mindsplinters's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
TW : Violence, general death and mayhem
I've owned the book for a while now and just never got around to reading it and I'll admit it. My bad. It was a really solid, well-written, messy book containing dragons and adventure and politics and fighting and plotting and family dysfunction and some spice. Plus a total "will they, won't they" sorta-romance that gives you an equally messy resolution. It was a total romp where young adults are put to the test of being dragon riders or being charcoal briquettes or lambs to the slaughter. For a cast of mostly iffy people, Yarros does a find job of making you care. I mean, some of the characters are real assholes! But you don't want to see (most of) them die horribly which takes talent.
Except for you, Barlowe. You're always welcome to die horribly.
It took a bit for Violet to grow on me because she seemed so... young, I guess, but then more of her family history comes out and you see her mom and the staff of the college and her upbringing and her actual physical disability that is rather a horrible liability in a lot of ways. Soon you realize that she's still not quite admirable and she has a lemming-like ability to run stubbornly into a gaping pit but it all works. She wants to prove herself. To her mother, to others, to Dain... Eventually she realizes that she actually wants to prove herself to herself. What she thought she knew was decidedly uneven and she had to process that. I look forward to more of that in the second book.
Plus, let's face it, Xander is smoking hot, dragons are delightfully bitchy and dangerous, and this whole thing is like dropping Hunger Games and McCaffrey's Pern in a blender with some arsenic and Spanish Fly and setting it to vaporize.
Oh, and Pern? Yeah, I haven't been able to find anything but there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that Rebecca Yarros wasn't a total Pern Fangirl back in the day. Many aspects of the dragons themselves and how they bond and bleeding of emotions, etc, definitely hint at a misspent Pern youth. Not copying, mind you, but definitely reminiscent.
On a final note, NOT LIAM and I KNEW IT (the very end) and SCREW YOU (you know who). Also my now-husband gave me a Leatherman Tool after we had been dating for about a month. That's kind of like the real world equivalent of giving me a dagger, right? Swoon.
I've owned the book for a while now and just never got around to reading it and I'll admit it. My bad. It was a really solid, well-written, messy book containing dragons and adventure and politics and fighting and plotting and family dysfunction and some spice. Plus a total "will they, won't they" sorta-romance that gives you an equally messy resolution. It was a total romp where young adults are put to the test of being dragon riders or being charcoal briquettes or lambs to the slaughter. For a cast of mostly iffy people, Yarros does a find job of making you care. I mean, some of the characters are real assholes! But you don't want to see (most of) them die horribly which takes talent.
Except for you, Barlowe. You're always welcome to die horribly.
It took a bit for Violet to grow on me because she seemed so... young, I guess, but then more of her family history comes out and you see her mom and the staff of the college and her upbringing and her actual physical disability that is rather a horrible liability in a lot of ways. Soon you realize that she's still not quite admirable and she has a lemming-like ability to run stubbornly into a gaping pit but it all works. She wants to prove herself. To her mother, to others, to Dain... Eventually she realizes that she actually wants to prove herself to herself. What she thought she knew was decidedly uneven and she had to process that. I look forward to more of that in the second book.
Plus, let's face it, Xander is smoking hot, dragons are delightfully bitchy and dangerous, and this whole thing is like dropping Hunger Games and McCaffrey's Pern in a blender with some arsenic and Spanish Fly and setting it to vaporize.
Oh, and Pern? Yeah, I haven't been able to find anything but there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that Rebecca Yarros wasn't a total Pern Fangirl back in the day. Many aspects of the dragons themselves and how they bond and bleeding of emotions, etc, definitely hint at a misspent Pern youth. Not copying, mind you, but definitely reminiscent.
On a final note, NOT LIAM and I KNEW IT (the very end) and SCREW YOU (you know who). Also my now-husband gave me a Leatherman Tool after we had been dating for about a month. That's kind of like the real world equivalent of giving me a dagger, right? Swoon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse
eatingbrains's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
While I understand why people would enjoy this book, I am unfortunately one of the ones that couldn't turn off the feeling that I was reading a YA that was aged up to include sex.
I could not read the word badass without cringing. The world building was positively wild. It's in a more historical fantasy setting where they write with quills, use weapons, crossbows were a big deal, people who wield magic have access to smaller abilities like locking/unlocking doors, making mage light, etc. There lots of wooden shit, but that also translated to having wooden exercise equipment to essential get swole in a modern fashion, rather than bodyweight exercises. There's a brief mention right at the beginning about shoe sizes which means they have standardized them? And the whole riders quadrant can get married before everyone else when the graduate.... At age 23? That's early for this society? And the focus of sexual relations was just pervasive. The talk of raging hormones... The convenience of fertility suppressants getting a brief mention before boning down. Oh and gods are worshipped, but not by dragons.
There was some disability rep that I think was decent considering that it was a fantastical setting with healers, and the character didn't want to "look weak" and would refuse treatment to speed the healing process. There was some LGBT+ rep as well, but mostly on a surface level for side characters.
Honestly, it was fine but the romance had me putting the book down regularly and made finishing this book difficult.
