A very solid book! I haven't seen the film but I've seen some poor reception for it, so I can't speak to how different this is than the film.

My issue with this book is that it feels like it was adapted from a movie script. It's very exposition-heavy in a way that you don't need in books but works well in movies. Once in a while a little scene will pop up with a character or two about them discussing very plot-relevant information and then they are left alone and undeveloped until they need to discuss plot-relevant information again. This sucks because there are quite a lot of opportunities in the book for this to be communicated more naturally, especially with the magic system allowing Eloise to see people's memories through their blood. This also messed with the Suspense a bit when we get outright confirmation that something fishy before Eloise does in the plot. I don't think this severed to add tension, it would have been better done to play into the mystery from Eloise's perspective. 

I found most of the characters outside of Elosie a bit flat, and there was very little world-building. I don't know if this is the fault of the author or the material and constraints she was given to work with. One interesting thing is that someone on the team put in a colossal effort to develop an entire dialect for the Dragon which is included in the back of the book. I wish some of that effort had been pushed into fleshing out the world a bit more. 

I loved Eloise as a lead. She felt naturally 17 and not in a stereotypical way. I especially enjoyed the times we were shown her personality over told like the time she spent understanding the dragon language. Things like that made the book for me. 

My favourite part had to be the writing and the blood stains on the wall as they helped Eloise navigate and survive the dragon's lair. Out of everything in the book, this felt the most natural and plausible part. It was well integrated and well used to keep the tension and the hope up. Even the flashbacks to the prior princess sacrifices fit seamlessly into the story. I only wish everything around that part had felt so natural, as I mentioned before everything outside of Eloise feels starkly underdeveloped and there for exposition. 

I do have a few other issues. Some minor things like Foria getting referred to on and off as Flor in the 3rd person narration. 

And again, more effort was needed for the world-building. It's hard to imagine that someone wouldn't notice three girls of prominent families all go off to get married in a kingdom and are never seen again. every. single. year. Ten years might be more plausible. But EVERY year is a bit unbelievable. 

If you can get over a few minor nitpicks, I recommend giving this a go!