Dragonfruit
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4.5 • 11 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
An Asian/Pacific American Award Honor BookA USA TODAY bestsellerOne of NPR's 2024 "Books We Love"A Kirkus Best Book of 2024A School Library Journal Best Book of 2024A New York Public Library Best Book of 2024
From acclaimed author Makiia Lucier, a dazzling, romantic fantasy inspired by Pacific Island mythology.
In the old tales, it is written that the egg of a seadragon, dragonfruit, holds within it the power to undo a person’s greatest sorrow. But as with all things that offer hope when hope had gone, the tale came with a warning.
Every wish demands a price.
Hanalei of Tamarind is the cherished daughter of an old island family. But when her father steals a seadragon egg meant for an ailing princess, she is forced into a life of exile. In the years that follow, Hanalei finds solace in studying the majestic seadragons that roam the Nominomi Sea. Until, one day, an encounter with a female dragon offers her what she desires most. A chance to return home, and to right a terrible wrong.
Samahtitamahenele, Sam, is the last remaining prince of Tamarind. But he can never inherit the throne, for Tamarind is a matriarchal society. With his mother ill and his grandmother nearing the end of her reign. Sam is left with two choices: to marry, or to find a cure for the sickness that has plagued his mother for ten long years. When a childhood companion returns from exile, she brings with her something he has not felt in a very long time—hope.
But Hanalei and Sam are not the only ones searching for the dragonfruit. And as they battle enemies both near and far, there is another danger they cannot escape…that of the dragonfruit itself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this kindhearted romantic fantasy from Lucier (Year of the Reaper), legend has it that seadragon eggs, or "dragonfruit," contain the power to undo a person's "greatest sorrow"—for a price. Hanalei knows the tales are true; as an eight-year-old royal page on Tamarind, she and Princess Oliana both imbibed poison that induced an unwakeable sleep. The queen managed to procure a dragonfruit meant to rouse Oliana, but Hanalei's father stole it and absconded to Rakakala, where he instead healed Hanalei. Days later, he died, leaving Hanalei alone. Hanalei finally returns to Tamarind at 18 after escaping dragoners intent on exploiting her seadragon researcher expertise to hunt a pregnant female. Her former best friend and Oliana's son, 19-year-old Prince Samahtitamahenele, welcomes Hanalei warmly despite his mother's continued slumber, and presents her with a worrying scenario: Samahti requests that Hanalei help him obtain a dragonfruit for Oliana, but doing so could cause him to share her father's fate. Lucier dallies in establishing the story's stakes, stunting early tension and drive, but richly textured worldbuilding dazzles from start to finish, taking inspiration from Pacific Island mythology and riffing on well-loved elements from the YA fantasy canon. Most characters have brown skin. Ages 13–up.
Customer Reviews
What an adventure
We read this book for our book club and it did not disappoint! There’s action, character growth and love that flows all around.