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A review by aksmith92
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
3.0
Coming in HOT with this review!
Violet Sorrengail is set to be a scribe - essentially, a historian reviewing the past and recording the present. This role is significant since this novel takes place in a war-torn territory. Violet's dad was a scribe and bonded with Violet regularly about the role, and Violet always knew she would follow his path. That is until the General, her mother, tells her what she will be doing: the infamous Riders Quadrant at Basgiath War College - a pretty much fatal school for those set to ride dragons that guard the kingdom of Navarre.
I'll start by saying I enjoyed Yarros's initial steps of the world-building. The exciting play on political intrigue, war, and magic was decently done. I will briefly pivot and say I really enjoyed Rebecca Yarros's The Things We Leave Unfinished; and while that couldn't be more different than this, I genuinely love her storytelling style, whether it's a romance or fantasy romance. While a lot of the plot is somewhat predictable, as I find the first book in a series tends to be, there were twists and turns throughout the way that I believe were well thought out and articulated. I enjoyed the bond between dragons and their riders, the magical system between the dragons and riders, and the complicated hierarchical structure of the Empyrean - the dragons' little world that we were not privy to as readers yet. The plot was the superior winner in my review, but as mentioned, I'm only giving it 3 stars. This rating is because my second most significant component of reviewing: character development, wasn't quite at a 4 or 5 level for me.
For one, I dislike it when the writer has the main female character continuously gawk at the main male character. Or better yet, when there is this EXCESSIVE amount of "my body is pulled to you" type language. There were numerous times when Violet said, "Wow, Xaden may kill me, but HE IS JUST SO HOT." Or Xaden is like, "She just shows up, and I'm turned on." It was just a little too much for me. Basically, what I got from the romance was that Xaden was beyond hot, and that seemed to be his entire personality. I didn't feel the relationship build like I thought it would. I will say I do look forward to Yarros's other books in the series to maybe flesh Xaden out a bit more (AND, who knows, the additional books may explain their relationship more).
Additionally, I felt like Dain was a fairy tale character. He seemed positively one-dimensional and was used as bait for a "love triangle" (kinda) and over-protector for Violet the whole time. We didn't get much of Dain other than him being like, "Let's get ya outta here, Violet," or the ultimate rule abider. They had a whole childhood friendship before the Riders Quadrant, and it was barely touched, making Dain seem ultra-scripted and boring/annoying. I get the point of his character, but I was hoping he would've been more dimensional (and honestly, how he is written, I bet he will be in other books; ya'll will detest him now but justttt you waittttttt - this is formulaic writing folks, we have not seen the full Dain. That I'm sure of). In fairness, I tend to prioritize character development when I read and can be picky about it.
I will also mention, without spoiling anything, that Violet's ignorance throughout this novel, as someone who is supposed to be SO SMART (we were told many times), seemed to be much more prevalent than actual smart decision-making. Sometimes I find this happens in the first book of a series, so I tried not to let that sway too heavily in my review.
Lastly, compared to Yarros' other works (particularly Things We Leave Unfinished), this read slightly immature. Recognizing that this bordered YA and NA, and Yarros talked about using this book to help folks get into fantasy, it didn't have too much sway on my review, but I did notice the difference and was slightly disappointed with that.
Regardless, this book's premise and plot were good! I enjoyed the cliffhanger at the end (and I didn't guess that would happen), and I look forward to seeing where the next book in the series goes, even if we have to wait a bit for it. It was nicely written, flowed well, and was a fascinating read. I did like the battle at the end. All-in-all, it was a decent read!
Violet Sorrengail is set to be a scribe - essentially, a historian reviewing the past and recording the present. This role is significant since this novel takes place in a war-torn territory. Violet's dad was a scribe and bonded with Violet regularly about the role, and Violet always knew she would follow his path. That is until the General, her mother, tells her what she will be doing: the infamous Riders Quadrant at Basgiath War College - a pretty much fatal school for those set to ride dragons that guard the kingdom of Navarre.
I'll start by saying I enjoyed Yarros's initial steps of the world-building. The exciting play on political intrigue, war, and magic was decently done. I will briefly pivot and say I really enjoyed Rebecca Yarros's The Things We Leave Unfinished; and while that couldn't be more different than this, I genuinely love her storytelling style, whether it's a romance or fantasy romance. While a lot of the plot is somewhat predictable, as I find the first book in a series tends to be, there were twists and turns throughout the way that I believe were well thought out and articulated. I enjoyed the bond between dragons and their riders, the magical system between the dragons and riders, and the complicated hierarchical structure of the Empyrean - the dragons' little world that we were not privy to as readers yet. The plot was the superior winner in my review, but as mentioned, I'm only giving it 3 stars. This rating is because my second most significant component of reviewing: character development, wasn't quite at a 4 or 5 level for me.
For one, I dislike it when the writer has the main female character continuously gawk at the main male character. Or better yet, when there is this EXCESSIVE amount of "my body is pulled to you" type language. There were numerous times when Violet said, "Wow, Xaden may kill me, but HE IS JUST SO HOT." Or Xaden is like, "She just shows up, and I'm turned on." It was just a little too much for me. Basically, what I got from the romance was that Xaden was beyond hot, and that seemed to be his entire personality. I didn't feel the relationship build like I thought it would. I will say I do look forward to Yarros's other books in the series to maybe flesh Xaden out a bit more (AND, who knows, the additional books may explain their relationship more).
Additionally, I felt like Dain was a fairy tale character. He seemed positively one-dimensional and was used as bait for a "love triangle" (kinda) and over-protector for Violet the whole time. We didn't get much of Dain other than him being like, "Let's get ya outta here, Violet," or the ultimate rule abider. They had a whole childhood friendship before the Riders Quadrant, and it was barely touched, making Dain seem ultra-scripted and boring/annoying. I get the point of his character, but I was hoping he would've been more dimensional (and honestly, how he is written, I bet he will be in other books; ya'll will detest him now but justttt you waittttttt - this is formulaic writing folks, we have not seen the full Dain. That I'm sure of). In fairness, I tend to prioritize character development when I read and can be picky about it.
I will also mention, without spoiling anything, that Violet's ignorance throughout this novel, as someone who is supposed to be SO SMART (we were told many times), seemed to be much more prevalent than actual smart decision-making. Sometimes I find this happens in the first book of a series, so I tried not to let that sway too heavily in my review.
Lastly, compared to Yarros' other works (particularly Things We Leave Unfinished), this read slightly immature. Recognizing that this bordered YA and NA, and Yarros talked about using this book to help folks get into fantasy, it didn't have too much sway on my review, but I did notice the difference and was slightly disappointed with that.
Regardless, this book's premise and plot were good! I enjoyed the cliffhanger at the end (and I didn't guess that would happen), and I look forward to seeing where the next book in the series goes, even if we have to wait a bit for it. It was nicely written, flowed well, and was a fascinating read. I did like the battle at the end. All-in-all, it was a decent read!