Given

Starred Booklist Review- February 15, 2020 Yenni Aja-Nifemi ka Yirba is the princess of the Yirba tribe and loves studying runes, magical markings for combat and protection. But in a time of mounting political tension, her love of runelore is seen as frivolous, particularly when her family is counting on her entering a politically beneficial marriage to stave off tribal conflict. Doing her part to help, Yenni heads for the colonizers' nation of Cresh to study at Prevan Academy for Battle and Magical Arts with the hopes of learning enough to keep the throne from being usurped. Surprisingly, the journey becomes one that requires Yenni to learn not only of foreign magic and medicine but also of love as well. In her fresh take on princess and dragon tropes, Taylor eloquently marries Caribbean folklore, magical boarding-school tales, and whimsical interspecies romance. While Yenni's betrothal to a dragon is surprising at first, there is much delight in her initial resistance to and eventual falling for her Given. Fans of dynamic heroines and those who love romance will delight in how this relationship fortifies both parties, with the unlikely pairing also emphasizing cultural inequities and the devaluation of knowledge originating in African heritages. Alternating narration between Yenni and her Given both rounds out the world building in this story while ever so gently knitting the story of two formerly disparate lives together. -- Melanie Kirkwood