Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general―also known as her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter―like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda―because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.
So I am going to start with I both loved and hated this book and series overall. After the hype had been out for a while, I finally decided to give it a go and after starting the first book I immediately went out and bought book 2. I love that the book starts by not naming the POV that is used but instead giving us the background of the war college. The best parts about this book are the storylines and the world building. A place I believe Rebecca Yarros could improve is on some of the characters who feel a bit bland to me. Violet and Xaden were well written characters but I feel like some characters (Garrick and Bodhi for example) could have used some work. I know they are not the main characters who the books focus on but they are as important as the main characters are.
The storyline for me is my favorite part about the whole book. I feel that it is straightforward and easy to follow. Violet goes into the war college knowing that her goals were to cross the parapet and make it to graduation without dying. The turning point happens when they play the war games and come to the realization that they were instead sent to what was supposed to be their deaths. Of course it wouldn’t be a book series if they all died there and didn’t join the rebellion (any reader worth a darn would have seen that turning point coming). I don’t want to give away spoilers, so I am going to end this here but I do recommend this book be added to your TBR list if it isn’t already on it.
e Empyrean Series is in the works of being worked on. On March 19, 2026 she posted a video of herself writing #4 on a whiteboard and walking away. We don’t have a lot of infomation (RY doesn’t give much information in her interviews) but we do know that we will have multiple POVs and we will find out the “brother” that became venin at the end of book 3. She told us to pay attention to who was missing at the end. I am interested in hearing everyone’s opinions and fan theories on who they believe that is!
