I have to be honest with you, and maybe this proves I am the old crochet lady I feel like most of the time, but I have no idea what is trending on Booktok. No wonder they call ‘us geriatric millennials’. 👵

The point is, I’d never heard of Fourth Wing until my cousin Shants recommended it. Enthusiastically.

But. Like so many other readers, I’ve received recommendations on books that went viral and were hyped up to an almost holy level, then read that book and be like, ‘Whut?’

We’ve all been there, right? Read that book everyone loses their ish about and not understand what’s so great about it. Or like it fine the first time we read it, but then the book loses its magic when we reread it.

(Side note, but I kind of love that about books, too. The fact that readers can love and loathe the same book for the same reasons speaks to our uniqueness and gives me life.)

Point is, I was sceptical, but intrigued.

After a years-long reading drought, I’ve been easing back into books via my favourite-ever app, Libby (not sponsored), where I can borrow electronic- and audiobooks with my library card.

So, with no idea what Fourth Wing was about, I added my name to the waiting list for the audiobook.

I listened to the book for the first time in the first week of April. Side tangent: Rebecca Soler is an out-of-this-freaking-world brilliant narrator. I’ll borrow any audiobook she narrates, even if I don’t like the genre or author—she’s that good. Highly, highly recommend listening to her work (again, not sponsored).

Before we get to the official review, a disclaimer. All the opinions shared in this post are my own, are honest, and I’m not compensated in any way for expressing them.

This post contains major spoilers.

With that out of the way.

My Fourth Wing journey started in early April. I’m so incredibly thankful that I could borrow the sequel, Iron Flame, immediately after I’d finished with FW, otherwise, I might’ve died. Literally. 🤣

Since then, I’ve borrowed and listened to both books again, and I’ve read both books 4 times each.

I’ve only hyperfixated this hard twice before. First, when I read the Lord of the Rings in high school—a hyperfixation that has never truly ended—and second, when I fell in love with the Dragon Age universe (which has cooled, but is also still ongoing).

At this point, I’m willing to bet Fourth Wing will be one of those ‘ongoing’ obsessions of a neurodivergent mind.

Content Warnings

From the author’s website:

Fourth Wing is a nonstop-thrilling adventure fantasy set in the brutal and competitive world of a military college for dragon riders, which includes elements regarding war, battle, hand-to-hand combat, perilous situations, blood, intense violence, brutal injuries, death, poisoning, graphic language, and sexual activities that are shown on the page. Readers who may be sensitive to these elements, please take note, and prepare to enter Basgiath War College…

My two cents:

The language isn’t terrible, IMO, but might offend. Expect many f-bombs and instances of s**t, as well as derogatory terms around the same intensity level.

I’d say the language is stronger than in books like A Court of Mist and Fury, but not as heavy as in Game of Thrones.

Also note that the book features sexual encounters and conversations/banter about sex. The encounters are steamy, but don’t occur as often as in the Court books.

As for the violence, I’d put it at about the same level as any other fantasy novel. Major character death is a thing in this series, so be prepared to cry for your sweet cinnamon rolls. Often. This has to be one of the series with the highest death count I’ve ever read.

The Blurb

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 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

Characters

The protagonist and narrator of this book is Violet Sorrengail, a twenty-year-old college recruit about to embark on the journey of her life.

We learn straight off the bat that Violet’s body is frail, and though her condition is never explicitly given a name, her symptoms are on par with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a disease that affects the connective tissues in the body (a condition the author shares).

She’s spent her life preparing for the Scribe Quadrant, where she’d have entered a quiet life with books and reports, but instead, fate throws her a curveball in the shape of her mother, General Lilith Sorrengail, who demands Violet try out for the Rider’s Quadrant. With her physical disadvantage and short stature, even Violet’s sister, Mira, doesn’t have high hopes for her survival.

But Violet is tenacious to a fault and makes her way through the quadrant on sheer will and wits alone.