I could not read the word badass without cringing. The world building was positively wild. It's in a more historical fantasy setting where they write with quills, use weapons, crossbows were a big deal, people who wield magic have access to smaller abilities like locking/unlocking doors, making mage light, etc. There lots of wooden shit, but that also translated to having wooden exercise equipment to essential get swole in a modern fashion, rather than bodyweight exercises. There's a brief mention right at the beginning about shoe sizes which means they have standardized them? And the whole riders quadrant can get married before everyone else when the graduate.... At age 23? That's early for this society? And the focus of sexual relations was just pervasive. The talk of raging hormones... The convenience of fertility suppressants getting a brief mention before boning down. Oh and gods are worshipped, but not by dragons.
There was some disability rep that I think was decent considering that it was a fantastical setting with healers, and the character didn't want to "look weak" and would refuse treatment to speed the healing process. There was some LGBT+ rep as well, but mostly on a surface level for side characters.
Honestly, it was fine but the romance had me putting the book down regularly and made finishing this book difficult.
Content Warnings
Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Stalking, Classism, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, War, Violence, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Body shaming, Death, Grief, Torture, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Physical abuse
thebigq's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Super fun, basically Hunger Games vibes for the first half, but the chosen one trope became more and more irksome as I got into the story. Dragons are excellent as is the world building. Will read the next one even if the "twists" turn out to be as telegraphed as in the last 1/3 of this book. Nice to have a main character with a disability that reflects real life inconsistencies and frustrations though. I mean, a fantasy novel with a rebellion never met a main character who wouldn't eventually join it. There's a lot of cartoon villain action on display with bothering too. The eventual love triangle is predictable, even though the book tries hard to make it a surprise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Ableism
Moderate: Grief and War
cdoubet's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Abandonment, Grief, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism
lizsurber's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, War, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Ableism, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Torture, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
kakuloo's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was a sexy drama that had some dragons in it, but I prefer world-built dragon fantasy that has just a little romance in it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Bullying, Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, War, Vomit, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Blood
18+ sexy descriptions of people enjoying sex. Graphic, rather than implied.rachelmorag's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and War
meeklovestoread's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I fell victim to the book Instagram/YouTube hype and the hype for this book is massive. I've never seen a book get this hyped up this much and when I see a book get hyped up to the degree that this book has it immediately turns me off from it cuz usually they let me down, but I'm sooooo happy to say that I really liked this book! I enjoyed everything about it. It was so entertaining and I was completely invested in Violet and her journey to becoming a rider. Honestly what kept this from being a 5-star was the fact that I found the world-building to be confusing at times (the gauntlet 😂)and there was a bit of a lull part in the middle, but it picks up.
I loved the characters and I surprisingly loved Xaiden (I'm really not too big on morally grey characters, but he was great). I can't wait to learn more about him and his past (as well as learn about his cousins). Can't wait for book 2!
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 (just in case someone wants to know or isn't too fond of explicit scenes like that in books; it is more in the later chapters and it's only in a chapter or two, I think, however, stuff like that [hooking up and what not] is still talked about throughout the book; just a heads up)
I love love LOVED Violet's relationship with her dragons. Oh my gosh, I got so excited when I read that she bonded with not one, but TWO dragons, like Go, Violet. But anyway, I love how protective Tairn is of Violet; and I love his personality; he is such a grump and I love it! And I love love loved Andarna! She's so cute and I love how protective Violet is toward her.
I'd like to put this out there, but I don't hate Dain. I'm not particularly fond of him, but I don't hate him and quite honestly I feel like he's a bit overhated. I'm just going based on this book, but Dain is not a bad person, he's just a rule-following idiot who fell victim to what he's been taught. And I am in no way defending his actions. Him looking through Violet's memories and indirectly getting her friends killed (Liam especially 😢💔) was so uncalled for and I don't think I can forgive him for that. As well as him not believing her about the traitor. And I don't like how much he would put her down and not believe in her and kept pushing her to the scribe quadrant. But he's still Violet's best friend and although his methods were unorthodox I do believe they were coming from a good place. He's a 2nd year if I remember correctly so he's probably seen countless riders get killed every day and he knows Violet isn't necessarily physically gifted so it's understandable that he was adamant about getting her out of there. However, yes, he most definitely should've been more supportive of her when she decided that she wanted to stay. Overall, I do think he can be redeemed. I just hope he learns the error of his ways. And I hope the author does his character justice and doesn't perform some sort of character assassination on him like countless of authors have done before.😒; (also side note but I'm so glad Jack died, I couldn't stand if he was in the series for any longer than he was); oh and I guessed the twist, I knew her brother was alive😂
I loved the characters and I surprisingly loved Xaiden (I'm really not too big on morally grey characters, but he was great). I can't wait to learn more about him and his past (as well as learn about his cousins). Can't wait for book 2!
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 (just in case someone wants to know or isn't too fond of explicit scenes like that in books; it is more in the later chapters and it's only in a chapter or two, I think, however, stuff like that [hooking up and what not] is still talked about throughout the book; just a heads up)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, Cursing, Grief, and War
Minor: Gaslighting, Ableism, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
epellicci's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, War, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Sexual content
banscout's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
this book was honestly one of the funnier fantasy reads. it had the most incredible sexual tension weaved through it but also really endearing moments between the characters that made my heart swell. i found it more difficult to engage with and enjoy consistently, i took several breaks between but xaden always had me coming back!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Vomit and Panic attacks/disorders