ARC:

My rating: 4.5 stars

I really enjoyed this read and I couldn’t put it down. I’ve never read any of Briar Boleyn’s other works, but the blurb for this one hooked me pretty instantly so I gave it a shot.

I’m a huge fan of enemies to lovers. It was pretty refreshing that it didn’t switch to an instant love sort like some of the enemies to lovers do. Pendragon and Darkharrow still have an edge to them at the end of book one, so the enemies to lovers can continue, unlike most other series where it disappears during the first book. So, I’m interested to see where there relationship goes next.

I felt the world building was good. Although sometimes it did become an exposition dump that I could have went without. (In particular one of the early chapters that describe the school.) It likely would have been better to have a little chart at the beginning, because honestly I forgot most of the house names other than darkharrow while reading.

I will say that there were quite a few similarities between this and fourth wing. Which I thought might bother me more, as I loved fourth wing and didn’t want to read a carbon copy of it. On Wings of Blood was different enough that I enjoyed it. But I did still feel myself comparing the two novels while reading.

Lastly, Neville the Fluffin was the real MVP.

Thank you so much to Briar Boleyn for ARC!

A dark academia romantasy with a morally grey vampire MMC and a dragon riding badass FMC - is there a better combination?!

High stakes, suspense filled, and nail biting, this book has it all, it’s unputdownable, the kind of book you need to devour as you just can’t leave it at any point!

⭐️ 4/5
🌶 2/5

This felt like a mix of Fourth Wing, Harry Potter, and Immortal Dark.

🩸 Bully Vampire MMC
🩸 Dragon Rider FMC
🩸 Dark Academia
🩸 Forced Bond
🩸 Dragons
🩸 Deadly Games

This was a good but odd read. I absolutely LOVE Briar's work, but I felt like this book had some parts that felt forced and jarring - some scenes and topics felt like they were randomly thrown in there.

Other than that, I really love Blake. Kind of feel sorry for him in the end.

ENDS OF A CLIFFHANGER. Which was seriously unexpected.

If you like vampires, dragons, enemies-to-lovers, and academy books…this one is for YOU. The plot was incredibly enticing and definitely had a lot of angst. The main character Medra was such a badass.

The plot, pacing, and worldbuilding was excellent. There was some information left out, but that will likely be in the sequel.

A must-read for any romantasy fans!

I challenge anyone to read the first chapter - hell, the first five sentences - and not immediately think a) god, this is so cinematic and b) I can’t wait for these two idiots to fall in love.

Boleyn writes her dark and deadly world evocatively, and gifts us characters who are sharp, interesting and immediately compelling to read about. The banter from the very first chapter hooks you into the story, and predictions of this being my next obsession were easily earned.

Medra is the perfect FMC; she’s smart, deadly, quick on her feet and hilariously sarcastic. Blake is her perfect match despite being brutal, cold and a blood sucking vampire. The cold mask he portrays to the world belies his softer, dreamers heart. I was hooked from the off but when we switched to dual POV at the 30% mark - a genius decision to hold off until then - I struggled to put this down.

On Wings of Blood is out now, and is perfect for fans of The Vampire Diaries x Harry Potter x Fourth Wing.

3.75 I enjoy Briar's writing. This book continues Medra's story from Briar's Blood of a Fae. I feel like the premise of having a dragons and vampires AND fae in a school setting is unique enough. I liked Medra. I feel like Blake is misunderstood. We start to see that towards the end of the book. I do wish they had more banter and tension. I liked that there were trials but I was really confused on why they were held if people weren't competing against each other. They also went by really quickly when there was this build up to them. I do agree with other reviews that said that the beginning was good, and then the middle did kind of drag. It had the potential for a love triangle but that stayed stagnant. It picked up at the end again. Spice was about a 1.5. There was one scene. I enjoyed the world building and the character development. Can't wait to see how this all evolves in the next book.!

In On Wings Of Blood we follow Medra Pendragon, who thought she died saving her family. But instead is dropped into a world of vampires, who rule everything. She is forced into a betrothal, then into a school she doesn't want to be at. She is struggling to deal with the fact that her life and lives of other mortals are not important compared to the vampires. But she is trying to find her way in this new world.

I loved this book! I had a hard time putting it down. It was such an interesting world. It was a good mix of Hogwarts and Basgaith. Briar did a great job with the world building. I first met Medra in the Blood Of A Fae series. I was glad to be able to get to know more about her in this new series. I knew she was feisty, but its great to see more of it in this book. It is not nessacery to read that series first, but it does give backstory to Medra.

I loved several of the side characters. Especially Florence and Naveen. It was nice to see Medra find family to be supportive of her. I loved Theo, even though I wasn't sure about him at first.

And then there is Blake, our MMC. I love him and hate him at the same time. He really is such a jerk with a softer side. But who knows how much of the side we will get to see. Will he turn out to actually be a good guy?

I really enjoyed this book and I can't for book 2! Especially after the ending. Briar knocked it out of the park with this one. Great world building, great plot, and great characters.

