A review by howlchemy
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

back at it again with a written review! 

 

i have to preface this by saying i am not the biggest fan of this author, for a multitude a reasons, but i kept reading the book because the plot seemed interesting. 

i gave it a four star because i can’t sit here and lie to everyone and say i didn’t like it — i did, i enjoyed it a lot. i felt very pulled to this book because of the dragons, and i am glad i stayed. what can i say, i am a sucker for fantasy and any booktok trash you throw my way... i am the raccoon of booktok.

and maybe it’s because i am getting too old (sigh, the age of 25 is such a heavy burden) to read things with such a youthful narrator, but i simply couldn’t stand violet at some points. it kind of came as a shock when i learned she was 20, because the way she speaks makes me think she was 16. i know her entire family is a rider (besides her father and her brother), but she was raised as a scribe and, honestly, i couldn’t tell... but then again, she sort of knew she was born to be a rider so maybe that's why. she's very conflicted, her emotions are always going wild, which i understand 100% (you're telling my i've been training to be a scribe and you want me to cross a f*cking rock bridge where i could fall to my death? yeah, i wouldn't know what to do after that either). she's not a hard character to like, but this feels like feyre 2.0 and i'm not even a big fan of feyre.

romance while, the contrast between dain and xaden is so... predictable. childhood sweetheart who's very overprotective versus bad sexy guy who is destined to be with you until you die. are all fantasy books the same now? (but i like xaden... what can i say, i like my fictional men annoying and hard to get).
friends wise, i wish there was more of rhiannon, ridoc, liam, etc. those were characters i truly enjoyed reading about, and it was always just short moments. 

another thing is that, amidst the actual tragedy happening in your world right now, reading this book felt like downright propaganda (and not the good kind, to me). this is one of the irks i have with the author, and i won’t be getting political in a book review, but it genuinely made me stop a few times because i just felt so uncomfortable. yes, i have read the ending, and no, i haven’t started the second book, but i have no hopes that this narrative will change.

also what the actual f*ck was that ending.