Dragon's Blood: The Pit Dragon Chronicles: Book 1 (by Jane Yolen)

Jakkin, a bond-boy on the planet Austar IV, works for Sarkkhan, the best dragon trainer on the planet. Jakkin dreams of one day having a dragon of his own to fight in the dragon pits, and earn him the money to buy out his bond. So he creates an oasis in the desert, and steals a hatchling to train there.

Now he must work during the day, train the dragon at night, keep it all a secret, and protect the baby dragon from predators. He establishes a telepathic bond with his dragon, and gets help from Akki, a mysterious bond-girl who seems to come and go as she pleases. But he still needs to find a way to enter the stolen dragon in the tightly controlled Pit competitions.

Old pro Jane Yolen can really spin a yarn. Her writing is vivid and gritty, even a bit edgy for its time. Every book plays a movie in the reader's mind, but this one is especially clear, with a mesmerizing flow that carries the reader along to its exceptionally satisfying conclusion. With the current popularity of special-effects fantasy epics, how have they missed making a movie out of this series?

This is one of the rare fantasy/science fiction novels with no real villains and no battle between the forces of good and evil, just the enthralling and exciting story of a boy, a dragon, and an invented world that rings true in every clever aspect, both fantastic and human. Young readers will find this hard to put down, and will be eagerly reaching for the next book in the series as soon as they're done.