Tropes:
Vampires
Dual POV
Arranged marriage
Dragons
Slow burn
Touch her and die
Dark Academia

Wow. Just wow. This is my first time reading this author but it will not be the last. What a twisted and wonderful story about a vampire academy and Pendragon who randomly gets put into the middle of it all. The world building was a chefs kiss and I loved every second of the story. I cannot wait for book

Wow Wow Wow!! I cannot wait to read more of this series!!
I haven't read a Fantasy this intense since Fourth Wing!! This has all the makings of a best seller!
Mysterious Appearance
Dark Academia
Forced Proximity
Magic
Bullies
Suspense (nail-biting)
Drama

I found myself rooting for Medra and her friends, so I cannot wait for their journey to continue! Blake lacks some decorum but what do you expect from a hot vampire royal from another time?

5/5 - What a twisted and wonderful story about a vampire academy and Pendragon who randomly gets put into the middle of it all. The world building was a chefs kiss and I loved every second of the story. I cannot wait for book 2. I love Briar Boleyn and this book was even better than the Blood of a fae series. Highly recommend and I'll be grabbing book 2 the second it hits. On Wings of Blood will be living in my head until then. I love dark worlds and seeing an already strong fmc go through it to only become stronger on the other side and this delivered.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author Briar Boleyn for the ARC.

On Wings of Blood (Book #1 in the Bloodwing Academy series) by author Briar Boleyn was SO GOOD! I had a good feeling about this one only 20 pages in, and it did NOT disappoint. I mean harry potter vibes x vampires x academy settings… Yes please!! The characters, the setting and the romance aspects were great. Not to mention, the cliff hanger… I’m going to need book 2!! I do want to add that I have not read this author’s other series (Blood of a Fae), therefore I am unsure of how this could have altered my reading experience of this one.

We dive into this book meeting Medra (our FMC), after being dropped in from another world, miraculously alive, she ends up being found by a prince, but not the kind you’d think. She’s then dragged to a strange city, otherwise known as Sangratha, where she’s then declared bonded to that prince, otherwise known as Blake Drakharrow (our MMC). Right off the bat we had some great banter between our FMC and MMC. Medra was always quick to make a sassy remark and I was thriving for it. She was so unapologetically herself regardless of the situation. Medra is a smart and cunning FMC, I like that although she took no BS, she knew her weaknesses and was just/fair throughout the book and not to mention kept getting better and better each chapter. Blake, oh Blake…. WELL he certainly fits the morally grey/bully/possessive MMC card right! “It’s not protection, little dragon. It’s a claim.” LIKE OH OKAY! I will certainly say that possessive Blake might’ve been my favorite Blake. I enjoyed that we got to follow his POV as we find he has many layers to uncover. I started to really enjoy Blake when we got to see him live out his childhood dreams with a real fluffin. I also thoroughly enjoyed our side characters too! Florence came off as such a sweetheart, and I hope to see more of her in the next book. Not to mention, Kage… Well regardless of him being a walking red flag, let’s say I am hoping we get more of him in the next book as he’s definitely competing with Blake for me on this one!

The world building was great, I always enjoy a good academy setting and this one really did it for me! I also was really intrigued by the aspect of the 4 houses and what each represented. I felt like I was able to understand all the subclasses and how each were sorted as it was easily explained. This is the same for the magic system, although it was not as complex, it was easy to grasp and explained well. I did feel like there were some mini storylines that were super intriguing, but they kind of fell off and did not pick back up, which I guess I struggled to understand. I do wish I’d also known to have read the “Blood of a Fae” series prior to this as I’d like to have had background knowledge on the FMC. I do also feel like things got a bit repetitive, which I believe with the typical academy type-setting and classes that the interactions might have been, but it became a bit slower paced there for me then picked back up towards the end. Overall, THE CLIFFHANGER! I absolutely cannot wait for book #2 and I believe this was a great first installment!

Favorite Quotes:

- "𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯."
- "𝘏𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩."
- "𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘣 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵."
- "𝘔𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦."

Definitely recommend reading if you enjoy the following:
✨ Arranged Marriage
✨ Bully MMC
✨ Dual POV
✨ Vampires x Dragons
✨ Academy setting
✨ Forced proximity
✨ Found Family

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6944316822

Briar Boleyn is a master at grabbing her readers attention and keeping them captivated from beginning to end.

Blake and Medra are such well written characters that I feel as though I'll be missing friends until book 2 comes out... And that ending!

This was everything my little fantasy/romantasy heart desired! Boleyn's writing is absolutely superb. There was the perfect balance between plot and romance/spice. The MMC is swoon worthy too! I cant wait to see what comes next!

Unputdownable! On Wings of Blood had me hooked from the first page and kept me curious as to what was going to happen next. It also (without getting spoiler-y) ripped my heart out. The book gave off major Harry Potter vibes, but with vampires. I loved Medra, she's such a strong badass FMC, but UGH I have a love/hate relationship with Blake. He is so soft and sweet sometimes but then he does things that are the biggest, most toxic red flags and I don't know how to feel. The plot, the worldbuilding, the characters were so good. Very interested to see how Blake turns things around in the next book because after that ending (which had me internally screaming) I kind of hate him. Thanks Netgalley for the e-ARC!

