons pretty much do everything from being school buses, taxis, police cars to incinerating the city’s garbage in this sprawling city of super-huge skyscrapers. Abel and his family – minus his big brother who is a cadet at the Dragon’s Eye, the city’s police force of sorts – live pretty quiet lives with Abel mostly worrying about school and losing his DrakoTek card games to his best friend, Roa.

One night, his sister Lina, who is supposed to be working at a coffee shop, turns up outside his bedroom window and leaves him with a special edition comic for him to keep safe before disappearing into the night. That night, Abel and his parents get threatened by the Red Talon kin because his sister stole from them!

Now with a deadline looming over their heads, Abel enlists Roa’s help to track an address that he finds penned on the comic his sister left him, and together they stumble upon the full-grown dragon that his sister stole and stashed. Now Abel has to juggle a dragon thief sister on the loose, a law enforcement brother on the hunt, and a stolen dragon who loves their food charred!

Abel was such a fun protagonist, in my opinion. He is as confused as the reader, so the drama of the kinners and the law enforcement officers are just as entertaining for him as they are for the reader. The best thing about Abel was that he was an average kid who loved his family and wanted to keep his siblings from drifting apart. I think there is something there for anyone to relate to.

Abel’s best friend Roa was a great addition to the cast. She identifies as non-binary and is the smart kid in class with a penchant for healing dragons. The rest of the cast was just as exciting and fun to get to know. Everyone was interesting and had secrets and distinct personalities.

I really liked the author’s fun and energetic writing! First, it kept the story going strong throughout, and it also weaved in some humour at unexpected points of the story. I couldn’t help snorting with laughter at some of the mishaps and arguments that happened here! The dialogue was on point as well! And the way this author wrote multiple characters interacting together was just art! It was spellbinding to read!

I also liked that the author packs quite a punch with chapters that are on the short side because that really kept up the energetic vibes of Abel’s mission once again. The wording was appropriate and not too difficult to understand at all, too.

This plot was surprisingly twisty for a middle-grade story and I liked that. I went in expecting the general gist of the story but the turns this plot took as the story progressed was just great! It was fun to see a middle-grade story with a twisty plot rather than the obvious direct plotlines I usually see.

Since I am trying to not spoil the plot twists in this book, I won’t really talk too much about the storyline but yes, you do get the dragon battles popping in around halfway and oh boy, they are exhilarating to read about!

Drakopolis is hands-down so cool! Imagine being flown to school by a dragon school bus! Or a dragon taxi! Or leaving the rubbish on the rooftops for the dragons to incinerate! As I said, dragons are a huge favourite of mine, so Drakopolis and its history were so cool to me! I cannot imagine a kid reading this and not getting instantly enamoured by everything dragons!

On a deeper note, I really think the world-building was superb here! The futuristic cityscape of Drakopolis with dragons living among the humans was an ambitious world for a middle-grade story, but it is so well-done here! The added layer of the kinners ruling different areas of the city just gave it the realistic touch I didn’t know it needed. This is a universe that I would genuinely love to visit!

The author also really excelled at writing dragons and dragon battles. I loved that I could visualise what was happening and every dragon had their own breed and personality. The author could write a guidebook on the dragons of his universe and I would buy it!

My favourite theme in City of Thieves was family. I liked how the author portrayed family as loving but messy and always there for you, in Abel’s case anyway. Abel being the youngest and feeling left out of everything was such a mood and I genuinely think he brought a lot more to the plate than his family anticipated. But yeah, I loved the ‘families are messy but still there for you’ message here.

I felt that the theme of friendship didn’t get developed till later on in the story, so I’m anticipating more on that in the sequels!

City of Thieves delivered dragon battles, gang rivalries, and messy families with a superb new universe that any child would love to live in! With lively writing, great characters and some hilarious episodes, City of Thieves has got me pumped for more adventures with Abel and his friends!

3 winners will win a finished copy of CITY OF THIEVES (Battle Dragons #1), US Only.

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ALEX LONDON is the author of over 25 books for children, teens, and adults with over 2 million copies sold. He’s the author of the middle grade Dog Tags, Tides of War, Wild Ones, and Accidental Adventures series, as well as two titles in The 39 Clues. For young adults, he’s the author of the acclaimed cyberpunk duology Proxy, and the epic fantasy trilogy, The Skybound Saga. A former journalist covering refugee camps and conflict zones, he can now be found somewhere in Philadelphia, where he lives with his husband and daughter or online at www.calexanderlondon.com.

Have you read City of Thieves or will you be picking it up? Check out the other stops below.

Week One

September 13 – Nonbinary Knight Reads

September 13 – YA Books Central

September 14 – celiamcmahonreads

September 14 – Don’t Judge, Read

September 15 – Nerdophiles

September 15 – The Bookwyrm’s Den

September 16 – Book-Keeping

September 16 – Rajiv’s Reviews

September 17 – Locks, Hooks and Books

September 17 – booksaremagictoo

Week Two

September 20 – The Momma Spot

September 20 – Lifestyle of Me

September 21 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews

September 21 – Two Points of Interest

September 22 – Fyrekatz Blog

September 22 – Bibliosini

September 23 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog

September 23 – @jypsylynn

September 24 – A Dream Within A Dream

September 24 – BookHounds YA