Review by Ronny
Series Name: Bloodwing Academy, # 1
On Wings of Blood is a dark academia fantasy romance that I enjoyed reading.
Favourite Quote:
“It’s not protection, little dragon. It’s a claim.” His gray eyes darkened as they flicked down to my exposed neck, an unspoken reminder hanging between us. “You’re mine. No one touches what belongs to me.”
Book Synopsis:
I didn’t sign up for this.
A half-fae in a school of highblood vampires? That’s a recipe for torment.
I’m Medra Pendragon—last of the dragon riders, or so they tell me. Funny thing is, there are no dragons left. Not a single one. But somehow, that hasn’t stopped the vampires from deciding I’m worth capturing. Now I’m stuck at Bloodwing Academy, where the highbloods run everything and blightborn like me? We’re just blood in their veins, pawns in their games.
But that’s not even the worst part. Enter Blake Drakharrow. Cold, arrogant, and way too gorgeous for his own good. He’s been tormenting me since the moment we met, and now, thanks to some ancient ritual, we’re betrothed. He acts like he owns me, but I’m not going down without a fight.
Bloodwing isn’t just a school—it’s a battlefield. Highbloods fight for power, and if you’re weak? You’re dead.
Between deadly competitions, lies that could get me executed, and a dragon-shaped secret looming over my head, all I have to do is survive. Easy, right? Except I’m starting to think the real danger isn’t the academy—it’s what I’m becoming in this twisted game of power.
And Blake? He might just be the one who pushes me over the edge.
They think they can control me. They think they can use me.
But they have no idea what they’ve awakened.
Review:
I liked this book. I might even say I loved it. I liked the premise, the characters (for the most part), and the direction the series is going in. I think the author must be a Harry Potter fan because there are some definite Hogwarts School vibes going on in this book. It’s like if Harry Potter met Fourth Wing and you threw in a bunch of vampires. For the most part, this blending of story inspiration works. I liked the world-building; I enjoyed the dark and ruthless academia setting, and the way the author uses vampires and dragons is unique enough to keep my attention. I had a hard time putting this book down, and I will definitely be grabbing the next book in the series to read.
But I do have two problems with this book; the first is that there is lots going on, maybe a bit too much. There are lots of secondary stories unfolding in this book, which is fine. My problem is, these secondary stories are often just forgotten or left undeveloped. I know this is the first book in a series and there is a good chance they will continue to develop as the series progresses. It just felt that a lot of these secondary stories were thrown in because they were something that was used in another popular fantasy book. My second complaint is Medra’s character. I like an angry heroine who just wants to see the whole world burn. But Medra’s anger felt a little too irrational, and her anger towards Blake was so extreme it made their relationship development almost non-existent. I also don’t understand the whole her being half-fae. She wakes up in this new world, with her magical abilities drained, and she never gets them back. I thought there would be some big moment where her abilities would come back, but they don’t. It was super disappointing. It just felt like the only reason why she is half-fae is that it makes her look different from the vampires. I don’t know, using her half-fae blood as the reason why she is a dragon rider when dragons don’t even exist in her world is a bit of a stretch.
Besides those two problems, the story was good. I liked the school system that the author created. It’s like a more ruthless version of Harry Potter, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The world that the author has created is interesting, vast, and dangerous. I thought the author did a great job navigating her readers through the world she has created. The story was good. It was less fast-paced than I was expecting, but I still found myself enjoying what I was reading. There are small moments of humour, there are moments when your heart is going to break a bit, and then there are moments when you are going to sit a little straighter with the anticipation of what is going to happen next. One of the things that I found myself interested in was the myths around the dragons and their riders. In most fantasy books, there is a mutual balance and strong relationship between rider and dragon, but that’s not really the case in this book. The dragons are this force of nature that resent being controlled by vampires through their bonded dragon riders. The whole dragon aspect of this book is different from what I’ve read before, and I am curious to see how their role in the series evolves.
This is a romantasy, so if you don’t like your fantasies to have a strong romantic element, then this book isn’t for you. I wouldn’t necessarily say that the relationship/interactions between Medra and Blake are that of enemies to lovers. I would say it is a one-sided hate-to-lovers trope-y feel to it. Medra’s dislike for Blake is so, so, so strong that it really does ruin a lot of the interactions between herself and Blake. She blames everything on Blake and is so hell-bent on casting him into a villain role that it makes it impossible for them to break down those walls and get to truly know one another. Even when it’s so clear that Blake is being honest, it still doesn’t seem to waver Medra’s distrust and hate for Blake. It was a bit frustrating to say the least. Blake is that typical, broody, dark, “touch her and die” hero with a dark and tragic past. I’m not saying he is a good guy, but he is a guy dealing with situations where there really is no good solution. So he gets his hands dirty because he knows that is what he has to do. There is definitely potential for the romance between Medra and Blake. I am excited to see them get out of that hate/distrust stage and move on to bigger, lustier things.
If you enjoy a romance that has a morally grey, touch-her-and-die hero, forced bonding (vampire marriage, of sorts), dark academia, magic, vampires, and dragons, then you will enjoy this series.
