It's official: this is my favorite book series ever.

I adored the first "Sir Callie" book, but this one was even more emotional (and even more queer, if that's even possible). And that ending! I need the third book now!!!

"Sir Callie and the Dragon's Roost" also reminded me a lot of "Nimona", so if you liked that movie, definitely give "Sir Callie" a try!

Life at Helston has improved since Callie and their friends stood up to the Lord Peran; Prince Willow is set to become king, Callie is an official page, and Elowen and Edwyn are free of their father. Children are now allowed to learn both magic and fighting, regardless of their gender. Still, many remain resistant to this change and when Halston declares war against Dumoor, things quickly begin to slide backwards. Tolerance, Callie learns, is not the same as acceptance, and they must decide if leaving Helston is the right choice for them.

The stakes in this book are higher than ever, but fortunately Callie, Willow, and the twins have each other's backs through thick and thin. Continuing the theme of found family, I loved seeing how these characters support each other and how each has grown since the last book. I am so here for Callie's unshakeable tenacity throughout every challenge thrown at them. They are always ready to speak up and do the right thing.

We are introduced to Teo, a character who uses neopronouns xe/xem/xir. I appreciated the author's note that addressed this and provided education on the topic. There are great discussions of gender and sexual identity, pronouns, and the variety of words that people use to describe themselves.

What I really appreciate about these books is that no issue is black and white. Dumoor may be the enemy, but Halston is still a dangerous place for anyone who is different. Sometimes people who mean well do the wrong things and hurt those whom they love. There are two sides to every story, prejudice can result in the wrong people being declared enemies, and even the heroes of this story must confront their own prejudices at times.

As with the previous book, this story addresses tough issues, so readers with sensitivities should be aware of potential triggers. Callie is confronted with prejudice and misgendering, as well as threats of violence. With Halston at war, there are heartbreaking casualties, imprisonment of children, and violence against children. There is emotional abuse and a brief mention of suicidal ideation. This book is not always easy to read, but the moments of acceptance, friendship, and community bring some light and hope into Callie's story.

The first book was good but this one was even better. I can't wait for the next one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the digital ARC.

I was excited to dive back into Callie’s world, and now I just need to hang tight for the conclusion of the story, because this does end on a bit of a cliffhanger. This book does not shy away from handling difficult subjects including death, betrayal, and portrayal of trans and non-binary identity in a way that kids can understand and possibly see themselves in. The characters deal with painful misgendering, but they are resilient and stay true to themselves both in their personal identity and their values to be good people who care for others.

The plot of this book is a bit twisty as far as the characters continuously discovering new information that changes how they view everything they already knew, so I’d say this is for more advanced middle grade readers. They’re smart and precocious kids, but definitely truly feel like children in a way that I think will make them relatable to both child and adult readers. One of the biggest twists/reveals in the book was something that was definitely foreshadowed, but also felt exciting to discover and have your suspicions as a reader confirmed. I felt that the characters showed growth while not compromising their integrity or characterization, and I think that’s really important for kids to read.

I don’t want to get too much into the plot or the events as this is a sequel and I don’t want to spoil anything, but I loved it and will definitely return to it in the future.

I am utterly distraught.

This series captures the timely essence of queerness with a scary amount of accuracy, and for that I am eternally grateful. It's a book that doesn't hold back it's punches, and while championing growth and progress, it does not stand for any kind of cruelty. It handles the subject of abuse with so much love and understanding, offering solace and an incredibly amount of unconditional love. It's brilliant.

Thank you for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was super cute! I read the first book in this series and this was a great sequel. I really loved the characters and story, it was a perfect read!

Thank you, Esme Symes-Smith and Netgalley, for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for a fair review!

Sir Callie and the Dragon’s Roost picks up a while after where book one left off. Now that magic is okay for boys to practice, and girls can train as warriors, the city of Helston should be exactly how Callie dreamed it to be, right?

Wrong. 

Because change takes time. And not everyone accepts the world as it changes. Especially when they’re already planning to take it down. Callie and their friends go on a wild adventure as they face the adults who control them and the dangers they were told to stay away from.

The characters are what stood out to me in this book. Every character seemed to have their own style, wants, and needs. Their own path. The side characters are flushed out as well as Callie themself. The adult characters also feel realistic as honest characters make honest mistakes.

I also enjoyed the twists and turns of this book. Nothing—including facts that had been set up in book one—are what they seem, and it takes a lot for Callie and their friends to face that hard truth.

My favorite part was how the book talked about lies and the effects that can happen from abusive parents. How it’s so hard to get yourself out of the mindset they carved to control you. That was handled really, really well throughout, especially with Edwyn.

