Iskari

Iskari by Kristen Ciccarelli follows Asha, the Iskari - a girl prophesied to bring dragons' ruin. This YA fantasy trilogy blends dragon lore, forbidden romance, political intrigue, and a protagonist challenging destiny in a world where dragons once ruled.

Iskari is Kristen Ciccarelli's YA fantasy trilogy set in a world where dragons once enslaved humanity until the first Iskari rose up and broke their power. Now, generations later, dragons are nearly extinct, hunted and feared. The series follows Asha, marked at birth as the latest Iskari - destined to be the dragons' ultimate destroyer - as she discovers that prophecy, history, and her supposed destiny are far more complicated than she's been taught. Blending lush world-building, forbidden romance, political intrigue, and examination of how stories shape societies, the Iskari series offers fantasy that questions narratives of heroes and monsters.

Books in the Iskari series

The Last Namsara (2017) introduces Asha, daughter of the king and the Iskari of legend. She's a fierce dragon hunter, killing the creatures she's prophesied to destroy whilst earning scars and her people's fear. Asha believes the old stories are dangerous, spreading lies about dragons' nobility before they enslaved humanity. But when she's forced into engagement with a cruel commandant and makes a desperate deal with the kingdom's most dangerous dragon, she begins uncovering truths that challenge everything she knows. The forbidden stories she's always rejected reveal that dragons weren't always monsters, and the history she's fought for may be built on lies.

The novel establishes Ciccarelli's lush, atmospheric prose and her interest in how stories shape societies - which narratives are preserved, which are forbidden, and who benefits from controlling history. Asha's journey from weapon of her father's regime to questioning the foundations of her world drives both personal growth and political upheaval.

The Caged Queen (2018) shifts perspective to Roa, a princess brought to Asha's kingdom for political marriage. Roa seems gentle and compliant, but she harbours secrets and her own mission: finding her missing brother, rumored to be caught up in the slave trade that persists despite official abolition. The sequel expands world-building beyond the first book's desert kingdom, exploring how different regions relate to dragons and how systematic oppression continues even after official reforms. Roa's story reveals that freeing dragons wasn't enough to free all of humanity - the systems that enabled slavery persist, adapted to new circumstances.

The Sky Weaver (2019) concludes the trilogy, weaving together threads from previous books whilst following a new protagonist whose story connects to both Asha's and Roa's journeys. The finale addresses the trilogy's central questions about destiny, the stories societies tell themselves, and whether breaking cycles of violence and oppression is possible. Ciccarelli brings together her themes about narrative, freedom, and what it means to be monstrous or heroic.

The series is characterized by dragon lore and mythology, forbidden stories as central plot device, multiple protagonists across books (different POV each book), lush, atmospheric prose, forbidden romance, political intrigue and court dynamics, desert and Middle Eastern-inspired settings, and exploration of how history is written and controlled.

Common themes include challenging prophecy and destiny, stories as power and control, which histories are preserved versus erased, slavery and systematic oppression, breaking cycles of violence, dragons as neither purely good nor evil, forbidden love across divides, and whether monsters are made or born.

Ciccarelli's prose is notably lyrical and atmospheric, creating vivid sensory experiences - the desert heat, dragon fire, palace intrigue. Her world-building draws on Middle Eastern aesthetics and culture, creating fantasy that feels distinct from typical European-inspired settings. The dragons are rendered with majesty and terror, neither simple beasts nor purely sympathetic creatures.

What distinguishes Iskari is its meta-textual examination of storytelling itself. The forbidden stories Asha discovers aren't just plot devices - they represent how societies control narratives to maintain power structures. Who gets to tell history? Which stories are deemed dangerous? The trilogy explores how changing narratives can change societies, for better or worse.

The shifting protagonists across books allow Ciccarelli to explore her world from different perspectives - warrior princess, political bride, and others - showing how the same events and systems affect different people differently.

The series appeals to readers seeking dragon fantasy with substance, lyrical prose, non-European settings, examination of storytelling and history, and protagonists who challenge rather than fulfill their destinies.