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adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War
adventurous
emotional
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:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Vomit
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Blood, Toxic friendship
Minor: Death of parent
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
loses .25 for random out of character, poorly timed yearning!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is described as a Romantasy. It stars Violet Sorrengail. In the world of the book, two kingdoms have engaged in a war of around 400 years. In Violet's kingdom, there are 4 war colleges - Riders, Scribes, Healers, and Infantry. When people hit age 20, they go into one of the war colleges. The first is by choice in most cases. People are conscripted into the others. Violet's mother is a general. Her father was a scribe who passed away before the book started. Violet trained for her whole life to be a scribe. Six months before the 20-year-olds are scheduled to go to one of the war colleges, Violet's mother tells her she has to go to the Riders college. The Riders college trains people so they might be selected by a dragon as a partner. The dragons are intelligent, and they channel a power to their riders. The Rider College is brutal. Trainees can be killed by other trainees at any time except when they are asleep. They can be killed during the training exercises. Violet has 6 months to try to catch up on the training she missed during the time she training to be a scribe. She has a condition that caused her bones to be brittle and her ligaments to be loose (her bones can easily get out of alignment because of this). Also, she is small. Five years ago, a group of members of the kingdom rebelled. They were executed in front of their children. The children were then forced to go the Riders College when they hit 20. The most lethal of these children is Xaden Riorson. He is a third year at the Riders College and the commander of a whole wing. He hates Violet's mother for executing his parents. Thus, he hates Violet. The story goes from there.
Before I give my view of the book, I need to say that the book does have some issues that may cause people to choose not to read it. Although the world building is good in many ways, there are some noticeable holes. Violet thinks about sex a lot. Sometimes when she is in danger. There are some graphic sex scenes. The writing confused me a fair amount. I found myself pausing and trying to understand what was going on sometimes. For me, only the last one was an issue.
I loved Violet. I thought she was a great heroine. I thought that the author came up with creative ways for Violet to pass challenges despite her issues and these ways seemed mostly realistic. I loved the other characters I was supposed to love. And hated the ones I was supposed to hate. I loved the dragons and their interactions with their riders. I thought the story was great. There were some amazing twists. Despite what I said about it being confusing in spots, I reached a point fairly early where I didn't want to put the book down. I wanted to read more to see what would happen next. And I wanted to pick it up again the next to see what happened next. This is one of the best books I have read this year. I will definitely continue with the series.
I recommend this book for someone who is coming at it from the romance angle. If you come at it from the fantasy angle, be aware that it might be lighter on the fantasy elements than you are used to. People should take into account the issues I listed above.
Before I give my view of the book, I need to say that the book does have some issues that may cause people to choose not to read it. Although the world building is good in many ways, there are some noticeable holes. Violet thinks about sex a lot. Sometimes when she is in danger. There are some graphic sex scenes. The writing confused me a fair amount. I found myself pausing and trying to understand what was going on sometimes. For me, only the last one was an issue.
I loved Violet. I thought she was a great heroine. I thought that the author came up with creative ways for Violet to pass challenges despite her issues and these ways seemed mostly realistic. I loved the other characters I was supposed to love. And hated the ones I was supposed to hate. I loved the dragons and their interactions with their riders. I thought the story was great. There were some amazing twists. Despite what I said about it being confusing in spots, I reached a point fairly early where I didn't want to put the book down. I wanted to read more to see what would happen next. And I wanted to pick it up again the next to see what happened next. This is one of the best books I have read this year. I will definitely continue with the series.
I recommend this book for someone who is coming at it from the romance angle. If you come at it from the fantasy angle, be aware that it might be lighter on the fantasy elements than you are used to. People should take into account the issues I listed above.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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:
Yes
Loved this book - not usually my genre but saw all the hype and thought I’d give it a go - it’s not a book that will challenge you, but it’s is an exciting read from start to finish- characters are loveable and detailed and the relationship development between all the characters is colourful and rich.
Aside from the sauciness (which is great) the lore surrounding the dragons and the history of the kingdom is interesting too- overall just loved this book and can’t wait to read the next one in the series!
Aside from the sauciness (which is great) the lore surrounding the dragons and the history of the kingdom is interesting too- overall just loved this book and can’t wait to read the next one in the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Torture, War
adventurous
emotional
sad
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, War
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
adventurous
emotional
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Grief, Death of parent
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Harry Potter for grown ups. A fun read with characters I adored - I want to hang out with them all, but they’re all way too cool for me. I truly got deeply invested in the storylines and in the character arcs - very well written. I’m just not super into stories about war, which decreased my rating a bit. Overall, I already can’t wait to read the next installment of this series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, War
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Classism
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol