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Oof. This book is a lot of things, and most of all it is extremely overhyped. Yes, the premise and the worldbuilding are pretty cool. The dragons are frickin' awesome and are, tbh, the only thing that make this book really worth reading. But to get to that part, you will have to wade through 500 pages of very tedious high school-esque drama, aka the neverending Violet-Xaden vicious circle of cringeworthy discussions loaded with sexual tension that end in nothingness. Honestly, by the third time I reached a chapter of them kinda-but-not-really talking and just getting horny, I started skimming these parts of the book, because I just couldn't bear it anymore. Also, that ending is a whole new kind of WTF and has me wonder if the last book will just turn everything on its head again.

It could have been an excellent book, if only it had 300 instead of 623 pages, and if it would have put it's best characters at the center - Tairn, Andarna, Sgaeyl and all the other dragons.

I jumped on the hype train with this book, mainly because the premise sounded interesting - a dragon riding college? But I admit that this is the first ever "romance" book I've read, and I'm not sure what to make of that regarding this book. In my opinion, there wasn't really much romance in this book, but rather quite a lot of horniness. Which ironically is also what I liked least about this book (aside from its very militaristic nature). I think it could have been an infinitely better book without the main character constantly salivating over some guy, who no less is supposedly the son of someone who killed her brother? WTF??? I get that it serves to illustrate that not everything is black and white, but I found it cringe at times.

What I did like about the book is the worldbuilding (again, minus the militaristic nature). The dragons are pretty cool, as is the magic system of bonding to magical creatures. It's a very decent entry-level fantasy book, which is well written and mostly well-paced (but IMHO could also have been condensed in some aspects).

Does it live up to the hype? I don't think so. Will I still read book 2 and 3? Definitely.

Finally, the conclusion to the Arc of a Scythe series. This book is, like all books in the series, extremely well written an a joy to read. I love how it uses "mystical" religious writings to establish its lore. And this is where it all comes together, and this universe becomes ever bigger.

I particularly enjoyed reading about how a seemingly ridiculous idea has grown into a full-fledged religion, including the most un-prophety prophet one could imagine. Even beyond the tonists, this book has so many interesting things that give you food for thought. The Thunderhead seems like a benevolent ChatGPT, and it makes one wonder if this is a future we're heading into - but I think ours will be much darker.

What could have been better was the pacing (again) - the story focuses a lot on some aspects of the story, but others, the ones you really want to know about, are few and far between.

I greatly enjoyed reading this series, as it evident from me having read this 600+ page book within two days.

What a strange ride. The first half of the book suffers a bit from pacing issues. Introducing new characters and spending a bit too much time of them instead of the main characters tended to get a bit too tedious for me.

Then halfway through the book, you're hit with a huge WTF moment, that makes you question the rules of this universe. But what are the rules in a post-mortality society anyway? The return of Goddard was this WTF moment. He was supposed to be dead dead, and that was the highlight of book one. Bringing him back cheapens that... but in hindsight, also send a message about how you can seemingly never get rid of people like him. He's very much a Trump-like character, and there will always be insane, power-hungry people like him.

A lot of this book is also a setup for Book 3 (I assume), and the most interesting plot line is left open. Let's see how that ends.

The tagline on the cover of this book says "Some secrets should remain buried", and I have to totally agree with that. This book is 99% a prequel to Wool, and IMHO completely unnecessary. It explains how the world came to be what it is, how the silos were created, and why things happened the way they happened. But why would I want to know this? Not knowing every detail of these things is what made this world so interesting for me in the first place.

It also doesn't help that the main character is called Donald of all names... and does some incredibly stupid things, especially at the end of the book. It's absolutely unfathomable to me why he did what he did to Anna. Why?? WTF? Also, reading about Jimmy's solitude became really boring really fast.

Not to mention the frustration of just wanting to know how Juliette's story continues and not getting that satisfaction.

Altogether, a very mediocre sequel to an okay first book. I hope the final book is better.