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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 3.5/5
Pages: 512
Started: 6 December 2023
Finished: 9 December 2023
Summary:
Violet Sorrengail has trained her whole life to follow in her father's footsteps as a Scribe. However her mother, famed commander in Navarre's army, has enrolled Violet in the military school, where she will either become a Dragon rider, or die. Violet, despite her her fear, wants to follow in her mother's and siblings' footsteps, and use the help of her childhood friend Dain to succeed at the school. But Violet has a problem--several partially-reformed rebels at the school, including the beautiful and powerful Xaden Riorson, hate her mother so much they want to kill her--and a secret--Violet has a connective tissue disorder that means even the safest everyday task can be dangerous for her.
Though the cards may be stacked against her, Violet is clever and principled and endlessly tenacious, determined to overcome the odds.
Thoughts:
This book was basically an adult Divergent with dragons. It was definitely fun; the improvement-montage scenes made me very happy, as did Violet's capability and her being chosen by the most powerful dragon. All the good and exciting things that happened were very predictable, but they were well-executed enough to be fun to watch.
The writing was very mediocre--"Am I seriously watching them debate over whether I should be punished for being Lillith Sorrengail's daughter?" feels very 2010s Jennifer L. Armentrout romance. There were several turns of phrases, especially ones that included dates or days of the week, that pulled me out of the world very violently, and the world-building in terms of history, religion, and magic system was so light it almost felt lazy.
Violet was a pretty fun character by the end; she was projectable like Divergent's Tris. About halfway through the book she developed a sort of competent masculine competence that made her really fun, and I only wished that aggression had been there from the start. Her refusal to kill is the one thing I really didn't like about her character. It gave her morality, which I suppose was important, but I think it would have been more interesting if she had a different moral line that she refused to cross, since the female protagonist not wanting to kill anyone is pretty cliche.
This book being NA/Adult has an interesting impact on its Divergent-ness as well; Violet is aware of her desire and displays autonomy and control in relation to her sexuality, which feels a lot better than an intelligent ingenue protagonist falling for a much older guy. The only problem I had with the higher spice level was that, in one scene, Violet essentially tries to fix Xaden's trauma with a blowjob, which. Is very weird and negates mental illness and just rubbed me the wrong way very badly. The chemistry was also pretty mediocre.
The overall plot was solid; I am a sucker for the protagonist who is chosen and then gets crazy power, and the battle scenes and social dynamics at the school were all very exciting to read. The romance with Xaden was fun, even if the "love triangle" with Dain was so obvious that there was no suspense involved. The first reveal (Xaden's continued rebellion) was overdone; I'm not sure why Violet was so surprised that the rebel who cared so much for other rebels, continued to rebel. The second (the brother cliffhanger situation) was slightly crazier and more interesting.
I'm not entirely sure if I'll read the next book; I heard it was significantly worse than the first. But I am glad I've read this book and can finally understand all the internet conversation surrounding it. All I can say is that while it may be the next Romantasy book with enough fame to be compared to SJM books, it definitely does not rival the immersion of her work.