Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

FOURTH WING

by Rebecca Yarros
Series: The Empyrean #1
Pub: 5/2/2023
Format: Kindle/Audio

4.75★

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. down once again.

 Unless you’ve been in a cave, trapped under something heavy, or otherwise completely out of touch with the world around you, you are well aware of the phenomenon that is Fourth Wing. And based on the 98,000+ reviews on Goodreads, I doubt there’s anything new that can be said about it. But that won’t stop me from gushing about my own reading experience because after finishing Fourth Wing… I have all the feelings and I need to share and commiserate and flail along with everyone else.

 

I will not run. I wouldn’t be standing here if I’d quit every time something seemed impossible to overcome. I will not die today. - Violet Sorrengail

 

Violet Sorrengail wants nothing more than to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a Scribe, devoted to capturing and maintaining the history of Navarre. She’s dealt a cruel blow when her mother, a general in the kingdom of Navarre, forces Violet to instead enter Basgiath. A war college for dragon riders, Basgiath is brutal for even the strongest candidates but even more so for Violent whose chronic illness manifests joint pain and unstable joints that dislocate easily (a disorder that closely mirrors Yarros’s own struggle with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). Day after day, Violet faces almost insurmountable challenges that push her to her limits both physically and mentally.

 

The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity. - Xaden Riorson

 

Fourth Wing started with a bang – with Violet thrown into a dangerous and tension-filled challenge in the first chapter – and never let up. As invested as I was, it was when the dragons showed up and sunk their claws in me that I become low-key obsessed and could hardly bear to set the book down. The dragons – with their fierce, unpredictable natures, their wisdom, and their unique personalities – were something to behold. And I – who in no way considers myself a fantasy reader – was astounded at the connection I felt with the magnificent beasts. I cheered for them, I laughed at their dry humor, and I shed tears at their heartache. I credit that wholly to Yarros and her proven skill at creating characters (yes, even dragons) that always evoke an emotional response.

 

“Did you ever once stop to think that sometimes you can start out on the right side of a war and end up on the wrong one?”

 

The worldbuilding was detailed without being overwhelming (this non-fantasy reader thanks Yarros for that). And the building tension as the stakes rose higher and higher was delicious torture. The plotting was exquisite, the twists and turns so satisfying, and the push and pull of the romance was the perfect balance to the brutal competition and behind the scenes machinations. And then there was that jaw-dropping final scene that had everyone (me included!) desperate for the next book. I’m actually glad I didn’t read Fourth Wing when it released back in May. I’d hate to think I had to wait six months for answers. As it is, the four or five weeks until Iron Flame is in my hands feels like an eternity.

 

We can live as cowards or die as riders.

 

As if it wasn’t apparent, there was so much I loved about Fourth Wing. Violet’s resilience every time she pushed past her own fears and perceived weaknesses, the friendships, the intrigue, the danger, Xaden (I admit, every time he called Violet ‘Violence’ I practically squealed with delight), the plot twists, the dragons (my love for Tairn and Andarna knows no bounds), and so much more. Fourth Wing took me by surprise. It was only because of my love and appreciation for Yarros’s contemporary novels that I took a chance on it, and it paid off in the best of ways. Fourth Wing will without a doubt be one of my top reads of 2023. 4.75★