Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for access to an early release copy.

In this kind of fantasy world, more like a classic world of reality but with dragons, Vivien’s dream is to discover a new language of dragons. Unfortunately for her, there’s a rebellion stirring and her family seems to be a part of it. A civil war is sparked and Vivien realizes how valuable she really may be. Look for this one if you are looking historical, themes of dark academia, corrupt politicians and fantasy light. 

The idea of a dragon code breaker and spies was a clever idea. This is definitely vibes of a fantasy world- revolution and classism. The battle of the upper vs lower. The genre of young adult surprised me but in a good way; I found the writing style on the mature end of young adult and felt like it was a good choice. 

I appreciated the plot starting right away but would have preferred it a little slower, maybe starting to establish the plot a little more and the world building. And as a character constantly described as an academic, her actions and surprises to her surrounding didn’t always match. In other words, she was pretty dumb. There are side characters but I would have loved a little more development to them. It’s more a telling than a showing type of story. I liked the intelligence in this, from the code breaking to the politics involved. I would have left out the love story; just felt unnecessary.