Oooooof. This book packed a PUNCH. It was a beautiful novel, but hard to read. I can only imagine how hard it was to write.  

This book obviously has had SO much hyper. Things I loved: disabled main character. A Deaf side character. People overcoming the weight of parental expectation or legacy. A really cool magic system with dragons. Things I didn't love: the base plot felt very predictable, and the enemies-to-lovers romance even more so - while also somehow being both too slow and jumping too fast rather than a real build of a relationship. The ending gives me hope that the book series will get better and stay interesting so I'll keep going. But I definitely felt like it didn't quiiiiite live up to its hype. 

Oh, this was such a fun romp that explored law and order and war, society and how the game of politics messes with the common man. And wit-sharp funny, as always. 

This was a good YA story, at its heart about the struggle to find love and validation and a teen who makes poor choices to obtain that - but also the story of recognizing those choices and reckoning with the consequences. Fat queer brown MC, making it even better.