A review by pages_with_panda
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Genuinely impressed at the marketing for this book because I was disappointed after reading it and couldn't figure out why it was so popular. It felt like a watered down fantasy book with some tropes sprinkled on top. 

Excuse the length of this "review," honestly it's mostly me just ranting.

There wasn't any great character development, plot, or writing - all things I would expect from a great book. It was overall a fun book to read with friends, but I won't be recommending it to anyone and I'm still debating picking up the second one. 

To start, the world-building was all right. It seemed like things existed in the world JUST to bring our main characters together, and nothing beyond that mattered. It started off interesting with the main character reciting her lessons in a way to avoid exposition, but that's pretty much all the explanation we get of the world. We don't really explore anything outside of the military school (until the very end), and the first half of the book dragged with so much nothingness happening. Imagine being bored in a school where everyone is trying to kill each other. 

From the hundreds of students who are killed in the elite school, I literally didn't care about any of them. The author made sure to start every chapter with a death toll and a reading of random names of people we've never heard of. (Take a shot every time Violet mentioned someone who's name she forgot btw. It happened a lot for some reason.) Despite how dangerous this school was, there was not a single tense moment or any real stakes for any of the main characters or her friends. 

 I’ll never get over how quickly people move on around here how callously death is swept under the rug and trampled on minutes later.
Gods, Xaden looks so good today… (Page 285). 

Like, this is a REAL QUOTE. 

We're also told CONSTANTLY how Xaden wants to kill Violet and hates her and will do anything to kill her, and yet his behavior says the exact opposite. 

Violet's monologues all involve sex and how badly she wants to sleep with the two main guys (Xaden and Blondie, idk I forgot his name), and they're polar opposites. Blondie coddles her the entire book, wanting to protect her when she swears she doesn't need it, and yet when Xaden offers his help, she takes it. 

Violet was such a damsel, despite her claiming the exact opposite the entire book. She doesn't do anything for herself, beyond poisoning a few students, and Xaden takes it upon himself to train her (because she can't fight), get her new daggers (because she can't use swords), and create a saddle for her (because she's smaaall and can't ride her dragon normally). Oh, but she can't TRUST HIM. He will KILL her the first chance he gets. And how DARE Blondie suggest she can't do anything for herself. 

The plot was also a confusing mess. Every time the characters talked, it seemed like they'd be building up a Chevkov's gun, only for them to never revisit these things again or them being used immediately in the next chapter. (For example, the whole thing with the oranges was painfully obvious, but as a counter example the whole thing with the map they stole for that war game? Never mentioned again and I was somehow believed it was going to be important with how much time we spent building it up.)
We definitely could've cut out the first half of this book and gotten straight to the action, would've been a lot more interesting. 

The majority of the chapters are build this way, with a whole lot of buildup towards something that leaves little to no impression. Even grand emotional reveals are completely forgotten a few pages later...And don't even get me started on the "plot twist" at the end. It seemed like such a weak plot device added in only for shock value. I gave this book a "fast" pacing despite being bored in the beginning because of how quickly we move from things. 

Overall if you want a book with dragons occasionally making an appearance while the FMC pines over someone who hates her, read this book. 
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