Rating: 5.0
Trigger Warnings: physical violence, parental death, gaslighting
Tropes: enemies to lovers
About the Book:
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Published: May 2nd, 2023
Genre: Fantasy-Romance
Description:
Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros
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
Review:
I read Fourth Wing (first on my Kobo before then being gifted a physical copy) because of all the fan-raving I saw online, especially on BookTok. So many people were recommending it, many emphasizing the amazing romance plot, that I knew immediately I had to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised that it utterly and completely lived up to all of the “hype”. Rebecca Yarros writes an equally epic and accessible fantasy novel perfect for fans of the blended “romantasy” genre.
The book starts off with a bang when the main character, Violet, is sent by her political-leader mother to attend the school of the dragon riders instead of to go and work in the library where she was training her whole life to go. I found that Yarros’s writing style allowed me to sink into the world extremely quickly. The world-building was succinct and made perfect sense as I read it, I could almost see it appear in my mind like a movie reel. This was great in comparison to other fantasy books which can often take a while to get going. In terms of comparing, I found it similar to series like the Folk of the Air Series (The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, The Queen of Nothing) by Holly Black. Firstly, because the books are well-written and easy to digest for the most part and secondly, because they both deal with politics as well as fantasy elements. However, Fourth Wing felt more like a fantasy-political drama than a political drama-fantasy, the emphasis being on the more hard-to-believe fantastical elements like the dragons.
Once the story really kicked off with the training at the school, I found myself falling in love with the cast of characters that Yarros describes. Three that really stood out to me were Xaden, Rhiannon, and Liam. All of them either made me laugh or swoon, or both. I felt invested in the characters, so
much so that I was not only curious but actually invested in their forthcoming arcs. The more antagonistic characters were described equally well to the point where I felt genuine anger and annoyance towards them.
The romantic plot was the cherry on top. It was so well integrated with the political and fantasy plotlines that I didn’t feel bored by it in the least. In fact, I felt completely entangled as a reader in Violet’s relationship with Xaden from the moment he was identified as the brooding “enemy” of the series. Everything from how they softened to each other over time to his cute nickname for her to his absolute respect for her made their relationship hugely enjoyable as a reader.
All in all, I loved the book and can’t wait for the next one in the series!
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