3.5/5 Stars

General Description: Welcome to Basgiath, the war college filled with scribes, dragon riders, healers, and boots-on-the-ground infantry folks. Violet's mother runs the whole deal, and Violet must enter the rider quadrant at her command. Violet wanted to be a scribe, but what her mother wants, her mother gets. Violet in the rider quadrant puts her in danger: the dragons, rebels' children, and everyone else who doesn't fall into those 2 categories could want to kill Violet. Will she make it out of her first year alive?

The good:
- The first half of the book to me (pre-romance) felt fresh, I was completely engrossed in learning about the world and the abilities and the DRAGONS.
- I appreciated all the plot twists, it kept me engaged
- I absolutely loved the cast of characters as well (and the ones your supposed to dislike, I feel like were done well too).

The loss of a star and a half:
- Like between 66%-75% of the book, I wanted to throw it against the wall. It felt repetitive with other fantasy series and lost its originality for me.
- Some structures (ex. The Gauntlet) I COULD NOT picture in my head. I am someone who relies on the pictures in my head for reading and there were some aspects that just didn't make sense.
- There's so much packed into here, which I feel is Rebecca's writing style, that it makes me confused at points. Like it's almost too fast-paced.

Overall: I think if this is your introduction to fantasy, it's a great start. However, if you have high expectations for fantasy alone, this may not be the book for you.