A review by spootilious
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

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

2.0

 Read: October 11, 2023
 Title: Fourth Wing
 Series: The Empyrean #1 
Author: Rebecca Yarros 
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
 Rating: 2/5
 Review: 

I won’t say that I didn’t enjoy this book…. Honestly, if I didn’t enjoy reading it I wouldn’t have given it 2 stars… it would have been lucky to have 1. 

I could spend pages discussing what I didn’t like about the book but instead I’ll list the things I like and disliked then put some notes at the end. 

Dislikes first because there are so many: 

·         This book would have been better if it wasn’t in first person. 
·         The writing is very juvenile 
·         The storyline is unbelievably predictable (including the ‘twist’ at the end) 
·         The plot may have worked better without such a heavy focus on the romance. 
·         The romance includes EVERY single cliché I can think of (and I do enjoy dark romances so it’s not that I don’t like a good romance… it just need to be… not bad.) 
·         Repetitive 
·         The worldbuilding is extremely lacking. 
·         The protagonist basically gets away with everything 
·         The protagonist has not self-accountability 
·         The objectification of other sexes 
·         I’m unable to find a single original idea in the plot. 
·         So many plot holes! 
·         Endless use of the words Fuck and Hot 
·         The dialog is TERRIBLE. 
·         Every character is unbelievably immature (including leadership and the parents). 

Likes: 

·         Liam is definitely a gem. 
·         The plot was entertaining if unoriginal. 

Ok, so digging into the details. I have a feeling that if Yarros chose third person for this book it wouldn’t feel so immature or cringe worthy because we wouldn’t be listening to a lot of the cliches that are present. The writing feels like it should be a YA book and not New Adult (though the sex is obviously what pushed it into the category) I probably would have enjoyed this WAY more if it was YA. This was a book club book for us and I made my predictions less than 100 pages into the book about the war and how the book would end and sadly I wasn’t wrong, though it may be because Yarros seemed to take bits and pieces of all the best selling fantasy franchises (particularly ones that have been made into movies) and copy and pasted them into this one after just changing some names. 

I love a good romance, especially enemy to lovers with some really dark themes… but this felt, once again… juvenile, forced, and utterly cringe, and to be honest I’m too lazy to provide examples but pick a page at random and I’m sure the main character feels tingling at the back of her neck because the man in question entered the room, or her body heats because she glanced at him, or his core turned to liquid…. Which brings me to my next point, the back and forth and romance between the two main characters were so repetitive that it was almost painful and I really just wanted to skip it all and get back to the story. 

The world building is lacking as well. The reader only get tidbits here and there and only if the author thinks its necessary but because of this the sense of the world is so vague it hurts. The reader should know a lot more about the war, considering that this is taking place in a school for military cadets that will be fighting on the front lines… instead it’s ‘guys with griffins are the enemies and they’re attacking us’. Okay…. Who are they? Why do they attack? Did they use to be part of us and broke away? That would make sense with the whole unification thing… Are they attacking the government or just the land…. Etc etc. (this is just an example and the answers can be inferred but they’re never truly explained). 

Moving on to the main character who basically undermines her leadership and is constantly insubordinate and breaks practically every rule and never gets in trouble for it. She also never takes responsibility for herself. Everything is always because she’s too small or fragile or because of someone else… and I’m not here for it. 

I’m gonna skim over the objectification of the sexes, because it doesn’t need explaining. As mentioned above the story line seems to be cut and paste from a lot of very popular franchises. When I started reading I even mentioned to my buddy that it reminded me of Hunger Games, then Harry Potter, Mulan, Game of Thrones… I could go on. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a single original aspect to the story, which I was a little disappointed in because, as I said, I enjoyed the read… But then again who wouldn’t if its made up of some of the best and most consumed fantasy entertainment out there. 

The plot holes were bothersome for me. I won’t go into too much details to avoid spoilers, but specifically the final War Game. It he main character is so smart then why isn’t she asking questions about the control of the enemy to participate it in, or how could she not come to the conclusion of both betrayals on her own… That along with the reasons the failings are happening and the 400 yr verses 600 year thing… Idk… It’s super bothering me though. 

The last three dislikes roll together honestly. I’m so sick of the words Fuck and Hot that I’m ready to pull my hair out. The dialog sounds like a bunch of horny kids just reaching puberty. Actually that’s not fair to the kids… The characters themselves acted that way as well. Even the ‘adults’ or leadership figures were immature even if they didn’t have that kind of dialog. I mean… Violets mother was so one dimensional it was painful. Evil step mother vibes much? 

I can’t even justify my likes. The only character I found the least bit rounded was Liam. Which I can’t say more about… So… yea. 

Will I recommend this book? Yes, absolutely. To those individuals that love to read YA and are looking for a step into New Adult or Fantasy Romance like The Cruel Prince or ACOTAR or something similar and have never really been interested in High Fantasy. 

 

Will I read book 2? Also yes, as I said I enjoyed the book and despite all my dislikes of it would come back for more. I think its important to realize that something can be objectively mediocre or bad and still have value/still be enjoyable. If it wasn’t we wouldn’t have junk food XP 
 
 


  Quotes: 
 “One generation to change the text. One generation chooses to teach that text. The next grows, and the lie becomes history.” 

 

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