After dragons kidnap her mother, Princess Toli, together with her sister and best friend, makes a treacherous journey to Dragon Mountain, but Toli discovers that a mysterious secret from her past represents the greatest danger. - (Baker & Taylor)

"Princess Toli may be heir to the throne, but she longs to be a fierce hunter and warrior. Alone in a frozen world, her queendom is at the mercy of the dragons that killed her father, and Toli is certain it's only a matter of time before they come back to destroy what's left of her family. When the dragons rise and seize her mother, Toli will do anything to save her-- even trust a young dragon who may be the only key to the Queen's release. With her sister and best friend at her side, Toli makes the treacherous journey across the vast ice barrens to Dragon Mountain, where long-held secrets await. Bear-cats are on their trail, and dragons stalk them, but the greatest danger might be a mystery buried in Toli's past"--Jacket flap. - (Baker & Taylor)

The princess of a frozen queendom fights to free her mother from the clutches of terrifying dragons in Rise of the Dragon Moon, a middle grade fantasy debut from Gabrielle K. Byrne.

Princess Toli may be heir to the throne, but she longs to be a fierce hunter and warrior. Alone in a frozen world, her queendom is at the mercy of the dragons that killed her father, and Toli is certain it’s only a matter of time before they come back to destroy what’s left of her family.

When the dragons rise and seize her mother, Toli will do anything to save her—even trust a young dragon who may be the only key to the Queen's release.

With her sister and best friend at her side, Toli makes the treacherous journey across the vast ice barrens to Dragon Mountain, where long-held secrets await. Bear-cats are on their trail, and dragons stalk them, but the greatest danger might be a mystery buried in Toli’s past.

An Imprint Book

"Enthralling, masterful storytelling—a perfect blend of adventure and coming-of-age, and deliciously scary in parts. My head is still filled with glorious dragons."—Karen Foxlee, author of Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

"The dragons...seethe and swirl off the pages. Fans of Erin Hunter’s “Warriors” series will enjoy." —School Library Journal

A Junior Library Guild Selection

Gabrielle K. Byrne lives in the rainy wilds of the Pacific Northwest, where she writes fantasy for kids of all ages. Gabby studied opera in Philadelphia, medieval studies in New York, literature in Scotland, and marine biology in the Pacific Northwest, but writing stories is the common thread that ties all her interests together. When she’s not writing, she can be found fishing spineless beasties out of the Salish Sea with her husband and two daughters. Gabby is a mentor for the Pitch Wars writing contest, and a contributor at The Winged Pen blog.
Rise of the Dragon Moon is her first book.

Kirkus Reviews

A girl sets out across the ice fields to rescue her mother from dragons. Princess Anatolia's only 12, so she figures there's a long time left before she'll rule the Queendom of Gall—but then dragons take her mother, Queen Una. Toli's still traumatized from her father's death by dragon a year ago, which she secretly, agonizingly, deems her own fault. But her mother may yet be alive, and Toli can't see anything beyond rescuing her. In this two-mooned world of "ice upon ice, wind following wind," dangers include giant predatory beetles that live under the ice. The dragons are brightly colored and verbal but harsh and enigmatic. Even if Toli—unwillingly accompanied by her little sister and her friend, who stow away in her sled to accompany her, and a baby dragon thrust into her care by cold coincidence—can reach the queen, the dragons may kill them all anyway. Byrne's sober prose constructs a stern, urgent setting—Gall appears to have the world's only human population, and it's so isolated by temperature that it almost feels cl austrophobic—eased with rare bits of warmth and humor. Some key elements of the physical geography are unclear, however. Gall is an explicitly multiracial culture; Toli and her family are white, her best friend's brown. Disfigurement and chronic pain are, unfortunately, associated with moral ruin. Grave and solemn fantasy for readers attracted by the severe. (Fantasy. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 4–8—Princess Toli is heir to a frozen Queendom at the mercy of voracious dragons who must be paid a tithe each year in order to avoid bloodshed. Yet blood was shed when Toli was younger—her father was killed by dragons in front of her, and Toli's hatred of them burns as bright as the fire in the dragons' mouths. Inexplicably, the Dragon Queen herself snatches Toli's mother and whisks her away into the Dragon Mountain, throwing the Queendom into panic. Do the dragons want war? Peace? Or something else? It's up to Toli, along with a baby dragon she found hidden in a cave and two of her closest friends, to embark on a dangerous journey into the depths of the Dragon Mountain to uncover truths hitherto unknown. VERDICT A heavily articulated fantasy middle grade offering that may very well have readers rooting for the dragons, who seem to seethe and swirl off the pages. Fans of Erin Hunter's "Warriors" series will enjoy the world-building of this quest-driven tale.—Amanda C. Buschmann, Carroll Elementary School, Houston