I enjoyed it better than the previous book, though not as much as the first.  A lot has been said about the stuff in this book; that it's a big lore dump, that it's a filler book.  I don't think either things are particularly wrong.   But I had a lot of fun, especially with the road-trip-ey aspects as they went to the different isles.

I liked the new dragons! I think it's interesting that they're pacifists!  Let's explore that some more!

I think some of the ways the different kingdoms of isle people are racialized is a bit problematic but idk what I expected out of this series.  I wish some of the themes brough up in the later half of Iron Flame were in here - I think you could have tied that up with Sawyers storyline and

coming to terms with his disability. 

I think the ending was bad but like.  I think that's a critism i have had with every one of these books.  Rebecca Yarros you can write a good ending I believe in you. You have 2 more tries to get it right girl! 

I look forward to the next book in this series if only because she's taking a break before writing it and I wanted to see a more fully thought out entry in this series before it's over.