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shayna_hadassah's review
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
3.75
This was a fun book! I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it is definitely brain candy.
I really enjoyed the intense scenes and how punchy they were - it kept everything moving along and kept the energy up. The fights and aerial battles especially were hard to put down.
The world was super interesting and fun to get into! I wish there had been more interaction with the other quadrants on a personal basis, rather than out of necessity, but I understand from a story perspective why they were limited. The dragon lore and magic system were interesting, if heavily biased towards the dragons. Which - point of the book, obviously, but also a little unfair within the world.
The sources of conflict felt very real. I greatly appreciated that there were no overly complicated conflicts. Very simple - we're going to become a rider even though we don't want to because of a, and we have b as an intrinsic hurdle to overcome, and c is personally holding back my development. Very easy. That leaves much more room to flesh out the conflict, rather than forcing readers to follow something convoluted while also being introduced to a new world and magic system.
The stakes definitely felt higher in this book than in other similar stories because of how often people actually got hurt and the way the narrative both highlighted it and dismissed it. When a character is gone, they're gone. That's it. I think it would have come across stronger if those deaths had lingered in some way though.
Violet's shortcomings were a really strong part of the story, really showing that she had something to overcome and the deck was stacked against her. I kept waiting for the dragon magic to hand-wave it all away, but having that power never gave her a shortcut, which I thought was really admirable.
That being said, there was a lot of telling when there should have been showing. Several times, Violet expressed some kind of discomfort with how deaths were handled,with the only acknowledgement being a recital of a roll call of everyone who died and then nothing else, but she also rarely mentioned those who had died when they were gone. Don't tell me it sits wrong with her, show me that she is continually affected. Or show me that she is uncomfortable with her own ability to dismiss all of this.
I felt the writing was repetitive, which I thought went along with the problem of telling vs showing."I used his previous words against him" was a phrase that I remember coming up at least three times in some way. Please just trust that I was there when it was said the first time and I understand that we're repeating ourselves. Please just show me how the characters react. We were also told ad nauseum that Violet is one of the smartest people in the story. I felt that there were reasonable limits on this, but I also felt that there were times that she should have been able to use her smarts to get out of a scrape and didn't. She knew a lot of information, but at times she felt more knowledgeable than quick thinking. Those are both smart! But I feel like they were used interchangeably rather than treated as distinct.
A pet peeve of mine is constant character description when it isn't necessary, which I understand kind of goes with the territory with romance, but I do believe there are more important things to focus on when certain death is one wrong step away.
The enemies-to-lovers thing felt fumbled, since, in a book with pretty high stakes, the enemies phase involved very little trying to kill each other and a lot of sniping at each other. Also, enemies to lovers are not usually immediately attracted to each other and if they are, I think it's more fun if they take it out on each other, but maybe that's just me. Related, the love triangle could be spotted from a mile away and then didn't present both options as viable options, so that felt flat too. Mostly I was just getting frustrated with Violet on the relationship front.
I appreciated that the characters talked like normal people, i.e., that when they swore, I believed that they would swear. There were a few instances of more modern speech patterns and phrases that absolutely kicked me out of the story. I understand that the beginning of the book had a note that the story had been translated in-universe to "the modern language," but if your setting is vaguely middle ages, please don't make me read phrases like "I'm not attracted to toxic men." It didn't happen often, but there were three or four times that my suspension of disbelief abandoned me.
I did feel that some of the characters sounded too much alike. It could have had something to do with the narrator of the audiobook (whom I think did a pretty good job, considering all the characters she had to deal with), but I had a lot of trouble in certain scenes with being able to tell which character was talking and had to back up the narration to pay closer attention and keep track without dialogue tags to help.
Overall it was fun! I like the twists at the end, even though I think more clues thrown in here and there would have been nice. I like the baby dragon. I like the magic powers. Overall a fun, engaging read.
I really enjoyed the intense scenes and how punchy they were - it kept everything moving along and kept the energy up. The fights and aerial battles especially were hard to put down.
