Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Series: The Empyrean #1
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Romantasy
Pages: 517
Published By: Piatkus on 2nd May, 2023
Format: Hardcover
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Book Synopsis:
Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders.
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 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 deadlier; 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.
Book Review
Honestly, I wasn’t interested in the slightest before reading this, even though I kept seeing it all over social media. I’d never read from the romantasy genre before or even thought I’d be a big fantasy girly… However, I was out at the local supermarket before work the one day and I saw it and thought “let’s see what the hype is all about then…” Now after reading this, I 100% understand the hype and became utterly obsessed with carrying on with the series.
I hadn’t read an epic fantasy before, so I worried about keeping track of the world-building and all the names (some I’m still not sure how to pronounce), but Yarros’s writing made everything easy to follow.
This is definitely a slow-burn towards the start and it takes a little while to get into (especially if you aren’t a fantasy reader). Once I got past the first 100 or so pages, I didn’t want to put it down! I loved the slow-burn romance between Violet and Xaden…The tension kept building, and I found myself desperate for it to ignite. When it finally did, I wasn’t disappointed. Their chemistry hooked me from the start, and it still does.
Yarros’s character development is great from start to finish. It had me rooting for specific characters and also deeply despising/not trusting some. I personally love that the book has this good balance because the character development added another layer to the story. I felt really connected to them throughout.
Yarros’s world-building and descriptive writing, especially during tense battle scenes, completely blew me away. Every scene sparked my imagination, kept me engaged, and left no moment feeling boring or unnecessary. I honestly felt like I was Violet flying on Tairn into battle-the writing is that immersive.
Now I give credit where credit is due because Yarros really held no prisoners when it came to killing off certain characters. She quite literally at one point, RIPPED OUT MY HEART and then proceeded to STOMP on it in the process… I will not say anything more on it than that. Also the ending…*chefs kiss*… She really went and left it on a cliff-hanger and it had me SHOOK TO MY CORE.
This book gave me allllll the feels… from enjoyment, to sadness, to excitement to nervous etc. What a rollercoaster ride—I’m so glad I grabbed a ticket and experienced it all. So I think my review speaks for itself when I say that I 100000% recommend this book! I got rid of my paperback copy and bought one with sprayed edges from Storybound Edges because I loved it that much!
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