This was an interesting first book in a series. In a world where a sign of magic will have you taken from your family and brought to a mysterious island where everyone assumes you're going to die, but that's not the whole story, the state wants to control magic and train people with the gift, some of them die, but the rest join the ranks of the Empire's elite. Wielding power and terrorising people in the name of the state. There were dragons but they have lapsed into the realm of myth and the Gods once worshiped are forbidden.
Steiner lives with his sister Kjell in a small village, off the beaten track with their blacksmith father and every year the Vigilants appear to test the children. He knows that his sister may have magic in her, and he fears what will happen if they discover it, when he's taken, even though he's older than most it starts a chain of events that with resonate throughout the empire and possibly the world.

It's using some Russian and Eastern European tropes and ideas and it quite interesting, it will be interesting to see where this is going to go. There were places where it felt like a first novel and I notice it isn't. Feels like a crossover YA/Adult novel. ( )