So, the first half was a little difficult to stomach because Ruby is TSTL and I honestly kept expecting her to die. She should have died. A lot.

Newly awakened dragon? Of course she can suddenly handle four demons intent on tearing her to shreds. Ignoring the fact that she doesn't even believe she's a dragon. Just attacked by invisible demons? Of course she should run home instead of following the experienced and knowledgeable dragon to a safe place. Uncle's dying words are Cyn's name so he must be the killer! Oh, but he didn't. But then she sees her grandpa in town, so he must be the killer! Oh, but he's not. I found Ruby's attitude and tendency to jump to conclusions, in addition to her overconfidence, absolutely deplorable. I actually continued reading just so I could write a ranty review about how much I hated her.

But then I got to the halfway mark (or so) and Ruby was much better. She still copped a bit of an attitude and made poor choices, but she was definitely more tolerable. So in the end, I kinda liked her a little bit. But only a little bit.

Cyn was scrumptious and I felt so bad for him, the way he struggled with his past and ennui. I really enjoyed watching him "awaken" with Ruby and his take charge attitude was deliciously alpha. I understood him much more than I understood Ruby.

The plot was interesting, though I'm still not sure what all the various dragon and magickal stuff means. The world building was a bit of an info dump towards the beginning and my hatred of Ruby is much more memorable than the various sects of magickal beings. I could have used a graph or chart, for sure. But with all the demon attacks and magickal warfare throughout the rest of the book, the climax fell a bit flat. I mean... I can't even describe a teensy bit of it without spoiling it, but it basically all boils down to popping a balloon slowly instead of quickly. *dumbfounded* That's it?! THAT'S IT?! Ugh, that's fucking it. Kinda disappointing, to be honest.

Definitely interested in seeing Kade's story, which is next in the series. I figured Grayson's story would be the third, as it's about an angel and Grayson is the angel we're introduced to in this story, but apparently it's about some other dude. Definitely going to track down 0.5 and 0.6 in this series.