After the massive hype that has surrounded this book I was nervous to dive in, however after the first few chapters I knew I was in safe hands. 

Here we have a classic fantasy heroine who must overcome her weaknesses to survive in a brutal world. 

Our heroine is Violet who seems to be suffering from a chronic muscle/ligament weakness (proper details or diagnosis we never get) which is detrimental to someone who must become a lean, mean fighting machine and dragon rider! 

The cast of characters at her school for dragon riders is somewhat diverse with the inclusion of LGBT characters, a life long best friend who seems to have changed, a evil fellow student who is hell bent on killing her and then the broody, dark (apparently ridiculously hot) son of the traitor who also happens to be her superior. Oh and dragons! 

The pace of the book was great and you were drip fed little hints and doubts on characters and their motives. Some things I guessed where others I didn’t which is always fun way to go through a story. 

And like most fantasy series, this is really a book setting up the start of the bigger picture but there was a fantastic teenage high pitch squeal and shake your hands moment on the last page which makes me want to grab the next instalment as soon as it’s out. 

Probably my only grip was some of the writing the use of full stops between words to emphasis someone saying a sentence slowly (think Clueless-esque teens saying “Oh. my. god!”) got a bit old and felt a bit teeny-bopper but really it’s the only fault I had with the book.