This book has been all over my Instagram for the last couple of months. People couldn’t seem to get enough of it, and because the book was about a college for dragon riders AND it was the *it* book of the moment, I had to have it. (Honestly I probably would have wanted it simply for the dragon rider college.) I saw several people posting pictures of the book with sprayed edges that had dragons on it, and I knew I HAD to have a physical copy, but the problem was it was sold out and had a month-long waitlist. So I did what any self-respecting bibliophile with extreme FOMO would do. I bought the eBook and ordered a physical copy. At least that way I could start reading it ASAP. Of course It would be another three weeks or so before I actually got to the book but whatevs. I finally read it, and while I really enjoyed the book, there were a few things that slowed it down for me.

For those of you who have not heard of this book, it focuses on a 20-year-old woman named Violet Sorrengail, who is about to start college. She is the daughter of a scribe and a rider (scribes are basically keepers of history and riders are dragon riders who protect the kingdom). Her father (the scribe) died recently and her mother is a high-ranking general for the riders. Violet’s mother was super sick when she was pregnant with Violet, which led Violet to be born with a few things that work against her. She’s small and frail. Her ligaments tear easily, she’s pale and her hair is brown but tipped with silver. Violet’s frailty would better suit her to a life as a scribe, but her mother insists she become a rider like her older brother (who was killed in battle) and her older sister.

So Violet heads to the rider quadrant where everything seems to be working against her. This quadrant is dangerous and very few make it out alive. Some die while trying to navigate the treacherous obstacle courses that are part of their training, while others are killed by their fellow classmates and others still by the dragons they are supposed to bond with. If a dragon finds you unworthy, it will smoke your ass and turn you to a pile of ashes simply because you look stupid.

So Violet is not only trying to make it through her training and hopefully bond with a dragon, but to make matters worse, Violet is assigned to the Fourth Wing with a young man named Xander whose father was murdered by Violet’s mother because he was a traitor. Violet is definitely attracted to Xander, but he’s dangerous and she’s certain he would love nothing more than to kill her to get revenge on her mother.

There’s also something weird going on with the daily battle briefings from around the kingdom -wards (protective shields) have been failing and dangerous enemies have been wiping out villages, but these things aren’t being reported. Is it because they are classified or because there’s something questionable going on?

I don’t read a lot of fantasy because I have a really hard time remembering the names of factions and magical races and villages and countries and which creatures are good, which are bad, who speaks what language, etc. It’s a bit of an issue for me because I enjoy dragons and magic and big, expansive worlds – it’s just a bit too much for my brain so it takes me a while to settle in. I watched Game of Thrones when it first started and I’m not at all embarrassed to say I had no fucking idea who anyone was or what was going on. It was enough to keep me interested, but there was a definite disconnect. Before the final season aired, I decided to go back and watch it from the beginning and the second time around, everything clicked and it was sooooooo much better.

That said, the names of not only the people (why are names in fantasy novels always so damned hard to pronounce?) but also the villages and the basic geography had me a little confused here, but it wasn’t enough to deter me.

I’m going to start by calling out a few things that bugged me, and then we’ll get into what I loved. First of all, there were so many raised eyebrows in this book. Can we get some other facial expressions, please? Also, this book was full of one of my biggest pet peeves and it’s something so many authors do. I hate when they write, “She could taste the bile in her throat”, or “She threw up bile”. Girl, if you are tasting bile, there is something REALLY wrong with you. Bile is made in the liver – not the stomach. This is not normal and you need to see a doctor because there’s a serious blockage or something going on and medicine isn’t going to fix it.

My other annoyance was the angsty romance. I get it. People love romance. I do too. The problem I had with the romance between Violet and Xaden was that it all felt repetitive. I felt as though I kept reading the same internal thoughts and the same dialogue over and over and over. After a while I was like, “Girl, I get it. He makes you horny. You are afraid he wants you dead and you shouldn’t be with him. Noted. He sounds hot. I’d get on it too if he’d let me, but you’re literally repeating yourself.” I didn’t need paragraphs of angst in every chapter to remind me of this.

Aside from that, I really loved the idea of a dragon riding college and I loved the action. I especially liked it once the students began the process of bonding with their dragons and then working toward finding out which magical powers their dragon would give them. The battle scenes were breathtaking, and I loved the plot twists that were thrown in all over. I’m definitely looking forward to the finale which releases in November – and yes, I’ve already pre-ordered my copy.

To sum it up, I loved the overall story, the dragons and the action, but could have done without all the repetitive angsty romance business.