Fireborne

7.5/10

This was good, but I don't really get the people who don't read YA often but say “oh but Fireborne barely feels like YA”. This is clearly a YA book. And that's not a bad thing -but the people I know who love it are always acting as if it's an exception to something and to be honest, I don't see it. It's just a book that is both good and YA. Those exist.

Because of that, though, I didn't love it. The YA stuff just kinda grates on me. Why are the leaders of the dragonriders for an entire civilization teenagers? Because YA. Why is there so much pining? Because YA.

That aside, there were some really good aspects to this. The dragons and the lore were cool, and I thought the book handled politics and characters relationships much more nuanced than I was expecting. I also really liked the last quarter or so. This is a book I would have absolutely loved if every character was 3-5 years older and acted accordingly, which isn't a slight against the book.