I don’t think this one was for me. It very much felt like a Harry Potter fan fiction but with vampires. Theres nothing wrong with that, but I often found myself laughing because the similarities between it and Harry Potter were insane.

If the fact that this book is advertised as like Fourth Wing draws you in, be warned: it isn’t like Fourth Wing in the sense that there’s dragons. There are very, very little dragons in this book. It is very much set up to have dragons in future books, but if they’re what lured you in, you might be disappointed.

I had a hard time getting into this book until somewhere around the 30% mark. It was very slow and full of a lot of world building and descriptions that stopped the story from moving forward.

Pendragon is from another world, and there’s a few little hints dropped about it, but we never really get to hear any details that might be considered important to really tell us who she is. There’s clearly a backstory going on that I’ve learned happens in another series, but some details about it in this book could’ve been crucial.

If you like trials and competitions, a few portions of this book definitely will appeal to you. There’s a few different completions that take place, but one’s near the halfway point and the other is near the end.

This book is dual POV while primarily being in the perspective of the FMC.

Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op, and Briar Boleyn for an ARC of this book.

On Wings of Blood is such a good read! Loved everything about this book. The plot, the characters, everything was so perfect and well put together 👏👏

On Wings of Blood is book one in the Bloodwing Academy series by Briar Boleyn.
I love her Blood of a Fae series so I was I thrilled to start this one.
This book really surprised me with how good it is. I truly hope it blows up because it absolutely deserves to. Hands down the best fantasy Netgalley book I've read so far! The characters are so well developed, the pacing is perfect, and it is well written.

OH MY DAYS I LOVED THIS BOOK.

If you love dark academia fantasy romance with vampires featuring a bully villain, this is the book for you.

The academic setting is a mix of fourth wing and harry potter. Its called Bloodwing Academy and there are 4 houses which are further split into squads. Students are allocated into houses by a "Selection Stone" which totally reminded me of the sorting hat. Students study to become warriors, arcanists, healers, strategists, scouts, etc... so its basically a war-academy. You also learn about some really unique vampire & dragon lore.

For those who like Draco Malfoy and Jacks (from Once Upon A Broken Heart) the MMC, Blake, is right up your street! (He also happens to smell like apples) He gives off alot of "touch her and die" energy.

The banter between the FMC, Medra, & Blake is immaculate. Its witty and fluid, I couldn't get enough.

This book also had me thoroughly hooked from page ONE. On page 1 you find out Medra dies trying to defeat an evil god and in doing so she needs to sacrifice herself to save her loved ones. She defeats this god and dies but instead of dying she wakes up in this new land (called Sangratha) which is ruled by Vampires. She looks nothing like the other humans and vampires that live there are she strangely has the mark of a dragon rider, but all the dragons are long dead! I mean..nothing in the world would have stopped me from reading on.

I was also obsessed with Medra's mind. She isn't this sad little 18-year-old who is still figuring out who she is. She obviously lived a whole life before finding herself in Sangratha and instead of being like "oh no, poor me.." her attitude is more like "who the fuck are these weird vamps and how do I get the hell out of here?" Its so refreshing and was a joy to read.

I could keep going on with the rave review but I think you get the point. This book was superb and I'm so excited for the next one.

Thank you to Briar Boleyn, Starwater Press and NetGalley for providing me with an arc.

I felt like I relived some of my favorite books in On Wings of Blood but in a new way! Perfect for fans of shippers of Dramoine, HP, Fourth Wing, and ACOTAR. This book takes the reader on a journey to Bloodwing Academy, where Merda and Blake are forced into a relationship, much to the disappointment of both of them. Merda finds this new land she was cast into is full of corruption from the ruling vampires, but she finds her footing as she forges bonds with friends and a few frenemies, too. Thank you, Briar Boleyn and NetGalley, for an ARC of On Wings of Blood!
I am looking forward to Book 2 in the series after that amazing cliffhanger!

Oh my God I loved everything about this and I'm already desperate for the next book. Briar Boleyn is a phenomenal author whose writing and world-building are just magical. The plot was addictive, full of angst and I enjoyed every second of it.

Medra is an amazing main character who is thrown into this unknown world alone and immediately finds herself bethrothed and forced to attend Bloodwong Academy. She's feisty, strong-willed and stands up for what she believes is right. I loved watching Medra grow as a character and I loved seeing the friendships she made with Florence and Naveen.

I really liked that we got to see from Blake's perspective as it definitely gave him more depth and allowed us to see a different side to him. He's the morally grey character you know you shouldn't love but you do anyway. I honestly lived for how protective and oven obsessed with Medra he was. He is very much a 'touch her and you die' character and I was all here for it.

On Wings of Blood is definitely one of my top books of 2024. I love the slow-burn romance, the rich world-building and it's widely developed characters. I have loved every book I've read of Briar's and I cannot wait for the next book as I'm so eager to know what happens next!

Thank you so much to Briar for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.