I liked the book overall, but the amount of cursing and explicit scenes is quite frankly ridiculous. I would give this book 5 stars if it weren't for that.

This follow-up to "Fourth Wing" did not disappoint. It continued with non-stop action, twists and turns, and romance to make for terrific storytelling. It'll be hard to wait another year for the next book.

Let's talk about the good and the bad. Because, overall, I loved it, but there were definitely things that I didn't like.

Let's start off with one good: the diversity of characters. While I genuinely don't recall characters of color being described other than a couple times (but admittedly, physical character descriptions tend to not stick in my mind, yay face blindness! it's not just for real life!), which is something that I'd love to see improved upon, we have nice representation of different sexual and gender identities. Same-sex relationships are treated just as equal as heterosexual relationships (at least as far as we see in the college; we don't know marital laws in Navarre but one can assume), and we've had a couple mentions of non-binary cadets between Fourth Wing and this book. They're never explicitly stated as, "Hey, look at this non-binary person!" but Yarros effortlessly includes gender neutral pronouns while talking about them. But, of course, I'd love to see more of these characters (they're fairly background characters in Violet's squad), maybe in the next book?

Now, one bad. I very much disliked Violet for most of the book -- the "conflict" standing between her and Xaden having a happy relationship was so immature and forced. Big deal, he didn't tell you about a super secret rebellion that would cost him his life, and at least 107 other people's lives, if people found out. It wasn't his secret to share, and for her to hold that against him was so infuriating. I could have been spared at least 107 pages of this contrived "will they-won't they" angst. Definitely my least favorite part of the book. (I understand now why reviewers focused on the romance were disappointed with this.) If Yarros wanted to include some conflict to keep them from having a perfectly happy relationship from the start, that's fair! But the way it happened was just... immature and frustrating to read.

However, I loved the actual story line that had to do with the rebellion. I didn't expect things to happen so quickly when they finally did around the middle of the book

(so many cadets leaving the college once the truth was revealed)

. Varrish was an excellent villain, working fully within the power of a corrupted government and school. And I'm personally cheering for Dain's redemption arc, even if he was an overprotective prick in the first book.

I love that he immediately supported Violet as soon as he knew the truth, and was ready to before then if she had only talked to him.

I don't love him, but he's alright.

I loved the friendships with Rhiannon, Jesinia, and Imogen, although I disliked that Imogen falls to the wayside unfortunately about halfway through. I would have LOVED to see their friendship develop further. Although we see Imogen's respect and like of Violet grow throughout the book, the friendship all but disappears once Rhiannon is brought into the fold. Maybe Yarros should spend less time writing about Violet's immaturity with Xaden and focus more pages on developing these friendships further. (I also would have loved to see more time with Sloane and Cat.) Also, it's kind of weird that Rhiannon has been such a central figure and Violet's best friend for two books, but we know absolutely nothing about her girlfriend other than her name? I know, different squad and all, but... I feel like we should actually have some scenes with her. I guess what I'm saying is, more attention to the women, please. <3

Andarna was one of my favorite parts of the book, which is a shame that she spent most of it gone. It was kind of like Yarros didn't know how to work her into half the book so she was just like, "idk, she's sleeping" until she became an important plot device. Still, I love Andarna despite that.

So, obviously I had some issues with the 4 of the writing, but I really did enjoy the plot and all the twists that they had to navigate. I couldn't put this down and accidentally stayed up until 8am reading it the night I got it, oops!

I really feel like the relationship between Violet and Xaden regressed in this book. They're keeping secrets, but the secrets that Xaden is keeping could kill him and his dragon, while the "secrets" Violet thinks she's keeping would just make Xaden roll his eyes at her. They're truly not comparable. Violet is insufferable, and I do not like her as a main character. Just like the first book, I would much rather read this book from Xaden's point of view. I hate to say it, but this makes it out to be that there is very little character development from Violet in the entire book. 

The book is also really, really long. I feel like the book could have ended after

Violet was sprung from the interrogation chamber

and nothing would have been any different. There's a definitive mark of the "before" and the "after" after that scene, and ending the book there would not have hurt it.

At this point, also, I feel like the author is just killing people for shock value. I do like the Gryphon riders' reactions to the Dragon riders, though - one of them says something along the lines of "The way you kill your recruits/cadets is staggering." If a potential Gryphon rider fails their mounting challenge, they just pick themselves up and choose a different service branch. If a dragon rider fails ANY of their stuff, they die. Quick, but not always painless. Some of the deaths seem warranted, but a great many feel as if they are only to shock the reader.

And let's not even get started on the ending of this book.

Turning Xaden into the enemy? I knew that General Sorengale would have to die at some point, especially because she had just learned that her oldest kid Brennan was still alive, but at least her sacrifice appears to have been for the greater good. What is the point of turning Xaden? I'll read the next book, but to end the book on a cliffhanger like that seems like a step too far, again.