Book Review: Fourth Wing

Good Lord, where do I start with Fourth Wing? (warning: minor spoilers ahead)

Let’s start with the basics. Fourth Wing is a Romantasy (Romantic Fantasy) book focused on dragons and their teenage/new adult/thirsty riders. I have to admit, I bought this book and Iron Flame on a whim about a year ago based on the hype and I petered out about sixty pages into Fourth Wing and dropped it for a while. Eventually, though, I came back to it and struggled for another fifty to a hundred pages before actually getting into it. Once I did finally get hooked, I finished Fourth Wing and Iron Flame back-to-back over the course of about a week.

Getting into the good bits of the book, I did like the interactions between dragon and rider vis-a-vis telepathic connection. The signets were also typically well done and Violet’s growth as a character both emotionally and growing in her own power was well done and believable. The politics were at least passable and the overall feel of the book was aesthetically pleasing. Yarros also has a tendency to end each of her usually short chapters on a cliffhanger, which makes you think you can read just one more chapter before bed…over and over.

Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There were some things about this book that make me question whether the author had ever read fantasy novels before writing it. Her use of modern slang was jarring and the overly-sexualized characters thought of little else, even when in life or death situations. Certain technologies and thing like using our modern calendar and lunar cycles felt lazy, like Yarros only had enough world-building in her to have a map drawn and insert “Here there be dragons.” Finally, the relationship between Violet and Xaden follows a classic enemies to lovers trope, however the relationship is only ever toxic and based around sex. If you’re looking for anything beyond sex as a goalpost for a relationship you won’t find it here. Then again, Yarros’ typically reader is probably looking for just that, which is really more a comment on our society than anything else. Finally, one last point, I get that Yarros was setting up Basgiath to be a bit of a meat grinder, but it makes no sense that a society so desperate for bodies to funnel into their war would waste so many lives so carelessly. I mean, even in Navy Seal training deaths are rare. Even dealing with dragons it seems too many died to be practical.

Despite all of this, if you ignore these things the story really starts to pick up leading up to the Threshing scene and continues more strongly into the final act. Once you’re used to her style it becomes easier to ignore the anachronisms.

Rating: 4 / 5 (If Yarros dropped the modern slang and gave more thought to the world she was building and the people that populate it, this story could have easily been a 5).

Find Fourth Wing on Amazon!