The world was super interesting and fun to get into! I wish there had been more interaction with the other quadrants on a personal basis, rather than out of necessity, but I understand from a story perspective why they were limited. The dragon lore and magic system were interesting, if heavily biased towards the dragons. Which - point of the book, obviously, but also a little unfair within the world.
The sources of conflict felt very real. I greatly appreciated that there were no overly complicated conflicts. Very simple - we're going to become a rider even though we don't want to because of a, and we have b as an intrinsic hurdle to overcome, and c is personally holding back my development. Very easy. That leaves much more room to flesh out the conflict, rather than forcing readers to follow something convoluted while also being introduced to a new world and magic system.
The stakes definitely felt higher in this book than in other similar stories because of how often people actually got hurt and the way the narrative both highlighted it and dismissed it. When a character is gone, they're gone. That's it. I think it would have come across stronger if those deaths had lingered in some way though.
Violet's shortcomings were a really strong part of the story, really showing that she had something to overcome and the deck was stacked against her. I kept waiting for the dragon magic to hand-wave it all away, but having that power never gave her a shortcut, which I thought was really admirable.
That being said, there was a lot of telling when there should have been showing. Several times, Violet expressed some kind of discomfort with how deaths were handled,
I felt the writing was repetitive, which I thought went along with the problem of telling vs showing.
A pet peeve of mine is constant character description when it isn't necessary, which I understand kind of goes with the territory with romance, but I do believe there are more important things to focus on when certain death is one wrong step away.
The enemies-to-lovers thing felt fumbled, since, in a book with pretty high stakes, the enemies phase involved very little trying to kill each other and a lot of sniping at each other. Also, enemies to lovers are not usually immediately attracted to each other and if they are, I think it's more fun if they take it out on each other, but maybe that's just me. Related, the love triangle could be spotted from a mile away and then didn't present both options as viable options, so that felt flat too. Mostly I was just getting frustrated with Violet on the relationship front.
I appreciated that the characters talked like normal people, i.e., that when they swore, I believed that they would swear. There were a few instances of more modern speech patterns and phrases that absolutely kicked me out of the story. I understand that the beginning of the book had a note that the story had been translated in-universe to "the modern language," but if your setting is vaguely middle ages, please don't make me read phrases like "I'm not attracted to toxic men." It didn't happen often, but there were three or four times that my suspension of disbelief abandoned me.
I did feel that some of the characters sounded too much alike. It could have had something to do with the narrator of the audiobook (whom I think did a pretty good job, considering all the characters she had to deal with), but I had a lot of trouble in certain scenes with being able to tell which character was talking and had to back up the narration to pay closer attention and keep track without dialogue tags to help.
Overall it was fun! I like the twists at the end, even though I think more clues thrown in here and there would have been nice. I like the baby dragon. I like the magic powers. Overall a fun, engaging read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Drug use and Alcohol
kathyreadsalot's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Violet incessant horny thoughts and how annoyingly pendantic Dain could be really began to wear on me but once the war plot line and the political intrigue picked up in the second half of the book, I was more invested since those are some of my favorite types of plot lines.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and War
Moderate: Sexual content, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
avie_j's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War
madsgrace_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
i couldn’t put it down, stayed up each night reading it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent and War
Minor: Medical content and Murder
twigaonabike's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Drug use
feralpixie831's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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: Cursing, Death, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and War
mbelle97's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-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
2.75
Man, this book could have been so good. It had a lot of good parts: casual (non-tokenizing) queer and disability representation, dragons and powers, political intrigue and a government conspiracy, fascinating world building with a hidden history, and all that stuff was skimmed over bc the main character was so horny she couldn't think about anything else. I found most of the characters kind of one dimensional and tropey too, and the storyline was fairly predictable, but I could have overlooked that if the book wasn't like 40% sexual tension and then straight up porn. Not that I'm anti smut, I was just really interested in the plot and I feel like I barely got any of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and War
dododenise's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
For a book that I went into that I fully expecting to dnf I really enjoyed myself. You know, this is just a very fun story. The setting makes for a great story to tell and it definitely took advantage of that. I also really enjoy YA fantasy, more so than adult fantasy, and for the most part this book feels like YA. The story it’s telling and the writing style could easily be YA, if it were not for the very horny 20 year olds. Loved the dragons. Dragons are great and these dragons specifically are my favourite characters in the entire book.
