A customer recommended this to me, and as a fantasy lover, I obviously had to read it. Here's what I thought: I really enjoyed how the dragons were set up—it was fascinating to learn about their languages and culture. I also loved the academy aspect of the story. It kind of reminded me of The Hunger Games, with recruits and tributes teaming up only to eventually fight against each other to survive. That whole dynamic was amazing. Most of the characters were well-written, though I did wish the author had taken more time to develop them. Some characters were only introduced by name and hair color, which was a bit disappointing and could've been expanded more. That said, there were characters I really loved, like Atlas. His quiet strength was incredibly appealing, and I totally understood Vivien's struggles. I was also really happy to see more cultural appreciation in this book. The characters felt individual without it being overdone—like with Atlas, who is a Black man, but his race isn’t the focal point of his character. It just happens to be part of who he is, and I appreciated that. Similarly, Vivien being half Bulgarian was a nice touch as well. As for the FMC, Vivien, she was an interesting character to read about. She was quite flawed, which made her feel more real to me. However, I think she deserved more of a redemption arc than she got. At the beginning, I could sympathize with her confusion about the rebellion and her political naivety due to her upbringing, but by 80% into the book, she still hadn’t changed her views and remained selfish, which became a bit of a turn-off for me. It also frustrated me that Atlas, who was a priest-in-training, told Vivien that he was celibate for religious reasons, and she continued to get upset with him, repeatedly bringing up that he couldn’t kiss her and even ridiculing his beliefs. Instead of her growing more accepting or understanding, the resolution felt forced when Atlas suddenly decided to give up his priesthood and kissed her out of the blue. It felt like the author brought religion into the story just to resolve the romance arc, but it was poorly executed. That said, her relationship with Atlas was cute, and I loved how patient he was with her. I also wish we could’ve seen more of Vivien’s parents and her sister, Ursa. They had a huge impact on the story without really being part of it, so I hope we’ll get to see more of them in the next book. Overall, I'd give this book 3.5 stars—3 for the amazing worldbuilding, and the half star just for Marquise, my favorite character alongside Atlas.