Book review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Finished reading: 31 May 2024
Rating: 3.5/5

Saddle up your dragons, it’s time to get into the well-known Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros by jumping into the first book: Fourth Wing.

This was one of those books that was all of a sudden right in my face at every turn: it was all over social media, people around me were talking about it, and I saw it on so many shelves at different stores that I knew I needed to get it for myself to see what the hype was all about.

And, let me just say, I did have to give myself a moment to decide if I was going to go ahead with this book when I first started reading it. And, by the end of it, I was glad I pushed through.

NOTE: This book is NOT for young eyeballs. You’ve been warned.

We enter the world of Basgiath War College as Violet Sorrengail. She’s a twenty-year-old with super book smarts and a fragile body, so she’s the perfect candidate for the Scribe Quadrant (and it helps that that’s the path she’d like to go down).

That’s until Mummy Sorrengail (aka. war-hero General Lilith Sorrengail) decides otherwise, forcing her to join the Riders Quadrant.

And, can I just say, I feel like any character with the name Lilith is always some badass woman or war hero type character. So, for all the Lilith’s out there—how does it feel to have such a name that embodies such badassery?

Ultimately, the Riders Quadrant are the ones who are trained up to ride the dragons. Sounds sick, doesn’t it? Well, that’s only if you actually live to bond with a dragon, and then continue to live after that. For most people, joining the Riders Quadrant is basically signing your death warrant.
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We learn very quickly that while Violet may be physically fragile, she’s mentally strong, and is able to get through most—if not all—physical challenges through using her smarts and persistence.

It’s through the first challenge—the Parapet Crossing—that we meet a few key characters, and also learn some of the complexities of each (or, at least some).

For example, we’ve got Xaden Riorson—a tall, dark and handsome (and morally grey) son of an executed rebellion leader—and Dain Aetos, Violet’s childhood friend with the ability to read memories through physical touch. These two form a bit of a love triangle of sorts. Or, at least provide some internal turmoil for Violet of childhood crush vs the pull for the dangerous and unknown.

I’ll let you guess which way she swings.

We also meet other characters, as well as get an introduction to the dragons. Overall, we enter this dangerous world where it’s student vs student vs dragon vs corruption vs manipulation vs rebellion.

And, to be honest, this combo of deadly threats, leadership corruption, mystery, and more, builds up to a really cool and unique storyline that kept me from putting the book down and calling it day.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the romance in this story. For those who are interested in enemies to lovers, then this is the book for you. And, if you’re interested in some hot and sweaty moments, then this is also the book for you.

And, reminder, not a book for the young eyeballs.

However, I will note that while the romance part of this book is a big part of it, it certainly was not the thing that kept me going. For me, this book had me hooked in with the whole ‘this college will kill you’ vibes, and the really interesting world building.

The lore in this is really cool and well thought out in my opinion, and provides enough to build on further in the next books. The history is fascinating. How the rider’s gain their abilities is really cool. The corruption amongst leadership and their inability to acknowledge the true threat of the war? Awesome.
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And, the fact that these people get to bond with kickass dragons? My love for Spyro really came to the forefront on this one.

So, what did I like? A lot, actually, and mostly what I’ve covered before.

Sure, the romance is a nice to have, and the connection between the romance and the dragons is also pretty cool. However, for me, what I liked the most was the morally grey politics and the mystery behind the threat.

Also, the conflict between the characters was also a standout. There are some wankers (naturally), and then there are some really nice people. However, they’re all trying to survive the challenges and each other, so I found myself questioning the intentions of some characters, which had me drawn in even more.

I also really like it when books interweave the world’s literature into the story. At the beginning of each chapter is an excerpt from a note, book, or something within the world that provides further context to the chapter and storyline. It reminds me of codex entries in videogames that support in elevating the story and providing that deeper insight into the history and lore of that built work.

And, I don’t know if it’s just me, but books and stories that build themselves around institutional betrayal are so intriguing to me. As this is a key theme in this story, I found myself so invested in this part of the story, wanting to learn more and more about the layers of corruption in the face of the war outside the wards.

However, what didn’t I like? While I read a lot of books, and play a lot of videogames, where the main character has to overcome massive odds and become the saviour of all, Fourth Wing really wants you to know that Violet is an underdog. And, since she’s so physically fragile and small and all those things, she could ‘never be the most powerful rider’.

Ultimately, the underdog trope felt way too cliché in this book. It is really hammered into us from the very beginning, which was part of the reason why I found it so hard to get into at first.

Not only that, but the writing was also very difficult for me to get into at first. The writing style is simple, which isn’t a bad thing, however it does have it’s very cringey moments weaved into it.

It probably didn’t help I had also just finished reading books written in the third person. To then come into a writing style of a first-person narrative like this one, I think my brain got a bit of whiplash.

With all that being said and done, however, pushing past the overly cliched underdog trope and cringey writing comes with huge benefits. So much so that the lore and everything else bundled into this story really brings the rating up higher than I originally anticipated when I first started reading this book.

How did you feel about Fourth Wing? Do you feel like it lives up to the hype? Let me know in the comments!