I rushed through the first half and had a really good time. Then the second half started.
In the second half the story starts to feel too long. It becomes a bit repetitive. This story should’ve been told in 300-400 pages otherwise it looses its charm. And that gave me the opportunity to think. And thinking when reading this book is dangerous business.
The world building is lacklustre. We barely know anything about it and the things we know are so basic and really not that exciting. I definitely wouldn’t call it intricate. The book should’ve kept to its magical school vibe but no, it tried to do bigger things. And I’m not sure I like it or think it works well. It’s just not giving me enough to think “oooh interesting world building here”. And that ruined a lot for me. If it had kept to a simpler story than it would’ve been easier to stay in the moment and just enjoy it. Now I’m thinking about how it’s all not that deep.
Now something very much from my personal taste: this book is very straight. And I am not and I don’t really enjoy straight books. An added factor for me not really enjoying the second half as much was that Violet and Xaden’s relationship became a bigger focus. And well, I did not care for them at all. Their relationship didn’t work for me. And quite frankly, their horniness for each other was very exhausting. I like Violet and Xaden as a characters but their relationship I did not.
The other characters were lacking a bit. I already forgot about most of them. There’s Dain of course, an annoying walking red flag. Liam was a very cool character. I can’t tell you about anyone else to be honest so that’s a shame. I did not feel like getting to know them anyway because people kept dying so I knew if it wasn’t the main couple, well, they’re probably going to die.
Did have fun? Surprisingly yes. Would I say this book is good? I don’t know.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail
thatswhatshanread's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I took off half of a star just because some of the world building and descriptions were a little too confusing to me and could have been done better in keeping me engaged within this fantasy world; the imagery wasn’t quite there for me. And I’ll admit the writing in general was not my favorite, though the characters and plot made up for it for the most part.
But alas!!! This was a fun one!!
You’ve got dragons, you’ve got a war college, you’ve got enemies to lovers, you’ve got mysterious happenings outside of the border that are kept hush hush, you’ve got redacted history and rebellion, you’ve got strong friendships and literal soulmates… I loved it. Our female protagonist Violet is not unlike any other leading character in these kinds of books—she’s weak and fragile, not cut out for the life she’s forced to take on, a disappointment to her mother, the least impressive of her siblings. UNTIL! She proves everyone wrong, even herself, as she is meant to do for the story to exist of course. Which isn’t a bad plot, even if it’s been done many times before, because it clearly works. Violet goes from meek little sister who prefers books over battle, to the incredible dragon rider who packs a striking punch. And Xaden—pretends he loathes her and wants to kill her, broody and closed-off, strong and intimidating to everyone else, but in reality a very kind, caring person who would do anything for Violet. Their chemistry was sizzling, and I loved learning more about their fated connection. The YOU DIE, I DIE trope to a T.
Dain—basically Gale from The Hunger Games but even worse—however, can suck a dozen eggs.
Overall, an intriguing and heart-pounding introduction to the Empyrean series! Great mix of fantasy and romance! You’ll want your own dragon and wingleader boyfriend asap.
But alas!!! This was a fun one!!
You’ve got dragons, you’ve got a war college, you’ve got enemies to lovers, you’ve got mysterious happenings outside of the border that are kept hush hush, you’ve got redacted history and rebellion, you’ve got strong friendships and literal soulmates… I loved it. Our female protagonist Violet is not unlike any other leading character in these kinds of books—she’s weak and fragile, not cut out for the life she’s forced to take on, a disappointment to her mother, the least impressive of her siblings. UNTIL! She proves everyone wrong, even herself, as she is meant to do for the story to exist of course. Which isn’t a bad plot, even if it’s been done many times before, because it clearly works. Violet goes from meek little sister who prefers books over battle, to the incredible dragon rider who packs a striking punch. And Xaden—pretends he loathes her and wants to kill her, broody and closed-off, strong and intimidating to everyone else, but in reality a very kind, caring person who would do anything for Violet. Their chemistry was sizzling, and I loved learning more about their fated connection. The YOU DIE, I DIE trope to a T.
