Source: From Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Publication Date: September 1, 2026
Rating:
Goodreads Synopsis:
Fourth Wing meets Formula One in this enemies-to-lovers sports romantasy about a stubbornly ambitious dragon rider who goes up against her childhood friend turned racing rival in the ultimate dragon race.The Silverscale Grand Prix is the national championship of dragon racing—a high-speed, often deadly, elite sport with an unimaginably big cash prize.Asta and her dragon Carmine are unlikely competitors. No sponsors, no high-tech gear, no fans out in the stands. Not to mention that a female rider hasn't won the Prix for nearly sixty years. The odds are stacked against them—but Asta is determined to prove everyone the training school that kicked her out for fighting a classmate, her family who wished she'd never left the farm, and, most of all, her infuriatingly arrogant childhood-best-friend-turned-rival Felix, the poster-boy heir to the Seraphin racing dynasty and reigning tournament champion.Raw talent alone won't be enough to get Asta and Carmine through these races—and it soon becomes clear that the risks Asta has taken to get to Silverscale could have devastating consequences. Time to think fast, or die trying.
Review:
I was so excited to get this book for review, I have been loving F1 and the description pulled me in. Sadly, I found the book just ok, which is a bummer.
The story follows Asta, a dragon rider headed for Silverscale. She’s worked her way up from farm life to racing and is determined to win. While there, she reconnects with her former neighbor and rival, Felix, while also getting pulled into some shady dealings with people who want her help during the race.
Asta is our FMC, determined and stubborn, which are usually traits I enjoy in a character, but she often acts like she is much younger than she is with her dialogue and behavior. Felix, the MMC and golden-boy rival, felt somewhat oblivious, which I think was partly because of his privilege. Nat, a side character and love interest, was easily my favorite. She was mouthy and rude, but her attitude added a lot of fun to the story.
I enjoyed the race descriptions, but the racing itself felt like an odd mix of horse racing and Formula 1 without fully committing to either. I couldn’t quite grasp the mechanics of dragon racing, and the world surrounding the races was barely described beyond the track itself.
The character relationships were another weak point for me. This was marketed as a romantasy, so I expected more development in the romantic relationships, but they felt fairly shallow. Asta and Felix especially read like they were having a high school breakup every time they interacted. Asta’s constant insistence that she had done everything completely on her own also started to get annoying. Yes, she worked hard to make it to the championship, but Felix’s family gave her a dragon and allowed her to start riding in the first place...on their dragons. Her success is absolutely her own accomplishment, but I wish the story acknowledged the privilege and help she had along the way that was less whiney.
Overall, I think the book had an interesting premise, but the execution didn’t quite work for me. I liked Nat, Asta was okay but sometimes whiny, and Felix was a fairly forgettable MMC. While there were some spicy scenes, the rest of the book read more like a Young Adult romantasy than an adult one.
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