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nekoprankster218's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Admittedly, I only picked this up at the library because a YouTube reviewer I trust mentioned how good of a character Tairn was (and they were right!); otherwise, I had no strong interest in the rest of the series.
But it wasn't as bad as I was expecting or how it sounded when listening to Booktube reviews. It wasn't that good (outside of the dragons' characterizations and their relationships with their riders, but I could also just be biased), in my opinion. Like I've heard before from that same reviewer, there were just some glaring holes in some parts of the premise and setting itself, which just made it difficult to fully get into the story. The romance was okay, but it felt like it jumped around too much and attraction settled way too fast - especially with the history their families have.
However, I have already put the next book on hold and will probably follow along with the rest of the series, unless something completely burns me from it. Tairn and the other dragons are definitely carrying the experience for me, but so far - despite the flaws of the narrative - everything is else is tolerable. Also, there are some comedic moments and banter that actually genuinely make me laugh.
But it wasn't as bad as I was expecting or how it sounded when listening to Booktube reviews. It wasn't that good (outside of the dragons' characterizations and their relationships with their riders, but I could also just be biased), in my opinion. Like I've heard before from that same reviewer, there were just some glaring holes in some parts of the premise and setting itself, which just made it difficult to fully get into the story. The romance was okay, but it felt like it jumped around too much and attraction settled way too fast - especially with the history their families have.
However, I have already put the next book on hold and will probably follow along with the rest of the series, unless something completely burns me from it. Tairn and the other dragons are definitely carrying the experience for me, but so far - despite the flaws of the narrative - everything is else is tolerable. Also, there are some comedic moments and banter that actually genuinely make me laugh.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
boubooks_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Grief and War
philosophicellie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
3.75
Sort of wanted to hate this book. It was suggested to me as it had dragons and disability representation! However the line on the back cover claiming it was "Hunger games meets 50 shades" made me think it would be queezy and not my thing.
Despite a slow and not great startViolet is bratty and acts about 12 for the first 100+ pages, and despite supposedly being quite clever doesn't seem to be. This does get a little better and many of the secondary characters feeling quite 1d, once the dragons arrive it massively improves. I won't say she can write dragons better than humans but sometimes they did seem to have a wee bit more personality quirks! Perhaps she also settled into writing about this point as you also got a greater sense of some of the secondary characters too about 200 pages in.
The book sex is not intrusive it maintains the usually pretty cringe aspects of most writing about sex, without being more than about 20 pages in total. I'm not sure why it has a big reputation as a smutty book tbh.
Plot wise, a few nice twists and clearly set up for the next in the series, but nothing revolutionary. A good winter comfort read with tea and biscuits. Don't expect something dazzling.
Despite a slow and not great start
The book sex is not intrusive it maintains the usually pretty cringe aspects of most writing about sex, without being more than about 20 pages in total. I'm not sure why it has a big reputation as a smutty book tbh.
Plot wise, a few nice twists and clearly set up for the next in the series, but nothing revolutionary. A good winter comfort read with tea and biscuits. Don't expect something dazzling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Vomit
leanna_kate_59's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War
Moderate: Vomit and Toxic friendship
eastcoastcandice's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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
3.75
This is a tough one to rate for me.
The main plot was extremely interesting and I had times where I couldn't put the book down. I read a lot of fantasy books, and this one has a good world with interesting characters. The world building was good, but not amazing - I'm hoping the later books delve into the map and politics a bit more, as it were.
I'd say the relationships are the key focus of the book, between the FMC (Violet) and everyone else - her childhood best friend, her new friends, her love interest, her family, and the various instructors at the war college. There's most certainly some overused tropes in here, but hey, it is a fantasy book, so they're expected.
I appreciated how the author made Violet a person with a disability. I also liked how Violet fought for herself, used her strengths to her advantage to help overcome her weaknesses, and overall became a badass by the end of the book.
So those parts of the book were a 4 or 4.5/5 for me.
