Fourth Wing
- Rebecca Yarros
- July 10, 2023
GOODREADS BLURB:
- Albany, WA
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.
SERIES / GENRES:
FIRST WORDS:
Conscription Day is always the deadliest. Maybe that's why the sunrise is especially beautiful this morning - because I know it might be my last.
MY REVIEW:
solid, good read:
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
As the book to be reading at the moment, it’s not surprising that I thoroughly enjoyed Fourth Wing. As a nice departure from the usual fae fantasy romance that Bookstagram fawns over, I will never not be keen for dark academia meets dragons.
Let’s start with what not many admit: Fourth Wing is not unique. Within a few chapters (and that’s being generous), it’s pretty easy to see exactly where this first instalment is going.
– Nerdy fragile main character forced into a violent and athletic career path, check.
– Failed traitorous plot leaves children of rebels marked, shunned, and forced into dangerous career path, check.
– Fated enemy is the hot, older, powerful love interest, check.
– Childhood best friend love interest, reunited after separation, does not live up to the memory, check.
– Deceased parent leaves not-so-cryptic hints about the power of those who write history, and book containing important secrets is no longer widely available, check.
– Remaining parent has no discernible emotions, forces their child into an unsuitable career path, shows no pride in their child’s success, manipulates the truth and history to ensure victory and power, check.
– Main character is surprisingly (not) protected by fated enemy, befriended by rebel scum, and exploited by childhood best friend, check.
– Fated enemy love interest can’t give in to being in a relationship because of the deep, dark secrets he is keeping from the main character (or, in this case, that everyone in this whole world is keeping from the main character), check.
-Deceased perfect sibling who isn’t actually dead, check.
– Failed traitorous plot leaves children of rebels marked, shunned, and forced into dangerous career path, check.
– Fated enemy is the hot, older, powerful love interest, check.
– Childhood best friend love interest, reunited after separation, does not live up to the memory, check.
– Deceased parent leaves not-so-cryptic hints about the power of those who write history, and book containing important secrets is no longer widely available, check.
– Remaining parent has no discernible emotions, forces their child into an unsuitable career path, shows no pride in their child’s success, manipulates the truth and history to ensure victory and power, check.
– Main character is surprisingly (not) protected by fated enemy, befriended by rebel scum, and exploited by childhood best friend, check.
– Fated enemy love interest can’t give in to being in a relationship because of the deep, dark secrets he is keeping from the main character (or, in this case, that everyone in this whole world is keeping from the main character), check.
-Deceased perfect sibling who isn’t actually dead, check.
That’s not to say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy Fourth Wing. The pacing is excellent, Yarros has the perfect balance of action and detail, and the pages and time flew by without feeling like we were missing out on anything important. The relationships had time to feel they were developing naturally, particularly in this pressure cooker where the dead are listed daily, and only a percentage are expected to survive.
I’m hoping Iron Flame is a little less predictable. Based on the setup given, we’ve gotten to the expected point; I would consider Iron Flame the real test to see if Yarros has an actual plan moving forward. I love Violet's relationship with her dragons and can’t wait to see how this develops. I’m also very interested to learn more about the magic in this world.
Yarros took an expected storyline and made it worth the read with sharp and fast writing. I love when fantasy books break into the mainstream and found it refreshing that even though Fourth Wing could technically be considered fantasy romance, there were no fae - or mates outside the dragons - and the romance was rarely the focus of the story. It became more important over the length of the book, but there was much more going on and adding complexity to the story. I can’t wait to get my hands on Iron Flame to see what happens next.
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