A review by robertrivasplata
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Harry Potter meets Squid Game meets His Majesty's Dragon, with some Ender's Game. Dialogue reminds me a little bit of the dialogue from Andy Weir novels. Features big nerds who fuck, and who say “fuck”. To me, the appeal of The Fourth Wing rests upon world-building, teen drama (I know they're supposed to be in their 20s), and dragons. The kingdom of Navarre seems like a dystopia run by dragons and a military which kind of functions as a priesthood to the god-like dragons. The riders quadrant is basically a combination Hogwarts and death camp. It reminds me a lot of the priests in Berserker Planet with their sacrificial rites and battle royale for the evil computer they worship. The dragons often say they don't really care if the humans understand them or not, but at the same time, they do seem to have an interest in running the humans' kingdom. I think a lot about the dynamics of places where the main avenues for career advancement is the demise of your superiors or your competitors (e.g. resistance movements, Roman politics), so I feel like such an environment would reward loyalty to cliques/gangs over following the codex to the letter. We kind of see this with the marked sticking together the way they do, but I still feel like the rule-follower characters are somewhat over-represented. This book has confirmed for me that I do not have a kink for people who want to kill me. FYI it takes over 300 pages to get to the sex stuff. The twist at the very end is very messed up.