Blurb:

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die

Review:

I originally bought this book because of the cover and sprayed edges and because, DRAGONS!

I went into this story not really knowing what it was about and I was okay with that. This is one of those books where you should not get too attached to characters because you don’t know what their outcome is going to be.

While Violet may be physically weaker than the others, her mental capacity is strong. Her mother has forced her to enter the Riders Quadrant although she has been groomed her entire life to be in the Scribes Quadrant.

This is a story filled with secrets and betrayal. Violet has a mark on her head, figuratively and literally.

Of course I need to address the romance line of the story. There is a lot of tension between Violet and Xaden(who is supposed to be an enemy). The one part of the story I didn’t care for were the spicy scenes and this is only because I was so invested in what was going with the story itself. I really didn’t care who was and wasn’t getting it on.

Did this book live up to the hype for me? Yes and no. While it is an engaging story for the most part, there were times that it fell a little flat for me but not enough to take away from the story itself or for me to put it down indefinitely.

Rating:

2 Golden Girls and a slice of cheesecake

Availability:

Available now in hardcover, ebook and audio book.

I will definitely be reading the next book in the series when it comes out later this year.