THE LAST DRAGON OF THE EAST shares the vibrant worldbuilding of R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War and the magical fantasy of Elizabeth Lim’s Six Crimson Cranes.

THE LAST DRAGON OF THE EAST
by Katrina Kwan
Saga (Simon & Schuster), Fall 2024
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Sai, a happy-go-lucky tea shop owner, has a surprising gift: the ability to see red strings of fate, an invisible magic thread that connects two halves of one soul. While he loves helping people find their Fated Ones, he himself has a problem—his own string of fate is grey and fraying before his very eyes.

Sai stumbles upon the opportunity to find out why when he comes into possession of a unique and forbidden medicine for his ailing A-Ma: a dragon’s scale. Long thought extinct, Sai can hardly believe his eyes when he sees the magic at work. Unfortunately, he is not the only one eager for the power of the long lost dragons. Sai is quickly discovered and apprehended by the Emperor’s Imperial Guard, thrown into prison without trial or sentencing. He is given a choice: to seek out the last dragon in exchange for his freedom, or death.

He is quickly swept up in panic and turmoil, finding himself embroiled in the middle of a conflict he wants no part of. He witnesses the horrors of war, famine, and plague. Just when all hope is lost, a mysterious savior emerges from the shadows. A dragon. And that dragon is connected to Sai at the other end of his grey and fraying string.

Unable to comprehend how this dragon could be his Fated One, Sai nevertheless feels bound to this other being. Together, they must evade capture, struggling to comprehend their shared past, and fighting for their lives.

Katrina Kwan is a Vancouver-based actress and author of romance and fantasy. After graduating from Acadia University in 2017 with a BA in Political Science, she decided to pursue her love of storytelling. When she isn’t busy writing, you can sometimes spot her on TV, or desperately trying to keep her houseplants alive.