My only critique was the prologue. One of the prologues wasn’t in Callie’s POV, so it had me thinking that this was going to be a dual-POV book. At the beginning, I waited for a switch that never came. But the plot did grab my attention fast, so it didn’t hold me up for long.

Overall, I really enjoyed the second book in this series, and I’m looking forward to the next one. 

Score: 9.7/10

Rep: Nonbinary MC, Achillean dads, gender-questioning prince, Trans dragons with neopronouns, Depression, Anxiety, CPTSD

TW: Child abuse, transphobia, parental rejection, death/grief, violence

Welcome back to Teatime Reading where there are books in progress.

One of the biggest surprises of the last 12 months had to be Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston. I cannot describe how powerful and revolutionary of a story it was. I reviewed it in February of that year and you can find my thoughts on it right here.

I’ve discussed how moved I was by the characters of Sir Callie, Willow, and Elowen in book one. In this early review of its sequel Sir Callie and the Dragon’s Roost, I was even more struck by the harshness of a world that is determined to oppress, hate, and divide.


This is an incredibly dark book and there are trigger warnings right here. There is also a beautiful level of representation that feels natural and perfect even in the difficult world of this story.

rep: non-binary MC;

Sapphic LI; implied genderfluid secondary character; secondary and tertiary characters who use neopronouns; gay parents; LGBTQIAP+ tertiary characters.

cw: child abuse; trauma; war violence; incarceration; false imprisonment; implied torture; deadnaming; misgendering; injury; other content warnings provided by author.

For me, the critical question that this sequel had to ask was this: What happens when a social and personal victory is not actually a triumph?

That was the question for Sir Callie, Willow, Elowen, and her brother Edwyn. This book was an intense exploration of war, prejudice, conflict, treachery, and most importantly, the importance and possibility of a safe home.

This book was significantly darker than book one, and no part of that escalation seemed forced. When Sir Callie and her friends achieved what they did at the end of Champions of Helston, I never expected society to quietly move into its new era of equality and acceptance.

However, even I was unprepared for the backlash at the beginning and as the story progressed, I was fascinated by the values that Helston and its enemy Dumoor disagreed on, and the interesting things that made them alike. Introducing a new dragon friend Teo was delightful, and the dragons using neopronouns was an interesting way to bring that into this world. Sir Callie and her friends were forced to accept many truths and discover where they had been lied to. There was a scene with our heroes meeting queer adults and learning about pronouns and identity in such a beautiful way

All in all, this book reinforced the Sir Callie series as a compelling adventure with beautiful lead characters in Callie, Willow, Elowen, Edwyn, and Teo. The battles continue to rage into the heart-stopping final act of this book, and the only downside of reading this book six months ahead of its release is that I have to wait even longer to get to book three.

Unless I get another advance copy of course.

Sir Callie is a powerful, deliberately inclusive book series that reminds me of my favorite Tamora Pierce series. The Author is more intentional in her writing style than some authors which results in more overt references to equality and inclusion in this book, and for a middle-grade series, that makes me so incredibly happy to know that children everywhere are learning about themselves and others in such a realistic, and fantastical way.

"I don’t want to be invisible or silent. It wasn’t right, what they did to me, and I am not going to let my fear silence me anymore."

In Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston, twelve-year-old Callie earnt their place as a nonbinary squire on the path to knighthood, shoulder to shoulder alongside gentle Prince Willow, sorceress Elowyn, and consummate survivor Edwyn, the fierce children of the former Lord Chancellor. Together with Sir Nick and Neal, the four friends try to settle down and recover. But Helston isn't home. Not for any of them, including Callie's dads, and it soon becomes apparent their existence is not welcome, and will never be accepted by the powers that be. As anti-magic sentiment rises, Callie struggles to reconcile their ideal of Helston with the intolerant reality. When Elowyn and Edywn fall prey to horrific violence at the hands of the authorities, Callie is forced to question every assumption keeping their courage steady on its foundations. Is Dumoor the true enemy? Are dragons as evil as they have always been told? And what makes a true hero?

rep: non-binary MC; (view spoiler); implied (view spoiler) secondary character; secondary and tertiary characters who use neopronouns; gay parents; LGBTQIAP+ tertiary characters.
cw: child abuse; trauma; war violence; incarceration; false imprisonment; implied torture; deadnaming; misgendering; injury; other content warnings provided by author.

Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston was my best book of 2022, and even though it's not published until December, I'd put money on Sir Callie and the Dragon's Roost being guaranteed to stake its claim to my favourite read of 2023. First, I'll say I'm overjoyed that there are another two books in the pipeline. With its rich characterisation and impressive writing quality, this is the kind of series that has the potential to run and run - and with that ending ... well. It's the exquisite pain only someone reading the series as it is published as opposed to coming to it years later can experience.

