Great YA fantasy! It started off a bit corny, especially with the character names (e.g., "Leo" hiding as "Lee"). But but once it got its footing I was sold.
I enjoyed the characters and the internal struggles Lee and Annie had to go through. The themes were the most interesting part of the book. It deals with questions that don't have clear answers. Who is best suited to rule? Is the new regime after the revolution actually better? Is a meritocracy system fair? Or is it all just more of the same?
The side characters were interesting, especially Power and Crissa. I wish the dragons had more personality, but it was still fun to see all the dragon fights.
There was some romance, but it was definitely not a major focus of the book, so I appreciated that.
I admit I don’t really understand some of the logistics of this whole setup (Why are they all teenagers in the running for Firstrider? Who was Firstrider before this contest and why aren’t they leading the charge when things happen? Certainly there’s someone else other than some kids in training?). But whatever - there's dragons!