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A review by emilycait
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
fast-paced
Not sure how to rate this.
5/5 stars for a fun silly goofy time. It felt like being 15 and getting my hands on the latest Twilight or HP. Reading in a community of equally excited readers online is capturing something I haven't experienced in a while. This story consumed my life for TWO days and I immediately ordered the next two in the series. I get why people are loving this!
1/5 stars for writing. If I think about the logic behind world building, the rules of dragon war college, the paternalistic behaviour of Xaden vs Dain... the list goes on, it falls apart. Pick any piece of world building we've been given and expand or push it to its logical conclusion and it crumples like wet cardboard. This is also a book for people who have never read fantasy or a romance before. The plot points are all predictable/obvious if you're familiar with both genres. (That's not necessarily a bad thing; feeling smart when you've predicted the correct "plot twist" or feeling safe because you know exactly where a story is going can sometimes be a good thing.)
I think the biggest pro of FW is that it's high-low literature for adults. High-low is something I see working in kids lit to engage reluctant readers: high interest concept, low barrier to entry in terms of writing. It's clearly hitting with a broad variety of readers who don't normally read fantasy or romance; talking about this book with people IRL, they are very much people who wouldn't identify as a Reader who picked this up at the drugstore because TikTok served it to them. And non-readers/casual readers finding a way into reading maybe some more challenging things in the future isn't bad.
5/5 stars for a fun silly goofy time. It felt like being 15 and getting my hands on the latest Twilight or HP. Reading in a community of equally excited readers online is capturing something I haven't experienced in a while. This story consumed my life for TWO days and I immediately ordered the next two in the series. I get why people are loving this!
1/5 stars for writing. If I think about the logic behind world building, the rules of dragon war college, the paternalistic behaviour of Xaden vs Dain... the list goes on, it falls apart. Pick any piece of world building we've been given and expand or push it to its logical conclusion and it crumples like wet cardboard. This is also a book for people who have never read fantasy or a romance before. The plot points are all predictable/obvious if you're familiar with both genres. (That's not necessarily a bad thing; feeling smart when you've predicted the correct "plot twist" or feeling safe because you know exactly where a story is going can sometimes be a good thing.)
I think the biggest pro of FW is that it's high-low literature for adults. High-low is something I see working in kids lit to engage reluctant readers: high interest concept, low barrier to entry in terms of writing. It's clearly hitting with a broad variety of readers who don't normally read fantasy or romance; talking about this book with people IRL, they are very much people who wouldn't identify as a Reader who picked this up at the drugstore because TikTok served it to them. And non-readers/casual readers finding a way into reading maybe some more challenging things in the future isn't bad.