The Hunger Games + Dragons = This Book
Honestly, I put off reading this book by Rebecca Yarros because I didn’t hear anything good about it. Then one of my book clubs elected to read it, so I went ahead and got the audiobook from my library.
I actually really enjoyed it. I’m not saying it’s good, just that it’s a lot of fun. I ended up listening to it while making pies for Thanksgiving and had a great time.
Our heroine, Violet Sorrengail, has been voluntold for the school for Riders. The school for Riders prepares (or tries to prepare) students to become dragon riders. It’s as cool as it sounds, but also as dangerous, and I’m glad this book lets us hang out with dragons without diminishing how extremely dangerous it would be to try to actually deal with giant, flying, fire-breathing reptiles.
Violet has always been “frail.” There’s no explanation in terms of a condition or anything, just that she’s well acquainted with the local Healer because she’s had to make plenty of trips there for broken bones and other injuries. Given that Rider students already have a low survival rate, no one, including Violet, is betting on Violet surviving to graduation.
Violet, like her father, has always had a greater affinity for books and reading, so she wanted to go to the school for Scribes, but her mother insisted she apply to the School for Riders.
Her mother, by the way, is a very high-ranking general in the Navarre army, so she probably pulled some strings to get Violet into the school for Riders.
Her mother is also responsible for executing the traitors who led a rebellion against Navarre. The children of those traitors, rather than also facing execution, were forced to attend the school for Riders so they could prove their loyalty to Navarre by fighting for it. That makes Violet a target for the students who view her mother as their parents’ murderer.
Violet is also not happy with all of her classmates, specifically Xaden Riorson, whose father killed her brother during the rebellion. But there’s chemistry between her and Xaden she just can’t deny, blah blah blah, you get the idea. That’s not the interesting part of this story.
The interesting part of this story doesn’t come until the very end, which I’m going to spoil now, so consider yourself warned…
Violet’s brother is still alive, and she gets reunited with him at the very end. The rebels rebelled because Navarre’s leadership has been less than honest with them about the kingdom to the north, which keeps attacking Navarre because they’re greedy for Navarre’s resources, even though Navarre is constantly flicking away their attacks like annoying gnats. Even early in the book that explanation didn’t make much sense, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that it turned out there’s more to the story.
In reality, the attacks are coming from venin and wyverns, mythical creatures that aren’t supposed to exist, at least according to Navarre leadership.
In fact, they are very real, and they are the real threat to Navarre. That’s what Violet’s brother, Brennan, and the other rebels having been trying to fight. Instead of getting help from Navarre in fighting this existential battle, they’ve had to operate in the shadows, either without Navarre knowing or while also fighting Navarre.
Even before Violet is faced with the reality of venin and wyverns in the flesh, she finds hints from a book her dad left her that they might be more than myth. Since her dad died a few years ago, that leaves questions as to the nature of his death…
My favorite part of the book by far was the dragons, even if there was a lot there that wasn’t believable. For example, not only does our heroine bond with the biggest, baddest dragon of them all, the Black Dragon, she also bonds a smaller gold dragon. Not only is the gold dragon also extremely rare, but no one in the history of Navarre has ever bonded two dragons before. But of course our heroine is so amazing that she manages to bond two dragons. One of the other members of my book club pointed out that all that was missing was a prophecy naming Violet as the Chosen One.
The other thing I didn’t believe was the fact that, when a rider falls off their dragon, dragons tend to just let them fall to their death. The only exception is Violet’s dragon, who keeps diving down to save her and eventually even agrees to wear a saddle. I think we’re meant to believe it’s because this particular dragon forms very strong bonds, having almost died of grief after his previous rider was killed, but I still don’t believe it.
Oh, and Violet’s dragon is mated to Xaden’s dragon because of course it is.
I did roll my eyes a lot at this book, especially all the parts that had to show us just how dark and broody Xaden was, but I still enjoyed it. Haven’t decided yet whether I’ll continue the series.