Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
"...instead we entered battle with an enemy I'd thought were only folklore last week, and now we're... well, we're here..." Violet Sorrengail returns to Basgiath War College after surviving a war game that turned real and cost her friend his life. Her and the other survivors must pretend like everything is normal to protect themselves and the rebellion and she's miserable lying to her friends. Xaden has graduated and is at the warfront, still smuggling weapons in his spare time, while Violet tries to survive her second year of school without him. I actually thought this book was better than the first. Rebecca Yarros just assumes no character intros are needed if you made it to book two, and with introductions out of the way the adventure intensifies. Like the first book, this story included a few plot twists but these ones I didn't see coming. I enjoy it so much more when a story is unpredictable, it's easier to sink into it. When not worried about sc...