A review by cakepoplover
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

3.5

was the book good? objectively, no. the storytelling was clunky and the world-building was very info-dumpy. the way we were given information about the society was through the fmc’s nervous tic and through contrived dialogue. the representation felt forced and most of the side characters felt very flat and like the only purpose they served was as Diversity Hires. the romance was a little cringey at times and the book truly felt like a Divergent or a Red Queen or Jennifer L. Armentrout fan fiction. basically, a YA book with smut. so, no, i cannot sit here in good conscience and tell you that this is a well-written, complex, and hard-hitting high fantasy. i can’t even tell you that it was “good” by any definable metrics. but, boy oh, boy did i enjoy myself reading this. if anybody saw the reactions i had while reading this book, it would totally ruin my mysterious, cool-girl persona. i giggled. i kicked my feet. i straight up blushed. i squealed. i hate to say it, but i even cried towards the end there. this book elicited reactions from me that no other book has made me feel in a long, long time. i know earlier i said that it felt like a Red Queen fan fiction as a mark against this book, but genuinely it did, and 16 year old Sarah is thanking Miss Rebecca Yarros for that. truly everything i wanted and more. she did not disappoint. i will say, at first i was very skeptical because i wasn’t sure if i would be able to turn my critical thinking lenses off long enough to push through the sheer cringe of the writing, but i gave it a hundred pages just to see what all the hype was about. and man, am i thankful that i stuck it out. and while the writing didn’t get ANY better lol, i started having fun and the romance between Violet and Xaden became compelling enough for me to get invested in the world. now, i can’t WAIT to read Iron Flame.