2.25 Stars cuz I'm in a good mood today–and considering the stingy nitpicky reader I am, that's extremely generous of me ;)

Unfortunately, this book was the very epitome of disappointingly underwhelming !
I really liked the dragon/dragon-riders and the war college premise plus the world-building/setting was very interesting. But alas, this was yet another case of poor writing/execution, stupid insta-lust and too many confusing plot holes to ignore; which really interrupted the overall enjoyment of reading.
As expected, the mc is the most unique delicate special snowflake to ever grace the Riders' Quadrant and the male lead is the perfect ace leader and your typical dark-haired brooding "bad boy" with the whole tortured past thing going on. The romance was honestly super cringe with them literally eye-screwing and being ridiculously horny for each other 24/7 with zero emotional chemistry/compatability to speak of, then SUDDENLY out of nowhere after a few sex scenes the girl is hoplessly madly in love with the dude like sis wtf you don't even really know him O_O
*cue conceited eye roll*
Also Dain The Douchebag can go rot in hell, what a shitty excuse of a best friend !!!

Might read the second book in the series cuz the story was genuinely refreshingly unique, the found-family trope and friendships in this book were so wholesome :)