I feel like my take on this is skewed because I had so many folks telling me this book was not good or just alright. But I think it probably just has a bit of middle book syndrome. It definitely built the characters more and gave more background and foreshadowing that will be needed for Onyx Storm. I definitely liked Fourth Wing more and this one did get lost in the school capers. But I liked it just fine. Now I can finally have conversations with the rest of the bookish world before starting Onyx Storm!