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garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Ableism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, War, and Grief
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Medical content, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Stalking, Vomit, Drug use, Animal cruelty, and Toxic relationship
bujo_bellel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit and Grief
mercerhanau's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Medical content, Ableism, War, Death, Murder, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Death of parent, and Vomit
zydecovivo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I’d like to start by saying it is good. If you like romantasy (fantasy+romance) with a touch of dystopia, you’ll have a great time reading Fourth Wing. The main character is also explicitly disabled and it is intertwined with her journey of self-discovery, as well as challenging the status quo of the society she is in. Based on the descriptions, I think she has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. I also love the dragons. They are characters in their own right, not just tools to be used. However, the entire time I was reading, I couldn’t help but tell myself “This is just Divergent with dragons.” The general plot is almost identical. Everything was predictable because of this and the only things that I didn’t predict were because something we were told was “impossible” was, in fact, possible for our super special main character. This occurs multiple times. I don’t even think it’s an unreliable narrator at that point. I think it’s an unreliable universe. The upper hand that Fourth Wing has over Divergent is that this fantasy setting allows for more creativity (and covering up for narrative mistakes). Additionally, I did not enjoy most of the main character’s “love life”. This is enemies-to-lovers, so much so that it is almost anti-friends-to-lovers. I don’t care about either trope, but the blatant comparisons get old. I also felt that the main character thinks about “spice” a lot more than I care for, especially considering the actual spice level of the book. There may be people who want to see this since women’s sexuality is largely swept aside in many stories. But this was not it for me.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Blood, Chronic illness, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Vomit, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Sexual content
eleek0609's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: War, Sexual content, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Basgiath has to be the world’s worst military school - it seems like it exists simply to kill off its cadets which seems counterproductive? Call me crazy but there are stakes higher and fates worse than death. In a book written in first person POV you know from the jump that the narrator isn’t dying soooooo the tension I wanted in the first part of the book simply wasn’t there.
In the year of our lord 2024, I simply cannot get into a hero named Xaden, even though I liked him just fine in terms of his actual actions/personality. Tairn was the best character in a SEA of named characters who were interchangeable and forgettable. Violet is very much a 20 year old dystopian fantasy heroine.
Graphic: Chronic illness, War, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
bella613's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I'm going to be honest, it's not particularly well written. It's a little YA at times. The world building isn't spectacular and I got annoyed at some of the fantastical bits especially at the beginning, because it didn't feel real like a good fantasy story when it sucks you in.
This was a recommendation from a coworker, and for the first couple chapters I was pretty sure it was going to be one I barely finished.
However, it's worth sticking around because the book gets better as it goes (in my opinion). Once I was into it, I was really into it. Looking back, I don't know if it deserves as high a rating as I'm going to give it, but I'm doing it anyway because of how much I simply liked it. I enjoyed listening to this more than I've enjoyed a fantasy book since I was a teenager, so it kinda brought me back. I honestly felt nostalgia for my Eragon-reading tween days. I loved the dynamic between Violet and the dragons, and I'd like to see that with more characters. I want to know more about the dragons in general.
I think the author could do a lot better with the relationships between characters. The main romantic relationship feels too lovesick and kinda exaggerated. And the friendships need deeper interactions and better dialogue.
I also want to mention I definitely disliked the telepathy bits. It seemed unnecessary and weird and too much like the trashy werewolf stories you get on fanfiction apps. That and the fact that the sex scenes were more violent than the fight scenes LOL.
But it's pretty easy to ignore that because there's a lot more to the story than just the romance.
I'll be reading the second book and I hope to get more developed backstories and get into the dragons' characters a bit more. This book felt very present-tense focused and didn't do a lot for story besides telling you what's happening. My favorite character was Liam, so.. well.
Anyway, the world is built now and it feels like the story is just beginning. So I'm excited to see what Iron Flame will bring.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, War, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, and Violence
bookswithpao's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Body horror, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Cursing
Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, and Classism
dlsmk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Animal death, and Blood
rowstream's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Death, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Bullying
Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, War, Death, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Vomit