This second instalment is significantly darker than the first, with themes involving child abuse; the
aftermath of a campaign of psychological torture and trauma; child soldiers; not to mention clear yet deft parallels with a society growing ever more intolerant and inflexible when faced with anyone who deviates from the supposed norm. There were times in the first half of the book where I struggled with Edwyn's storyline in particular, but all the children deal with so much, and it can get difficult knowing they're so young. Having said that, the author handles all these complex themes and mature content with sensitivity, grace, and compassion that brings the healing comfort of allowing their readers to experience their own grief and process it a little more through the eyes and warm hearts of these beautiful characters.

Certain books just hit you hard, don't they? I knew when I first read the Champions of Helston I'd found a series that would be personally important to me, and not only to me, but to the nine- or ten-year-old wandering the library in search of one book - one single character - I could relate to in the way I do to every. single. one. of these in the Sir Callie books. There's a particular scene where Callie and their friends are (view spoiler). If little me could have read this book back then, how much good could it have done for my mental health and wellbeing? How many kids are going to be able to read this book and see themselves in Callie or Willow or Elowyn or Edwyn or Teo and recognise themselves as whole and unbroken? This is such a fundamentally important series and it holds a special place in my heart.

I received an ARC of this book from the author via NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving this honest review while waiting for my own copy to arrive in December.

I was privileged to get an ARC of this through Netgalley, so I've been reading it about 6 months in advance of its release.

Middle Grade fantasy sequel (2nd in a planned series of 4) following nonbinary Callie and their tightknit group of friends. A very strong sequel that continues to deliver on smart, nuanced, heartfelt thematic content while stepping up the ongoing plot to be a little bit darker, the stakes rising ever higher.

Volume 1 (which you should read if you haven't yet and enjoy middle grade books at all, ever loved Tamora Pierce, and/or work with young LGBTQIA kiddos and want to be aware of books they might find helpful) left off at a triumphant point-- the villain excised from court, rights granted, etc. Starting a few months later, The Dragon's Roost picks up with the realization that resistance to the culture Callie and friends envisioned was always bigger than just one man, change is slow, and grown-ups are a lot more willing to compromise on their behalf than children are comfortable with. One of the strongest running themes of this volume is that children are people, and they are people who often have very little voice in matters that affect them.

A comment on pacing, in terms of action, it is pretty front-loaded, with much of the second half focusing on investigation, decision- making, and emotional development, until the final conflict when action happens again. This didn't bother me, partly because the emotional stakes (and stakes for the ever-looming battle between Helston and Dumoor) kept rising, but perhaps partly because I am a character-driven reader. I could see some readers being a little thrown by this, but for me it was more a realization as the end came near that, like, oh, things have not been violent for a long time, I guess.

Callie and their friends, all of the tween characters, they are wonderful and endearing and flawed and individual, and I want to ruffle their hair and tell them all what good kiddos they are. It really impresses me how unique and fully-formed each of the kids is (It's Callie's story, but not only their story, and their friends are not background), and how fully-realized each of their different friendships is. Because while they are a group, there are also individual close bonds between each pair, and each of those is different. It is clear from volume 1, and even more explicit in this book (but still handled in a very cute, age-appropriate way) which of them is Callie's love interest, but all of the one-on-one scenes with any of their friends are lovely, because each of the friendships is so genuine but different (and we also understand the different dynamics between the pairs that don't involve Callie, if not to the same detailed degree). Edwyn, who was least present in the first book, gets a lot of time in this one, and while every time one of the kids is spotlighted, I go, "Aaah, this is why I LOVE Callie/Willow/Elowen/Edwyn!" Edwyn is my actual favorite. (Also there is a new friend in this book, xir name is Teo and xe is a dragon and dragons use neopronouns in this series, and anyway, I also love xem.)

Like I mentioned, the plot gets darker in this book. Change isn't easy. The grownups who have been trusted make some bad choices. Trauma has to be faced. Secrets have to be uncovered. And hard truths have to be told. But there are also some moments of joy that made my heart sing.

I was prepared for this to hit me in the gut, but at the rate and velocity that this book came at me with was phenomenal.

Esme has a way with words that is hard to come by, they were able to describe a lot of the pain and discomfort that comes with being othered. How it feels to be at the will of parents and adults that mean well but just aren't getting it. The themes discussed in this book are perfect for the times we live in, where Trans people are being demonized and acted against daily. Where anyone who looks or sounds different is viewed as an enemy. This book grapples with the immense pain and uncontrollable anger that hits us when we realize for the first time that the world is not what we were told is was.

Sir Callie and the Dragons roost shows us the problems in the world and offers little help. But it gives us small pieces of hope and comfort in-between. From found family and new friends. The road to justice isn't easy, and I love how we feel that on every page. Through every step our heros take.

Thank you Net Galley for the eARC.