However, I admit that I'm not usually a 'romantasy' reader. I generally prefer my books heavier on the world building, political intrigue, magic, and magical creatures. And for the first half of the book, it was! Now, I do like romance, but the more PG style, and where it is secondary to character development and the overall plot. So the level of 'spice' in the second half of the book wasn't for me. There were plenty of times I wished we heard more about what Violet was learning in classes, her training for combat, or her friendship with Rhiannon, and less about how hot she thinks Xaden is. For folks who read this genre regularly, it's probably a pretty tame book, given the spicy scenes are really just two chapters, plus a few bits sprinkled in here and there (a kiss and some 'heavy, descriptive flirting' if you get my drift). And I will say, the author did a good job of making the sex scenes part of the overall story, and not just thrown in for the sake of it.
Will I read the other books in the series? Yes, absolutely, I'm very curious what happens next, especially with that ending!
Will I skim over the spicy chapters in the next books? Yes, because the rest of the story is what I'm more interested in.
The main plot was extremely interesting and I had times where I couldn't put the book down. I read a lot of fantasy books, and this one has a good world with interesting characters. The world building was good, but not amazing - I'm hoping the later books delve into the map and politics a bit more, as it were.
I'd say the relationships are the key focus of the book, between the FMC (Violet) and everyone else - her childhood best friend, her new friends, her love interest, her family, and the various instructors at the war college. There's most certainly some overused tropes in here, but hey, it is a fantasy book, so they're expected.
I appreciated how the author made Violet a person with a disability. I also liked how Violet fought for herself, used her strengths to her advantage to help overcome her weaknesses, and overall became a badass by the end of the book.
So those parts of the book were a 4 or 4.5/5 for me.
However, I admit that I'm not usually a 'romantasy' reader. I generally prefer my books heavier on the world building, political intrigue, magic, and magical creatures. And for the first half of the book, it was! Now, I do like romance, but the more PG style, and where it is secondary to character development and the overall plot. So the level of 'spice' in the second half of the book wasn't for me. There were plenty of times I wished we heard more about what Violet was learning in classes, her training for combat, or her friendship with Rhiannon, and less about how hot she thinks
Will I read the other books in the series? Yes, absolutely, I'm very curious what happens next, especially with that ending!
Will I skim over the spicy chapters in the next books? Yes, because the rest of the story is what I'm more interested in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Sexual content
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Grief
yaxzx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Okay, so this is by far the longest book review I've ever written, but I find myself having a lot to say about it, so here it goes.
I struggled with how exactly I wanted to rate this. As a quick glance at the past books I've rated shows, I'm pretty easy to please, and I can be quite overly generous with the 5 stars, which is why I've been extra confused on why I was struggling with what I wanted to rate this. Like, I enjoyed it so much, so why am I hesitant to give 5/5?
As I absolutely blasted through this book, getting through the thing in only a few sessions (which is rare for me as I'm a very slow reader), I kept telling my wife that I really really liked this book but couldn't figure out if it was "good" or not. The writing can be a struggle at times, as the modern language used throughout constantly clashes with the fantasy world and some of the classic fantasy themes which are presented. Also, there were some lines which were undeniably so damn cringe, but it's a romantasy book and real world romance is more often than not super cringe when viewing it from the outside, so I would have found it much less believable in that regard if it didn't get cringe at times. That said,Xander's "I need to protect you" controllingness did get very close to the line of toxicness many times, and did cross that line a decent amount ot times, but that seems to be a common trope in romantasy from what ive heard, so I didnt get too fixated on it ). I will say though, the excessive use of the word "badass" and. Sentences. Punctuated. With. Periods. To. Indicate. Gravity/Emotion. Got a little grating at points. Like, the dialog itself should be indicating these things, which it typicaly did already, so the excessive punctuation just felt like I was being beaten over the head.
With Fantasy being the primary genre I've read since childhood, I saw a lot of tropes recycled here; a fact pointed out by many of the reviews I've read. With that said, I would say Yarros manages to use them in mostly new ways and revitalizes them in a gripping manner, so I don't have as much issue with this as some readers appear to.
