I’ll admit, I went into Fourth Wing with low expectations after seeing it all over Instagram and Goodreads. This book exploded this summer. I’ve read several other viral books and have been disappointed in the overall quality, length, complexity, etc.
Book Information
Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc
First Published: May 1 2023
Format: audiobook
Narrator: Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton
Source: Library
Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Empyrean #1
Fourth Wing was way more than I expected. I expect it to be high drama, low substance, massive cliffhanger after the first central plot point, and then wait for the next book. That is not the case at all! Excellent polish, well written and edited.
Dark academia is a fun genre. I’m happy this book was about young adults (17+) rather than children. I have difficulty suspending disbelief when the main characters are children in adult situations. The spicy content is appropriate and LGBTQ friendly, but a bit implausible.
It’s been an awfully long time since I stayed up all night reading/listening to a book, and 6am arrived so quickly. The plot keeps escalating and twisting. The tension kept ratcheting up, and the pace was fast. I usually put a book down after a chapter does a scenario change, cliffhanger, etc.. Still, I was compelled to keep reading to discover what happened next! Both characters are fantastic; the drama is part young adult miscommunications, part political machinations and part well-driven plot. Fourth Wing has a good balance between these three areas.
I like dragon riding. I didn’t even notice until assistive aids were provided that there had been no mention of them before! In the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, rigging and harness are frequently mentioned and play a role in dragon bonding. I look forward to more development of the relationship between Violet and Tairn as the series continues. Some rules around the dragon magic seemed contrived to me, but by the end, it made sense.
I always find the nice guy who’s not actually a nice guy trope annoying. It was well done here, though I found Dain to be pretty sick from the beginning. More parallels to the Hunger Games series here than I’d prefer. I initially found Xaden intriguing, but the last chapter didn’t fit the perception of him that I’d built over the book.
I really don’t like dual-perspective books unless they are written outstandingly. I’m looking forward to book 2 coming out this fall, and I hope it continues from Violet’s perspective! Rebecca Yarros has created an interesting and compelling world.
Highlights:
– great, fast paced, busy plot with lots of tricks, twists and gotchas
– DRAGONS!
– slow build enemies to lovers romance, sigh.
Lowlights:
– leaned hard on some of the dark academia tropes, there was a lot of people dying for small reasons. For example, one province was heavily relied on for conscripts for another quadrant and they were running out of stock/getting upset about it, so why not send the kids that didn’t score high enough or sucked at dragons to the other quadrant? Seemed wasteful
– The teenage feelings and angst weren’t really over done, but still dragged on for too long. I don’t like listening to the inner thoughts of a 17 year old while they turn something over and over in their mind, without actually saying anything of substance.
If you liked this, then…
The Will of The Many – James Islington – Academic Setting, young adult main character. No dragons though