Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros

The dragon-riding nation of Navarre has been at war with its gryphon-riding neighbour Poromiel for centuries. Violet Sorrengail has been long destined to follow her late father into the scribe quadrant as a historian and chronicler, until her war leader mother forces her into military school to train as a dragon-rider. There, her life is at risk from the first minute, not only from the dangerous training but from her fellow cadets in a dog-eat-dog world. She must use her scholar’s mind to overcome her physical weaknesses and learn friend from foe in order to survive. After a very slow and excessively violent start, heavy with exposition, the story gets more interesting as the pace accelerates. Although the details are often illogical to the point of nonsensical, revelations about Navarre’s history improve the plot and it ends on an exciting lead-in to the inevitable sequel. Violet is a sympathetic heroine and Yarros does a good job of building up URST to a spicy conclusion with her enigmatic and possibly traitorous love interest. This fantasy-romance series is apparently the Twilight of its generation, albeit better written. Hopefully, unlike its predecessor, it improves with each instalment.