Yet another “teenagers battle to the death at school” story, except this time they’re battling for the chance to bond with dragons. Nerdy teen Violet always wanted to be a scribe (read: lawyer/historian), but her mother commands her to go to dragonrider school where the chance of death is not only possible but statistically likely; although much is made of her weak frame, Violet can apparently hit whatever she wants to with a thrown dagger and also manages to training-montage her way to awesomeness while still retaining vast mental tomes of history and battle tactics. She also, of course, finds herself in a love corner (it’s not a triangle if it’s not a three-way!) with two hot guys, one of whom is named Xaden. (It’s an exotic analogue of Jayden, Braden, or Kaden.) No prizes for guessing whether or not she bonds one of the coveted dragons. Although I rolled my eyes hard through much of this novel, it was also undeniably a fun ride, full of teen drama, romance, action, and snappy comebacks. Extremely formulaic, but the formula works.