4⭐️ ~ Thank you so much to the author, Isabel Marie for gifting me an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

This book was so fun! It was like a perfect crossover between Fourth Wing and Harry Potter.

I really loved the dark academia setting. It’s so perfect for fall and really contributed to the worldbuilding and dark fantasy genre. I enjoyed all of the different classes that taught about dragons but also combat, magic, plants, and astronomy. I really wanted to be apart of some of these myself.

I really enjoyed the dragons in this book as well. The FMC, Fiora had really fun moments with her dragon. I really liked the different types of classifications as well that determined the dragon and the mages powers. I wish there was a little bit of a bigger focus and involvement with the dragons rather than just learning about them in class all the time. But still really good overall.

I absolutely LOVED the romance. This was perfection enemies to lovers. Actually tried to kill each other until the very end of the book so the author truly did this trope justice. This romance was also no spice which I really appreciated. If you are looking for a book that has similar aspects to fourth wing but you don’t want spice this is a really great one to pick up. But it’s also great to pick up even if you don’t mind spice. Atlas and Fiora’s relationship is very dynamic. Starting off as enemies but slowly realizing their similarities and growing respect for each other was really interesting to see. These characters truly have a deep understanding and love for one another rather than just lust. I hope to see more romances like this in other books someday.

I thought Fiora’s character development was lovely. She really went from being more timid to becoming a strong leading character. I enjoyed her unique internal battle between doing what she was supposed to Vs. what she wanted to do especially as she developed new relationships. Her love for her little brother, Frode was also very admirable and their little moments and memories together were super cute.

The plot line for this was also really unique. I was nervous about it being similar to fourth wing but plot wise it wasn’t the same at all. I really liked the spying aspect the most. It added a mystery/thriller element to the fantasy genre

There were a lot of grammatical errors in this arc but I expect those to most likely be fixed in the final version. I felt like there were a few plot holes at times and moments where something would happen and it would take me a few times reading it to understand what was being conveyed. I also think that there were slightly rushed moments. A whole month would go by in one chapter sometimes and it was just a little off putting for me.

Overall though, this is a fabulous debut novel. I’m very excited to read the next book and to follow this author’s journey! Definitely recommend this one (especially if you like dragons 🤭).

🐉TROPES/THEMES:

• enemies to lovers
• dark academic
• dragons
• no spice romance
• magic
• mage/dragonrider school
• brink of war

4.5⭐️ - Thank you to the publisher for providing me and E-ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!!

I’m not going to lie, I only picked this book up because it was a part of the camp NetGalley activity and it sounded interesting. However I am so so glad I did!!

I truly cannot believe this is a debut novel. It’s so detailed and well executed. The writing was beautiful as was the plot and I overall just really enjoyed it.

This book started off a little slow for me. It also took me awhile to finish because it was so heavy with information. I really only liked the time space chapters at first but by the end I really loved both time periods.

As I said before this was very well thought out. Everything made so much sense and seemed so realistic I kept wanting to think this was a real thing 😅 The author did a wonderful job of developing the idea of time. I was never confused. The concept of the time space was super interesting and I really just enjoyed the uniqueness of this book. I haven’t read anything that dived into themes like this before so I was super intrigued.

I really loved how the author took historical fiction and mixed it with some fantasy. There were many historical elements like world war 2 and the Cold War but there was also so much magic involved when it came to the concept of time.

I liked Lisavet’s story a lot. It had so much depth and made me feel so many emotions. If you’re a romantic like me you will really enjoy this one. The sacrifices Lisavet made throughout her life for love is very inspiring and interesting to see. Her soulmate Esq connection with Ernest was perfect. They are literally the definition of finding eachother in every life.

It’s truly so hard for me to describe this book without giving spoilers. Definitely an amazing one to go into blind as there are so many twists and things that add up at the end.

While the ending was still a little sad for me, I’m really happy that there is closure not only for the characters but for the reader as well. Definitely an amazing standalone!!

Anyways, I hope this review makes sense 😅 Really really enjoyed this one and I highly recommend! I can’t wait to read more by this author!