may i just say.....HOLY FUCKING SHIT G-DDAMN FUCK SHIT. that ending had me REELING!!! omg!!

i deeply enjoyed this book, though i Did rate it only 4.5 stars because the way everyone was being mean to annie pissed me off. PARTICULARLY MEGARA ROPER. if i could've dropped her off of ixion's dragon, i would've done it. also lee was being such a jerk, not ever once trying to understand annie's pov with things At All. he was right about what he was saying, but it was the way he was saying it that enraged me. cor also needs to be dropped from ixion's dragon tho. he was a total douchecanoe.

ANYWAY, the linework, as always, was amazing in this book. it had me hooked from the first place and the only thing that kept me from finishing this book as fast as the last one was the miscommunication trope happening every time lee and annie interacted in any way at all whatsoever. it also didn't help that lee was on cor's and megara's side almost the entire book.

there were some VERY good plot twists in this book that i truly did not see coming at all whatsoever, and i loved the new characters from new pythos!! i loved delo and griff. i loved the insight into how the people of new pythos are treating the norcians, as well as the feelings of the bassilean princess. i'm so excited to learn more about her dragon in this next book because i love nothing more than gigantic monsters of any kind, but especially dragons.

there was a lot of character development in this book, but it only barely made sense the way it was done. why was lee on the side of the revolutionaries and annie was on the side of atreus?? it doesn't track with their personalities at all whatsoever. also why is every woman who isn't annie piss me the fuck off?? i just didn't understand the purpose of really any of that.

this book was great and i definitely recommend it just as much as the first one if you love dragon centric stories, but yeah there's some things that don't make much sense and the miscommunication trope is wayyyy overdone.

holy CRAP!!! this book was incredible. i can't even begin to tell you how much. i bought this series over a year ago because i love anything to do with dragons and i have no idea why it took me so long to get to it because this is genuinely one of the best dragon-centric books i've ever read.

the worldbuilding is awe inspiring. everything from the revolution that took place before the start of the story to the way the world was before it and after it are all distinct and original, though i do get the feeling the author read a song of ice and fire before writing this. i'm still wishing we got more information about palace day, even if it's gruesome.

the characters are loveable and interesting and i want to know more about them; their pasts, their families. i'm constantly rooting for both lee and annie, no matter what's going on because of the level of empathy the narrative has for each of their plights with lee being dragonborn and annie being a former serf.

the linework itself is engaging and had me hooked from the first line!! i'm not particularly fond of first person storytelling, but this one was so good that i not only didn't mind, but finished this book much faster than i finish most books as a result and this book really reminded me for the first time since the longest reading slump of my life why i love reading so much in the first place.

the reveal near the end had me gasping and covering my mouth with my eyes wide and i LOVE it when that happens!! i thought it was pretty clear from about halfway through that things weren't as they seemed with Those characters, but the level of it in the end was something i never anticipated.

this book was amazing, showstopping, perfect, incredible, devastating. i can't even think of anything i had a gripe with in regards to it other than plotlines that stressed me out just because of the nature of what they were. and i am beyond excited to start book two!! i definitely recommend this if you like fourth wing; this book is even better than that one!!