These unicorns are dragons. Fly, associated with elemental magic, dangerous… dragons. There must be something else already using dragons like this because the book is so derivative in every other aspect. The book doesn’t meet a cliche it doesn’t want to blindly embrace.

It’s aimed at kids, and I am not a kid - a bit of a fantasy nerd even - so maybe those things won’t stand out to the target audience…

But the world-building, the society, just yikes. So much fate and destiny and then just casting out for no good reasons… you’re either a failure or a star sports-player…

It’s not a horrible book, it’s just a bad book…

And I have to tell a ten year old I don’t much like one of his favourite books…