Concerning others' views on the worldbuilding, I found it interesting how most of the positive reviews specificall praised the worldbuilding while most of negative or middle reviews specificall criticized it. For me, I found the worldbuilding weaker than it could have been, but ultimately, I feel like it got the job done pretty damn well for what Yarros was trying to set up, and I was quite impressed to find out that this was Yarros' first dive into the fantasy genre. I took a class on Fantasy worldbuilding in the last year of my undergrad, and I found that Yarros managed to hit pretty well everything that class had set out as needed to build a good fantasy world. Some of the areas were less fleshed out than they could have been, but this is a medium length book in the context of fantasy, and I found that Yarros made very good use of that space when it came to the worldbuilding. Regardless, this is just the first book in the series, I would find it kind of boring if the world was already 100% fleshed out in book one and if there wasn't more to learn in the future books.
Okay, now to the one thing that I was very surprised to find was only mentioned in a couple of the reviews I've read: the sex. This is the first romantasy I've ever read. A romantic subplot is pretty well a requirement for me in any book I read, as I just find it spices up the story and makes me more emotionally attached, but it's always been just that, a subplot, and any sex which occurs is always vaguely described and/or only mentioned in a sentence or two as having happened and then quickly moved on from. So, with my first delve into romantasy, I was looking forward to seeing how more explicit sexual scenes would be handled in the context of a Fantasy setting. This is actually one area that I felt Yarros' use of modern language benefited the book, because holy crap would the sex scenes have been jarring if this was not the case. Like, I knew from what I'd heard about the book that the sex was going to be explicit and detailed, but I was honestly still quite taken aback. I like to think that I'm far from a prude, but I must say I blushed quite a lot during these scenes. And maybe this is tame for romantasy, but I just wasn't expecting it to be that, well, explicit, to be honest. The first sex scene is like 20 pages long, and at no point does it slow down, just non-stop explicit descriptions of fucking and exploding furniture. The length of it honestly rattled me a bit, like not in a bad way, but I just didnt realize you could keep a scene like that actually engaging for that many pages, but i guess that says more about my lack of imagination. With that all said, I found it to be pretty well done (like in terms of how it was written), and it didn't take me out of the world as much as I had originally been expecting it to going into the book. I also found that the drawn out build it up to it in terms of the relationship between the two characters was really well done and paid off well when it actually happened. Is it gonna be something that works for everyone, definitely not, did it work for me, most definitely. I will say that I audibly gasp-laughed hard when the first sentence of the acknowledgement was "First and foremost, thank you to my Heavenly Father for blessing me beyond my wildest dreams." Like, that sentence felt straight up blasphemous after what I had just read, damn.
In the end, I've decided to give this book 5/5 stars. Like, was it flawed, yes; will it go down in history as one of the great masterworks of Fantasy, probably not; but did I enjoy reading through it just as much as I've enjoyed reading books which I do think that will go down as masterworks like Sanderson's Stormlight Archives or Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, yes, 150%.
So, was it good? Hell if i know. Did I love it? Absolutely.
I struggled with how exactly I wanted to rate this. As a quick glance at the past books I've rated shows, I'm pretty easy to please, and I can be quite overly generous with the 5 stars, which is why I've been extra confused on why I was struggling with what I wanted to rate this. Like, I enjoyed it so much, so why am I hesitant to give 5/5?
As I absolutely blasted through this book, getting through the thing in only a few sessions (which is rare for me as I'm a very slow reader), I kept telling my wife that I really really liked this book but couldn't figure out if it was "good" or not. The writing can be a struggle at times, as the modern language used throughout constantly clashes with the fantasy world and some of the classic fantasy themes which are presented. Also, there were some lines which were undeniably so damn cringe, but it's a romantasy book and real world romance is more often than not super cringe when viewing it from the outside, so I would have found it much less believable in that regard if it didn't get cringe at times. That said,
With Fantasy being the primary genre I've read since childhood, I saw a lot of tropes recycled here; a fact pointed out by many of the reviews I've read. With that said, I would say Yarros manages to use them in mostly new ways and revitalizes them in a gripping manner, so I don't have as much issue with this as some readers appear to.
