The Bridge Kingdom summary - Full recap with spoilers, book one

Read a Before She Ignites summary with spoilers, book #1 in Jodi Meadows’s Fallen Isles Series. If you are wondering what happened in Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows, then you are in the right place! Get ready for the next book by reading up on exactly what happened in the first book.

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Author
Jodi Meadows

Ratings
4.3 stars on Amazon
3.7 stars on Goodreads
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The Fallen Isles Series
#1 Before She Ignites (this page)
#2 As She Ascends (synopsis)
#3 When She Reigns (synopsis)

***** Everything below is a SPOILER *****

What happened in Before She Ignites?

Your Before She Ignites summary:

The book alternates between “Before” and “After” when the main character, Mira, was banished to prison. Most of the story occurs “After,” but there are some flashbacks labeled “Before.”

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The Mira treaty is a peace treaty among the six island-nations of the Fallen Isles. Each island has its own culture and worships its own god of a pantheon. Their gods are “fallen,” because they “fell” to the Islands a long time ago rather than staying in the heavens. As part of the treaty, no one can be a dragon-riding warrior (Drakon Warrior), and dragons are relocated to sanctuaries. The Hartan people, who used to be bondservants exported from Harta to other islands, now govern themselves as an independent people on their own island. Still, it is primitive compared to other islands due to the Hartans being taken advantage of.

Mira’s father, a politician, named the treaty after his daughter, Mira Minkoba. She is known as the Hopebearer and represents peace. She is from Damina Island. Her parents want her to be a perfect, pretty spokesperson for the Luminary Council, the rulers of Damina.

Mira has anxiety and uses counting as a way to help her. She also used to take medication, but it was taken away when she was arrested and taken to the Pit, a prison for the worst people in the Isles. It is located underground on Khulani. She was sentenced by the

Luminary Council for sharing knowledge of a “secret” they wanted kept quiet.

Her two best friends are a girl named Ilina, whose family runs the dragon sanctuary, and Hristo, her bodyguard. Mira did not tell them her secret to protect them. Mira expects her father to use his political power to get her out. No one knows the Hopebearer is on the bad side of the Luminary Council. She does not share her identity with the other prisoners to keep herself safe.

Mira finds it hard to adjust to one shower a week, little food, and uncomfortable bedding since she is used to living like a rich noble. Noorstones, a glowing stone, light up the underground prison. Every night, they inexplicably go out, and there is complete darkness. Mira really likes dragons and has a small pet dragon named LaLa, whom she thinks of to comfort her.

A boy in the cell next to her uses whispering and tapping (similar to Morse Code) to communicate. His name is Aaru, and he is from Idris, the Isle of Silence.

A prison guard/warrior named Altan somehow knows her true identity as the Hopebearer. He is a Drakon Warrior in hiding, and he will help Mira if she will give up her secret. She refuses. He tortures her, but she still doesn’t relent.

Mira is given the opportunity to work for better food and more showers. She has never worked in her life, but quickly learns to mop and clean. One of her roommates, Gerel, is a disgraced Warrior from Khulani, an Isle known for fighting. Mira copies Gerel, doing exercises in her cell.

A girl named Tirta works in the kitchens. She gives Mira advice on surviving the prison. Aaru teaches Mira his secret tapping language (Quiet Code) so they can communicate without the guards knowing. In a “Before” flashback, Mira and Ilina check on the dragons at the sanctuary because of an earthquake that occurred earlier. They find all of the big dragons are missing from their lairs.

Because Mira won’t give up her secret, Altan leaves her in the dark for four days without additional water or food. Mira’s cellmates are taken away to better cells. She is weakened and nearly dies from dehydration. Someone reprimands Altan because she needs to be healthy in case the Council sends for her. They can’t know Altan is trying to get Mira’s secret.

In another flashback, Mira’s friends discover that the big dragons are being shipped away by Ilina’s parents to the mainland, the Algotti Empire. The gods said the dragons were to be protected, and if not, the gods would leave, and the Isles would be destroyed in the Great Abandonment. Mira tells the Council. They lie and claim it’s for a breeding program, but Mira knows the truth. Mira plans to tell the Priests, but the Council arrests her and sends her to the Pit.

Altan threatens her again because he wants to know where the dragons are. Mira realizes she likes Aaru.

A politician named Chenda from Bopha becomes a new cellmate in the Pit. Mira knows her from politics. The Hartans, who were bondservants on other Isles, are being forcibly deported to their homeland now that they are free. Some Bophans set them on fire because they refused to leave. Chenda stood up for the Hartans and was imprisoned since her boyfriend supposedly killed some Bophans.

Mira decides she will break out of the Pit. Mira shares some food with the other prisoners, so they will want to help her. One of the prisoners says he tried to kill Mira Minkoba because she lives richly, and the Mira Treaty ruined his life.

Altan tortures Aaru to get answers from Mira. Aaru causes the noorstones to explode somehow.

In another flashback, the Isles also ship giant noorestones to the Algotti Empire. Giant noorestones are the key to more advanced technology and large ships that can reach the mainland.

The Luminary Council sends for Mira. They pretty her up and tell her to read a speech for them in Bopha before politicians at a party. The speech says Hartans should be deported to their home Isle. Everyone should be equal, but separate. If Mira behaves, she can return to her old life.

On the way to Bopha, she sees Lex, a big dragon from the sanctuary, who tries to escape a ship. Mira calms Lex, but soldiers recapture her.

At the party, Mira argues Hartans should be able to work wherever they want. The Council stops her. In private, one of the Council’s members cuts her face with a dagger.

Ilina and Hristo visit Mira in the infirmary. They were servants in hiding and snuck into Bopha. They want to smuggle Mira away, but Mira refuses. She can’t leave Aaru and the others.

The Council captures Ilina and Hristo before they can leave and sends them to the Pit as well.

When Mira returns, the others are angry because she didn’t tell them she was Mira Minkoba.

How did Before She Ignites end? The Before She Ignites summary

Altan threatens all of Mira’s prison friends. She promises to tell him everything.

Everyone plans to escape with Tirta’s help. Altan takes Mira to an interrogation room and releases a hungry baby dragon in the prison. It might break down the cells and eat her friends if she doesn’t tell Altan the truth fast.

Altan tells her the Algotti Empire owns the Isles, and the Mira Treaty was a lie. He wants to know where the dragons and noorestones are, but Mira refuses because of his poor methods.

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Mira somehow escapes and fights Altan. She grabs a noorestone torch from the wall and finds she can harness power within the stones.

Then she uses Altan’s keys to free her friends. It turns out Tirta is a plant by the Council to spy on Mira. Mira imprisons Tirta in the armory and somehow tames the baby dragon. She releases her friends.

Mira grabs all the noorestones she can find and causes a magic explosion as the guards swarm the prisoners’ cell block. Everyone escapes through the rubble, with the prison guards thinking they are all dead. The book ends on a cliffhanger with Mira feeling empowered to right the wrongs in the world.

There you go! That’s a recap of what happened in Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows. We hope you enjoyed this Before She Ignites summary with spoilers.

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