Alta
core novel 2004 Dragon Jousters
Record
| First published | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.07 (8,707 ratings, collected 2026-09-12) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780756402167 |
| Internal chronology | 2 |
Synopsis
Alta, the second novel in Mercedes Lackey's Dragon Jousters series, picks up as Kiron, formerly the enslaved dragon boy Vetch, returns to his homeland of Alta after escaping across the desert with his young dragon Avatre, whom he raised himself from an illegally taken egg. His return brings proof that dragons can be hatched and trained by hand rather than only captured wild, a discovery that challenges Alta's traditional Jousters and its ruling Magi, who have long relied on scarce, difficult-to-control wild-caught dragons. Tasked with proving his methods, Kiron works to hatch, train, and lead an entire wing of tamed dragons and their young riders before Alta's war effort collapses, even as an early injury sustained soon after his arrival in Alta City threatens to derail his plans almost as soon as he begins.
Where it sits
- Universe: Dragon Jousters
- Series: Dragon Jousters core; position 2 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Mercedes Lackey
Notes
- From the series record (Dragon Jousters): A separate short story, "Joust", appeared in the shared-world anthology The Dragon Quintet (2004) alongside the novels; kept out of Core as an anthology piece rather than a series novel.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Dragon Jousters: position 2 of 4: previous Joust (2003) · next Sanctuary (2005)
Sources
- Wikipedia — The Dragon Jousters series
- Penguin Random House — Alta (Dragon Jousters #2)
- https://readingovertheshoulder.com/2016/02/19/dragon-jousters-series-book-2-alta-by-mercedes-lackey/
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