Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Written By Serra Ayyorgun

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is a fantasy romance set in the brutal world of Basgiath War College, where only the strongest survive. Hence the “fly or die” quote on the cover. The story follows Violet Sorrengail, our female main character. She spent her life preparing to join the Scribe Quadrant, the safer path. Only her mom, a high-ranking general, has other plans for Violet. She forces her to enter the deadly Rider Quadrant instead. Its a place where cadets train to bond with dragons and become elite warriors. With her frail body and lack of combat experience, Violet must prove she’s strong enough to survive, or risk being killed before she even gets a chance to bond with a dragon.

As Violet has to navigate the dangerous war college and she faces ruthless competitors, brutal training, and constant threats. Many first years don’t survive, and Violet’s odds are even worse because of her weaker body (she breaks bones very easily). She has to she fight to stay alive, she must untangle political tensions, uncover hidden secrets, and figure out who she can really trust. This is especially true for Xaden Riorson, his family is the Sorrengail family’s greatest enemy, and their feud dates back decades.

With little time to prepare, Violet has to leave behind the world she knew and step into one that is so much more dangerous. From the very beginning, the tension are high as she faces deadly obstacles before even stepping foot into the war college.

  • Genre: Fantasy, Romance

  • Publisher: May 2, 2023, Entangled: Red Tower Books

  • Length: Paperback, 544 pages

  • My Rating: 2.75 ⭐

"Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros" Pinterest, uploaded by JordanBlaney, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/372461831698370911/”

My Thoughts:

If you are just getting into the fantasy genre, then Fourth Wing is a great place to start. The worldbuilding is not complex and it is extremely easy to follow along. It might look a bit daunting because it’s a long book, but I promise you it goes by quick. However, my rating is low because I’ve read a lot better. The writing is easy to read, but that’s because it’s not very good. The dialogue is cringey and sounds immature. It is constantly mentioned how fragile and petite Violet is, to the point where she cannot even stay on her dragon! It made her sound like a 'pick me,' and it became very annoying. There were many points that just did not make sense. For instance, there is an ongoing war and a shortage of fliers, so they have to draft them. And yet this war college is constantly killing off its first years because they make the training so unnecessarily dangerous.

And don’t get me started on the romance, there was no build up. It was like jumping from A to Z within a couple chapters. Fourth Wing is marketed as an enemies to lovers, yet it felt more like an insta love. These two are supposed to loathe each other, their families hate each other and Yarros, for some reason, did not do that. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t an attack on the author, but I do think this is something that needs to be talked about more considering how hyped it is on TikTok. There were so many clichés and the only remotely unique part about it was that there were dragons. That’s it. Sure it kept me wanting to read, but do I think is deserves the hype? No, I don’t. It didn’t make me want to continue the series. And as you might know, the third book, Onyx Storm, just came out this year. But I don’t think it was interesting enough to finish the series.

Fanart:

Serra Ayyorgun
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Happy Place by Emily Henry