On Wings of Blood (Bloodwing Academy, # 1)
By: Briar Boleyn
Publication: October 25, 2024 by Starwater Press (Indie)
523 pages
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Dragons, Vampires
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!!)
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Goodreads description--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.
After feeling let down by the ending of Briar Boleyn's previous series, Blood of a Fae—especially the final book—I planned to skip her new series. But when On Wings of Blood kept appearing everywhere, my curiosity got the better of me. ***Spoilers for the Blood of a Fae series follow, as they are necessary to understand where Bloodwing Academy begins.***
That being said, Medra was a side character included in the last book in that series. She was born a half-fae, half-human. But she grew exponentially quickly, meaning years in the matter of months. She also grew up with all of the major people who loved her most being gone. Her father was dead. Her mother died giving birth to her. Her aunt and uncle were off fighting a war. She couldn't connect with the guardian left in charge of her. She did finally connect with Odessa, who also died before the end of that book. Then Medra sacrifices herself to the point of death to take out her grandfather, who needed to die. All of that is her backstory before she wakes up on a pile of corpses in On Wings of Blood. Yet, I felt like nearly none of this history was brought with her into On Wings of Blood. Some of it is mentioned, but I didn't see clues of these experiences in Medra's character. I didn't see her fear of losing people. I didn't see her fear of being alone. I didn't see her struggle to connect like she did in the previous series. I didn't see her inexperience and immaturity, which surely were present in the previous series but not in this one. I didn't see her trauma. In all honesty, she felt like an entirely different character.
But let's assume most people haven't read the previous series and just pick up with what we experience in On Wings of Blood. Medra is captured by a man who immediately takes her before the rulers of Sangratha. Even though this land has no king, there's obviously one man who holds the most power, and he chooses to bind Medra to his nephew, Blake. Blake isn't happy about this. Not to mention that he's already betrothed to another woman from his youth, whom he grew up with. Viktor Drakharrow believes that Medra might be a long-lost dragon rider. Her fae features (that he doesn't know are fae) mark her as such. The only issue is that dragons have long since died out. Medra uses this to her advantage. She is just trying to survive. She is told that she will attend Bloodwing Academy, where she might end up dead after all.
Some pieces of On Wings of Blood didn't make a lot of sense. Why couldn't Blake feed off Medra because their bond wasn't strong enough? How were they supposed to strengthen their bond? Did Blake want to strengthen their bond to make things work between them? Or was he determined to just let her die at some point in the school? We know that isn't entirely the case, because he stopped it from happening during sparring on their first day. His feelings weren't always clear, even though he narrates. Why did Medra think going to Theo's party was a good idea? She randomly gets bored and then goes off to a party where she knows no one who likes her will be there. And doesn't expect anything to go wrong? This felt like bad writing, honestly. It didn't feel authentic to anything Medra had thought or experienced up until that point. It felt like the author needed some conflict to happen, and so she needed Medra to go rather than Medra really wanting to go. Much less Florence. Having her go made even less sense than Medra going alone. There are a few other things, but I don't want to discuss them because I might spoil too much.
Favorite quotes:
-"Let it be known that this bond is unbreakable, as enduring as the strength of our realm. By my will and the power of our ancient rites, Blake Drakharrow and Medra Pendragon are now bound together in fate and duty, forever unyielding, irrevoably united. As the dragon flies and the blood endures, so shall your destinies be intertwined. Your bond is forged. Through fire and shadows, you shall be one. What is spoken in unbroken. What is bound cannot be unbound."
-"Blood is the beginning just as blood is the end. Blood will have blood. Your essence has not been shared completely. The mark is the first stage."
-"If there was a way, it would have involved blood magic. Blood magic is powerful because it can break bonds that other magic cannot."
-By blood and breath, by night and sky, The binding of souls I sever, Let what was trapped be freed to fly, No longer bound forever. From heart to soul, from blood to bone, Let life return where stone has grown. What's chained away shall now take flight, Awakened be the soul tonight.
I was worried about spice. There was one scene. It's easily skipped without missing too much. Language is high. The f-word abounds.
The relationship with Blake was both the driving force for me and one of the most confusing. Of course, I'm dying to know what's going to happen next, considering the cliffhanger ending. I also worry that as the series continues, I’ll find more and more things that don't make sense or writing that I find to be weak. That was what I struggled with in the previous series.
All things considered, I still give On Wings of Blood 4 Stars. Despite some issues that left me questioning as I read, and noticing some writing shortcuts, I found the book engaging enough to continue the series. While the push on diversity sometimes felt forced to me, the unanswered questions and the cliffhanger ending keep me invested. If you enjoy character-driven fantasy with plenty of twists, On Wings of Blood might be worth picking up. I’m curious to see how the story develops. Have you read On Wings of Blood? What did you think? Let me know!