I rarely like the protagonist of YA/NA books, even in my favourites in those genres. At best, I’m apathetic towards them, at worst, I outright despise them, but Violet is different. And maybe that’s only because I listened to Rebecca Soler bring Violet to life. Or maybe it’s because I actually relate to this character. Or maybe because I have a thing for short protagonists who are generally underestimated by everyone in their lives. The point is, I don’t feel like I’m trapped in the mind of a whiny or bland heroine while I’m reading Violet’s POV, and that’s something rare.

Just by his description, you’ll know instantly that Xaden Riorson is the main love interest. Tall? Check. Dark? Check. Muscled? Check. Powerful? Check.

Now, I’ve read many reviews on Goodreads that all but tore Xaden apart. And I get it. He looks like Rhysand (with golden instead of lilac eyes), has the same general swagger as Rhysand, and uses the same powers as Rhysand.

If we’re being totally honest, though, this cut-and-paste romantic interest is so popular because that’s what the masses want. I’ve recently read/listened to a trove of new adult romantacies, and the love interest in all of them was a tall, dark, muscled dude who is more powerful than his peers. Fae, human, vampire, and other—all of them looked the same. Only the eye colour varied, and one of them had a beard. Additionally, most of them were kind of cold in the beginning, then turned out to be a loving, if a tad controlling, boyfriend.

This trope exists because readers want it.

That said, please writers of the world, give us some blond, red-headed, or even brunette males to fawn over? Pretty please?

Violet forges friendships with Rhiannon, Ridoc, Liam, and Sawyer, among others. But that core group has become one of my favourite bookish families. I adore the banter and snark, and my day is immediately brighter when Ridoc walks onto the page. I also really enjoy Imogen—she has some great one-liners and I love her saltiness.

On a side note, many of the negative reviews about this book state the cast is immature—I didn’t feel that way at all. IMO, they read like accurate 20-year-olds.

Professors Emetterio and Devera are my personal favourites among the instructors, but Kaori is also a sweetheart.

But my favourite characters by a landslide are Tairn, Sgaeyl, and Andarna. I LOVE the dragons. The grumpy-and-sunshine dynamic between Tairn and Andarna jumps off the page, and Sgaeyl’s sultry viciousness makes me smile. I swear, even if the rest of the plot sucked, the dragons would still make this book worth reading.

I also really, really loved the fact that Yarros threw the usual ‘bonds to either the strongest or the weakest dragon’ trope on its head. The fact that Violet bonds two dragons is just fabulous. I’m here for it. I want more of it.

Also, I’d read entire series set in Tairn’s POV. Just putting that out there. 😎

Plot

At a glance, the plot isn’t all that complicated. As with any story set in a special training institute, the protagonist’s main objective is to learn and survive the place.

Being smaller and less physical than the other cadets means Violet has a lot on her plate. Just watching her give up everything she thought she’d be only to discover her scribe training is an asset none of the other riders have is refreshing. She might not be physically on par with the others, but her perspective and wit are weapons as sharp as any blade.

As a reader, it’s always fun to see characters look to books for answers.

But as the story progresses, we learn of political intrigue. Nothing is as it seems and you soon question everything you know about the story.

If you’ve ever read anything I’ve written, you’ll know I’m obsessed with the idea that whoever controls information, controls the narrative. I loved exploring this idea in Fourth Wing.

Violet’s dad taught her that in a world of dragon riders, the scribes hold all the power—a truth she learns throughout the book. The scribes know a lot more than they’re sharing.

I also love this idea that whatever the scribes deemed the people needn’t know was turned into fairytales. I keep thinking it would be hilariously frightening if the Grimm fables turn out to be historically correct. 😅

So, yes, give us the venin and wyvern, and show us how the evil government has been fooling the masses for generations—I’m here for that, too.

For me, Fourth Wing gets an easy 5-star review. I love this book.

Until next time.

Yolandie