Dain—basically Gale from The Hunger Games but even worse—however, can suck a dozen eggs.
Overall, an intriguing and heart-pounding introduction to the Empyrean series! Great mix of fantasy and romance! You’ll want your own dragon and wingleader boyfriend asap.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Stalking, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Chronic illness, Genocide, and Classism
jessicabearbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
"Let me save you. Please let me save you"
What a story. This book is unique whilst having clear inspiration from series such as ACOTAR and Divergent. I loved the story and loved the characters, and the story as a whole was just so cool.
I was a little disappointed with the writing. There weren't really enough detailed descriptions throughout the world building for me. However, the use of quotes at the start of each chapter (Book of Brennan, The Codex etc) I found really useful and interesting as they always related to either what had just been, or what was to come in a chapter, therefore resolving any confusion and some questions. Rebecca Yarros is a genius but again, I'm not sure if her writing style is 100% for me. But could I have written this story better? No.
The cast of characters is diverse and somewhat believable. I still can't believe that some of these people are genuinely so dramatic, heartless, obnoxious, cowardly, and toxic BUT this is another world I gues, and who am I to say that these character traits are unrealistic? Some characters I hated with a passion, and some I wanted to protect from everything. Yarros is very clever in her ability to make these feelings switch and fluctuate for almost every character throughout the book.
This book did feel a little YA in places, so the smut felt a little strange. There's a sort of weird balance between brief explicit descriptions of body parts, but three pages of U rated descriptions of the bedroom and what the character's hair looks like in the moment. However, the scenes are written well and are 100% effective. I did love how open all characters were about sex. Often, even in adult novels, there are no mentions of normal human conversations and experiences that, I'm sorry, would definitely be felt/happen to characters aged 20-24. Having the breakfast table catch up of who was 'getting some' and who wasn't, made the characters again more believable and really humanised them.
The plot twists are great, sometimes foreshadowed a little too much - but not the ending. Do not look at the last page of this book to check how many pages you have left. Wow. I was shocked BUT I also don't feel the need to immediately rush out and buy the next book. Overall a great story; engaging, exciting, frustrating, and unique. Wow.
What a story. This book is unique whilst having clear inspiration from series such as ACOTAR and Divergent. I loved the story and loved the characters, and the story as a whole was just so cool.
I was a little disappointed with the writing. There weren't really enough detailed descriptions throughout the world building for me. However, the use of quotes at the start of each chapter (Book of Brennan, The Codex etc) I found really useful and interesting as they always related to either what had just been, or what was to come in a chapter, therefore resolving any confusion and some questions. Rebecca Yarros is a genius but again, I'm not sure if her writing style is 100% for me. But could I have written this story better? No.
The cast of characters is diverse and somewhat believable. I still can't believe that some of these people are genuinely so dramatic, heartless, obnoxious, cowardly, and toxic BUT this is another world I gues, and who am I to say that these character traits are unrealistic? Some characters I hated with a passion, and some I wanted to protect from everything. Yarros is very clever in her ability to make these feelings switch and fluctuate for almost every character throughout the book.
This book did feel a little YA in places, so the smut felt a little strange. There's a sort of weird balance between brief explicit descriptions of body parts, but three pages of U rated descriptions of the bedroom and what the character's hair looks like in the moment. However, the scenes are written well and are 100% effective. I did love how open all characters were about sex. Often, even in adult novels, there are no mentions of normal human conversations and experiences that, I'm sorry, would definitely be felt/happen to characters aged 20-24. Having the breakfast table catch up of who was 'getting some' and who wasn't, made the characters again more believable and really humanised them.
The plot twists are great, sometimes foreshadowed a little too much - but not the ending. Do not look at the last page of this book to check how many pages you have left. Wow. I was shocked BUT I also don't feel the need to immediately rush out and buy the next book. Overall a great story; engaging, exciting, frustrating, and unique. Wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Fire/Fire injury