Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
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.
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**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**
This book was perfection. My inner teenager craved this type of book. It gave me all the nostalgia for those early 2010 dystopian/fantasy days yet was suitable for adults. It’s the most addictive book I’ve read since January and I absolutely love this new world that Rebecca Yarros has introduced to us. This book is set in a fantasy world, at a war college and features scribes, healers, and dragon riders. The country has been at war for hundreds of years so it is expected of all youth to be part of the war effort as soon as they’re old enough (in this case, early 20’s so it actually felt believable). It had the perfect setting combination of academia and deadly competition/games. I’ve seen a lot of people call this “romantasy” but to me it was clearly fantasy that had romance in it. More than 3/4 of the book was only fantasy so there was great build up for the world and the plot outside of the romance. This book was addictive, fast-paced, and hooked me immediately. Within the first two chapters I was on the edge of my seat. I don’t have a single bad thing to say about this book except that I need the next one IMMEDIATELY.
We start off with Violet and it is her point of view for the entirety of the book. She’s the small, studious one in the family but is being forced into the rider quadrant by her mother, who is head of the institute. She’s struggled all her life by being smaller and delicate in that she’s sick often and her bones break easily so being consigned to the most dangerous quadrant is almost a death sentence. While there, there is nothing short of enemies around every corner wanting to take out the nepo daughter that got there by sheer luck. However, this just means she has to try twice as hard to prove that she belongs there.
The world building in this novel was supreme. I’ve never been pulled into a fantasy world so fast that had it put together so well right from the start. The magic system was unique and was explained so well. The settings were so easily pictured because of the description and it all tied together and made so much sense. Even the elements that seem random, you know that those are going to tie in well later because there were so many clues laid out in this book as to how this world is going to develop in further books. I loved the college setting and the dragon training was as realistic as you could get when it comes to dragons. I loved that they were truly dangerous and not portrayed as fun little pets like a lot of other fantasies do as well. This book also did it’s part in very clearly differentiating wyverns from dragons and that automatically earned so much respect from me. The explanation of the reason behind there being a war college, the different quadrants and why they’re necessary, and the different military terms all made the plot so easy to follow along in a totally new world and also worked as a tool in lending some insight into different characters and why they behave the way they do. It was immaculate.
The representation in this was so seamless and I think some of the most easy, diverse case of characters I’ve seen in a while. Violet herself is a disabled main character and I feel like she was so well represented. Her disability isn’t made into an obstacle to overcome but is shown time and time again that it is a part of her and who she is and that it doesn’t make her weaker, she just has to overcome the challenges in a different way than her peers. It was realistic too because we’re in a magic world but she wasn’t just “healed” by magic as if being disabled was something that could easily be brushed over. The characters in this world also weren’t all white like a lot of popular/dragon based fantasies out there (you know who you are) and I loved how easily this was shown. See, it’s not that hard to make a diverse cast of characters so no more of this “only write what you know” nonsense as an excuse! The sexuality of the characters was also something that wasn’t an issue or an obstacle, it just was. I don’t remember seeing much for gender fluidity rep but this is only the first book and I feel like there will be a lot of new characters to meet as the series goes onward.
The character development in this book was so good for it only being the first book in the series. Violet was loveable from the start but seeing her physical growth and self confidence throughout the book was extremely relatable. Yes there were moments of frustration as our favourites come to certain realizations or wrong conclusions but I felt that the growth in this was very healthy. Our side characters also showed so much growth potential that I’m really excited to get more of them in the next book. The communication was also top tier and a large part of the reason that the character growth was so satisfying. There was no room for that crusty miscommunication trope here! Xaden was a bit more grey as I felt we didn’t know enough about him to see how he changed throughout this book but I think this book set up a really good plot for his development in the next one that I’m excited to see.
Obviously I loved this book and rated it 5 stars! I know that there’s a risk of a book being overhyped and that scared me a bit too when starting this but I decided to take the plunge anyway because, judging by the synopsis, it felt like a book that I knew I would enjoy and because of that, I was so satisfied with it. If this type of book isn’t your usual cup of tea, don’t force yourself but if you’re willing to try something new, I think this could be a great fit. I absolutely loved this story from start to finish.