I liked this, but also it's definitely an example of "I liked it but idk if it's good". The riders division of the Battle College has an absurd mortality rate and while I get it for plot reasons, definitely a world where nothing makes sense if I spend more than two seconds thinking about it.

I will say I was surprised- my perception from the internet's reaction was that this would be more on the romance/spicy side, but we went over halfway with the protagonist in just-trying-to-survive-death-college mode which is valid!! The romance is fine. Some plot elements were predictable. I'd like to thank Anne McCaffrey for prompting me to think about dragon bonds. Going to read some other stuff before moving on to Iron Flame but I will continue. Got to say- I do like Empyrean more than Sarah J. Maas's stuff, but maybe that's because Violet feels more capable than Celaena or Feyre? idk.