The Best Dragon Rider Fantasy Books

1.A Day of Fallen Night

Samantha Shannon · The Roots of Chaos · book 2 · ongoing

A prequel to Priory set five centuries earlier, following four women as the wyrms wake. Longer, sadder and better constructed than the book it precedes, and readable first without losing anything.

Best for Readers who want the most ambitious dragon worldbuilding currently in print.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

3/5

Plot

5/5

World

5/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

5/5

Occasional and brief. The relationships matter far more than the scenes do. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content childbirth, plague, war, grief, death of a child

2.The Priory of the Orange Tree

Samantha Shannon · The Roots of Chaos · book 1 · ongoing

Eight hundred pages of dragon politics across two hemispheres that disagree about whether dragons are gods or vermin. A standalone in the sense that it resolves completely, with a slow sapphic romance threaded through the middle of it.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who want dragons with far more worldbuilding and far less spice.

Spice

◆◆◇◇◇Spice 2 out of 5, Warm

Romance

3/5

Plot

5/5

World

5/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

5/5

One or two brief scenes. The romance is understated relative to the book's length. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content violence, plague, death, war

3.Dragonflight

Anne McCaffrey · Dragonriders of Pern · book 1 · ongoing

The book that invented the telepathically bonded dragon rider, and therefore most of this list. A kitchen drudge turns out to be the last of a noble line and impresses the only queen dragon left on a planet that has forgotten what it is defending against.

Best for Readers who want the original dragon-rider bond that every later book is answering.

Spice

◆◇◇◇◇Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed

Romance

3/5

Plot

4/5

World

5/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

4/5

Closed door, and written in 1968 — the one relevant scene has aged badly and readers should know that before starting. · Medium burn · Happy ending

Content dubious consent, period-typical sexism, violence

4.His Majesty's Dragon

Naomi Novik · Temeraire · book 1 of 9 · complete

The Napoleonic Wars, fought with an air force of dragons. A naval captain is bonded to a hatchling against his every intention and discovers that the dragon is better company than the navy was. The friendship is the love story.

Best for Readers who want the best dragon characterisation in the genre and no romance.

Spice

—◇◇◇◇◇Spice 0 out of 5, Closed to the world

Romance

1/5

Plot

4/5

World

5/5

Darkness

2/5

Craft

5/5

No romantic or sexual content. The central relationship is between a man and his dragon. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content war, animal endangerment, violence

5.Fireborne

Rosaria Munda · The Aurelian Cycle · book 1 of 3 · complete

After a revolution overthrows the dragonlords, an orphan and the surviving son of the old regime compete to lead the new order's dragon riders. A political novel about whether a just revolution stays just, with dragons.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who want the war college with real politics behind it.

Spice

◆◇◇◇◇Spice 1 out of 5, A door, closed

Romance

2/5

Plot

5/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

4/5

Kissing at most. The tension between the leads is ideological before it is romantic. · Slow burn · No happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content famine, execution, war, class violence

6.Eragon

Christopher Paolini · The Inheritance Cycle · book 1 of 4 · complete

A farm boy finds a dragon egg and becomes the last of the Riders. Unashamedly traditional epic fantasy, written when the author was fifteen, and still the book most people mean when they say they want dragons.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who want the dragon bond with no romance at all.

Spice

—◇◇◇◇◇Spice 0 out of 5, Closed to the world

Romance

1/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

2/5

Craft

3/5

No romantic content of any kind on the page. This is a quest novel. · Slow burn · Happy ending

Content violence, war, death of a guardian

7.Fourth Wing

Rebecca Yarros · The Empyrean · book 1 of 5 · ongoing

A scribe's daughter with a body that dislocates on principle is forced into a war college where cadets die on the first bridge and the dragons choose who lives. The rival trying to kill her turns out to have been the one keeping her alive.

Best for Readers who want competition and banter carrying as much weight as the romance.

Spice

◆◆◆◇◇Spice 3 out of 5, Hot

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

3/5

Craft

3/5

Three explicit scenes in five hundred pages, detailed but not frequent. The tension is doing most of the work. · Slow burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content graphic violence, death, chronic illness, war

8.Iron Flame

Rebecca Yarros · The Empyrean · book 2 of 5 · ongoing

Second year at Basgiath, with a new commandant who wants her broken and a relationship that has to survive both of them knowing things they cannot say. Slower than the first book for two hundred pages, then considerably less slow.

Best for Fourth Wing readers who wanted the spice turned up and the stakes widened.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

3/5

More frequent and more explicit than Fourth Wing, and better integrated into the plot. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content torture, graphic violence, death, war

9.Onyx Storm

Rebecca Yarros · The Empyrean · book 3 of 5 · ongoing

Third year, and the search for an ally who might turn the war moves the story off the continent entirely. Broader in scope than the first two books and more willing to leave Basgiath behind.

Best for Empyrean readers who are already committed and want to know what happens.

Spice

◆◆◆◆◇Spice 4 out of 5, Explicit

Romance

4/5

Plot

4/5

World

4/5

Darkness

4/5

Craft

3/5

Explicit and regular, in line with Iron Flame rather than the first book. · Medium burn · Happy ending · Ends on a cliffhanger

Content graphic violence, war, death, grief