4 ⭐

WHAT THE HELL - THAT ENDING?! Nice.

More thorough review to come.

******

Setting:
Basgiath War College where cadets train to be Scribes, Healers, Infantry, or Dragon Riders. There is a hierarchy where the riders are considered the strongest and most ruthless. The cadets vying for a chance to become a Rider face the toughest training and have the highest mortality rates. If you're not killed by a dragon, you're likely to be killed by another cadet... (All acceptable losses in the grand scheme of the ongoing war against neighboring countries).

Characters:
I loved so many of these characters (the good and the bad ones). Firstly, the overall cast of side characters was so casually INCLUSIVE (gender, sexuality, disability) and I absolutely adore that.

Violet- having a chronic illness that was not magically "cured" was really refreshing. I loved that she learned to outsmart rather than out-power her opponents. Also that she didn't let it define her. It was just another aspect of her life that she managed.

Xaden- really solid love interest with his tragic and noble backstory. Honestly, no notes for Xaden currently.

Dain- I WISH it wasn't so instantly obvious that we were not meant to root for Dain because I saw that betrayal coming from a mile away. I would have liked a little more discretion so when that happened it would have had more of an emotional impact. ... But also, I wanted that moment to be BIGGER. Violet doesn't get to confront him. He's not even there when she realizes what happened. So that felt a little anticlimactic. (Hoping it gets addressed later on in a big way)

My biggest concern:
For a romance fantasy, the romance was actually the least developed piece for me. (Still enjoyed it overall though.)

I often felt like we were getting TOLD a lot of the relationship development rather than getting to see it play out. Lots of time skips. Lots of moments where they are training or working together that we don't ever see- just alluded to. So because of this, the romance felt very quick and sometimes unbelievable.

It was also very insta-lusty on Violet's end, which I found a little annoying at times. (Like it was just too much, too fast. More subtlety would have been nice vs her IMMEDIATELY thinking he's the hottest man she's ever laid eyes on and then thirsting after him the whole time.)

Also, I didn't really believe in Xaden's feelings. Again, his infatuation with her was really more of a TELL rather than SHOW. The single chapter of his POV was not enough for me to buy it. Maybe it would have worked better if we had gotten more of his POV throughout the story.

All of that being said, I UNDERSTAND where their relationship needed to be by the end of the book, so I get the expediency. I just wish it had been more of a slow burn with more sexual tension and denial of attraction building up to it.

BUT Everything else about the plot and the world- I loved!! The underlying themes of the danger of those in power controlling the information being given to the public. Controlling the narrative. Erasing history. Very cool.

AND OMG THE DRAGONS!! I adored the characterization and the way that dragons interacted with humans. So much fun! The grumpiness and short tempers. The arguments and annoyances. I loved them so much 🥹♥️

Very excited to see where book 2 takes us, especially with that ending!