Book Cover

I’m used to functioning in pain, asshole. Are you?

# Review

My girlfriend spoke very highly of this novel, which takes place in the fictional kingdom of Navarre. The story follows Violet Sorrengail, a twenty-year-old who, having trained her entire life to be a scribe, enters into training to become a dragon rider. The plot covers Violet’s training in the harsh Rider’s Quadrant and her journey to become a dragon rider.

I’ll be honest, the book is a young adult romance novel masquerading as fantasy fiction. Personally, I don’t care much for YA romance stories and I also found the fantasy elements within the book to be generic and unoriginal. This is not to say that the fantasy aspect is bad, per se. I actually really enjoyed the story near the end of the book, where the focus shifts away from romance and into the realm of fantasy; I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the dragons. Yarros is a good writer and the world building, while not as extensive as that of Tolkien’s or Martin’s, is pretty solid. I also like how Yarros portrays Violet’s Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a disorder which Yarros herself experiences. The characters are largely one-dimensional except Violet (and maybe Xaden); the character arcs are predictable but well-planned.

# Conclusion

I'm clearly not the target demographic for this book, but I can see why many people like it.

# Overall rating: 7.1

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