Concerning others' views on the worldbuilding, I found it interesting how most of the positive reviews specificall praised the worldbuilding while most of negative or middle reviews specificall criticized it. For me, I found the worldbuilding weaker than it could have been, but ultimately, I feel like it got the job done pretty damn well for what Yarros was trying to set up, and I was quite impressed to find out that this was Yarros' first dive into the fantasy genre. I took a class on Fantasy worldbuilding in the last year of my undergrad, and I found that Yarros managed to hit pretty well everything that class had set out as needed to build a good fantasy world. Some of the areas were less fleshed out than they could have been, but this is a medium length book in the context of fantasy, and I found that Yarros made very good use of that space when it came to the worldbuilding. Regardless, this is just the first book in the series, I would find it kind of boring if the world was already 100% fleshed out in book one and if there wasn't more to learn in the future books.
Okay, now to the one thing that I was very surprised to find was only mentioned in a couple of the reviews I've read: the sex. This is the first romantasy I've ever read. A romantic subplot is pretty well a requirement for me in any book I read, as I just find it spices up the story and makes me more emotionally attached, but it's always been just that, a subplot, and any sex which occurs is always vaguely described and/or only mentioned in a sentence or two as having happened and then quickly moved on from. So, with my first delve into romantasy, I was looking forward to seeing how more explicit sexual scenes would be handled in the context of a Fantasy setting. This is actually one area that I felt Yarros' use of modern language benefited the book, because holy crap would the sex scenes have been jarring if this was not the case. Like, I knew from what I'd heard about the book that the sex was going to be explicit and detailed, but I was honestly still quite taken aback. I like to think that I'm far from a prude, but I must say I blushed quite a lot during these scenes. And maybe this is tame for romantasy, but I just wasn't expecting it to be that, well, explicit, to be honest.
In the end, I've decided to give this book 5/5 stars. Like, was it flawed, yes; will it go down in history as one of the great masterworks of Fantasy, probably not; but did I enjoy reading through it just as much as I've enjoyed reading books which I do think that will go down as masterworks like Sanderson's Stormlight Archives or Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, yes, 150%.
So, was it good? Hell if i know. Did I love it? Absolutely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence and War
hayzey's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
haloheart's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
eloquentmuse's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Possible Spoilers:
I’ve been eager to dive into The Empyrean series, especially with all the buzz around it, and I finally started with The Fourth Wing. This fantasy romance centers on Violet, a tough yet physically vulnerable FMC (female main character). She’s not physically strong due to a health condition that isn’t fully explained, making her journey all the more compelling.
Originally, Violet wanted to join the Scribe Quadrant, but her formidable mother forces her into the Rider Quadrant, the most perilous path. Surviving here means facing constant physical and mental trials, as candidates drop off—and die—at every step. Violet meets Xaden, a third-year and part of a rival family, making for a forbidden, enemies-to-lovers romance. Their connection grows despite the risks and his leadership role over her, and the tension is only heightened by secrets and conspiracies lurking within the academy.
The book offers a rich mix of magic, dragons, and a government conspiracy that our underdog FMC might just unravel. It hits a lot of familiar fantasy tropes, but they’re done with such skill that I was completely hooked. I’m already starting the second book and would definitely recommend the series to any fantasy romance fan!
I’ve been eager to dive into The Empyrean series, especially with all the buzz around it, and I finally started with The Fourth Wing. This fantasy romance centers on Violet, a tough yet physically vulnerable FMC (female main character). She’s not physically strong due to a health condition that isn’t fully explained, making her journey all the more compelling.
Originally, Violet wanted to join the Scribe Quadrant, but her formidable mother forces her into the Rider Quadrant, the most perilous path. Surviving here means facing constant physical and mental trials, as candidates drop off—and die—at every step. Violet meets Xaden, a third-year and part of a rival family, making for a forbidden, enemies-to-lovers romance. Their connection grows despite the risks and his leadership role over her, and the tension is only heightened by secrets and conspiracies lurking within the academy.
The book offers a rich mix of magic, dragons, and a government conspiracy that our underdog FMC might just unravel. It hits a lot of familiar fantasy tropes, but they’re done with such skill that I was completely hooked. I’m already starting the second book and would definitely recommend the series to any fantasy romance fan!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death and War
Minor: Death
littlelotto's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Sexual content, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Chronic illness and Vomit