A dragon without a rider is a tragedy. A rider without a dragon is dead. ARTICLE ONE, SECTION ONE, THE RIDERS' CODE "Is there anyone else who wants to change their mind?" Zayden shouts, looking at the other cadets with the same malicious look as the blue dragon behind him. "No? Perfect. About half of you will be dead by next summer." Everyone in formation is silent, and only some muffled sobs can be heard to my left. "One-third of you will have died by the second year and just as many by the third. Here, no one cares who your mom or dad is. Even the second son of King Tauri died during the Selection. So tell me again: Do you feel invincible now that you've managed to reach the Riders' Quadrant? Do you feel indestructible? Do you feel like you're in the elite?" No one cheers now. Another hot wave hits me, this time directly in the face, and I tense up at the cremation that awaits me. But it's not flames... it's just steam blowing back Rhiannon's braids as the dragons snort simultaneously. The pants of the freshman in front of me blacken, the color spreading down his legs. They want us to fear them. They've succeeded. "Because to them, you're neither indestructible nor anything special." Zayden points to the blue dragon and leans forward a bit, looking us in the eyes as if he wants to tell us a secret. "To them, you're just prey." Discover the barbaric and elite world of the dragon riders' military academy in Rebecca Yarros's best-selling book. Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail would normally enter the Scribes' Quadrant and live a quiet life with her books. Now, the commanding general—and her cold-hearted mother—has ordered Violet to follow the hundreds of candidates eager to become Navarre's elite... after first becoming dragon riders. But because she is the smallest of all and her body is fragile, death seems just a breath away... On the one hand, because dragons do not bond with "fragile" people. Instead, they cremate them. On the other hand, because the other candidate riders want to kill Violet. Since the dragons willing to bond are fewer than the cadets, most candidates see Violet's death as increasing their own chances. However, many want to kill her simply because she is her mother's daughter—as does Zayden Ryerson, the most powerful and ruthless wing leader in the Riders' Quadrant. Violet will need every drop of her wits to face the next sunrise. However, with each passing day, the war outside becomes fiercer, the kingdom's magical chambers weaken, and the dead continue to rise. And the worst? Violet begins to suspect that the leaders are hiding a terrible secret. Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgaith Military Academy has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: either you graduate or you die.