simply put, this book was not good. 

the first book got me out of a reading slump, and the second one dragged me into one. go figure. it took me 2 full weeks to complete this book. i dreaded picking it up and getting through the first half felt like homework. it was so incredibly slow and repetitive, and the writing itself left much to be desired. at times it felt juvenile and unfinished. it read like a draft.

violet's character was completely unrecognizable. her headstrong nature that i loved from the first book became immaturity and stubbornness. the way she handled conflict with all the other characters was immature. i also struggled through her internal monologue. 

it felt like violet, and the other characters, consistently did not take life or death situations very seriously, and instead focused more on trivial matters. events that you would think characters would have a intense reaction too seemed to just blow over. brennan was presumed dead, and yet we kind of just gloss over that as if it isn't a major deal that he was actually alive this whole time. this massive cliffhanger at the end of fourth wing propelled many of us to immediately want the sequel, but then that cliffhanger wasn't even really addressed properly in this book. this made it seem like shock value rather than actually adding value to the story.

violet and xaden's relationship went backwards. it seemed like he was genuinely trying to improve their relationship and had grown from the first book. but it seemed like violet just wanted to argue. about the same issues. repeatedly. with no willingness to communicate and work through issues.

the way that new characters were introduced was difficult to follow and keep track of. especially once the gryphon riders were introduced, i started to get confused on who was a rider and who was an animal. and was it really necessary to

add the jealous ex storyline? it was just petty and distracting for it to end up being revealed that cat didn't even want xaden for romantic reasons.

part 2 picked up a lot, but then became underdeveloped in the worldbuilding and exposition. it was interesting and the pages started to turn, but nothing was well explained.
i didn't get a good grasp on where we were located on the map and what the areas looked like, despite spending most of the book in the same couple locations. 
the magic system was also very underexplained. things that i thought were already established in the previous book about dragon magic and the bond between a dragon and its rider started to change. there were times where it seemed like violet could hear sgael, but i thought she could only hear tairn and andarna. 
once the wards and runes were introduced, i was lost. nothing was well explained about this new magic system that was dropped in.

there are a lot of things about the worldbuilding that still don't quite add up. i'm hoping they will be better explained in subsequent books. if they aren't explained, there will be some massive holes.

the ending (ie; the last 10%) really saved the series for me. if it weren't for the great ending, i would've dnfed the series. but i do plan on reading the 3rd book. if the writing doesn't improve though, i will not be reading the last 2 books, which i am sad to say.

2.5 stars...3/5 if i'm feeling generous.