Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

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Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
The Empyrean #1
Published by Entangled: Red Tower Books on May 2, 2023
Age Group & Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Romance
Representation: main character with chronic illness (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), nonbinary side character, deaf side character, queer side character
Format: eBook
Source: Library

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away... because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

Trigger & Content Warnings: ableism, war, loss of loved ones, fire, poisoning, blood, vomiting, bullying

I’m simple: I like dragons*, the book contains dragons, I’m going to read it. Books containing dragons, however, do not guarantee that I’m going to enjoy said book. Though thankfully, in Fourth Wing’s case, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would because I’m typically wary of super hyped books.

*If I didn’t like dragons, we would have a tiny problem considering the blog logo is literally… a dragon.

Fourth Wing was an easy and quick read, and it was also a lot of fun. But being a heavy fantasy reader, it was difficult to not nitpick because I will be honest: the world building isn’t That Great. Some things make little sense at all logically. Even after finishing the book and having some time to wrap my head around things a little and gather my thoughts, there are some things that just… I can’t wrap my head around.

We’ll start with some of my biggest gripes. The first in The Empyrean series is set in Basgiath War College and follows Violet Sorrengail, the youngest daughter of General Lilith Sorrengail who has trained most of her life to be a Scribe. And she expected to enter the Scribe Quadrant — at least until her mother ordered her to join the Riders Quadrant to become a dragon rider. Being a dragon rider is a big deal in Navarre, but it also comes with a catch: you either graduate or die through one of the many trials and challenges prospective riders go through.

We find out early in Fourth Wing there’s not enough people to fight the war with Poromiel (a nearby kingdom), yet the death ratio is pretty high for training and lack of people. I mostly just brushed it off because making it as a dragon rider means you’re practically at the top of the social and military pyramid. Of course, they’re going to make it difficult; it makes reaching graduation a bigger feeling of accomplishment.

But something about starting with thousands of people wanting to enter the Riders Quadrant and then ending up with maybe 150-200 people who pass does not… compute. That’s just the beginning — we haven’t gotten to graduation yet. Not for three years. Let’s not even think about after graduation. This genuinely doesn’t make sense (beyond societal bragging rights), and I spent a lot of the book trying to wrap my head around it, but it… doesn’t.

We also find out early on the children of the rebellion leaders were conscripted to the Riders Quadrant (who only accepts volunteers in the first place, but we find out why later). I don’t work in the military or government, and I don’t know about you, but logically, the military has some top secret information. It makes little sense to put the children of the very leaders who started an uprising in your kingdom in a place where important information about your kingdom is shared. Why, oh why, would you stick them in your military academy?

(I know kids aren’t necessarily like their parents. But logistically, any chances of a potential uprising from their offspring are normally going to be squashed by any means possible. Navarre doesn’t sound like they mess around. I mean, the Riders Quadrant took a page from the Dauntless initiation in Divergent and a few pages from The Hunger Games, then multiplied by tenfold. Does that sound like messing around? Nah.)

This is, however, the first in a planned five book series. I will quietly hold an optimistic hope there’s reasoning behind some choices made and not completely lose my mind. And even if there weren’t, I might actually forget about how these two things bothered me by the time we get to the last book.

Yarros ultimately makes it easy to understand the world she’s built in Fourth Wing at a surface level, and that’s probably enough for some people. I definitely think she wrote this with a very specific audience in mind, namely romantasy (romance + fantasy). If you want a complex world where everything makes sense when you look deeper (and that is your deal breaker), you won’t like this. You’re better off reading a multitude of other fantasy novels.

Once I got over those hurdles, though, it was mostly smooth sailing and I really enjoyed myself. (By that time, I think I actually switched off my hardcore fantasy hat.) I definitely think I was in the right mood when I picked up this book, where I was shifting from romance back into fantasy; if it were under different circumstances, I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it as much if I want to be super honest with myself.

I love how Violet uses her wits and determination to survive, despite being constantly underestimated because of her size. It’s also implied Violet has chronic illness (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome), but given I’m not part of the group, I can’t speak for the representation. I love how Xaden is kind of protective, but he also knows that Violet can stand on her own. He’s there and he’ll absolutely swoop in and save her if needed, but outside of that he’s supportive and brings out the best in Violet — we love to see it!

Personally, I felt the romance was like enemies to lovers with a dash of instalove, but I also don’t feel strongly about romance in books in general. This was one where I don’t really care (might change in future books); I’ve read worse and I’ve read better, but this really comes down to personal preference. Some of the spice scenes gave off strong ACOTAR vibes if that’s your jam, though.)

The side characters (Rhiannon, Liam, Imogen, etc.) were also well-written as well, and I love their dynamics with the main characters. Each of them shined and I absolutely love them (I fear they’ll die off one by one, so I’m going to try to not get super attached, but I think it might be a little too late). However, I will say the true shining characters are definitely the dragons. They’re sassy and hilarious, and honestly, they’re the best part of the book (even more than the main character); I’m fairly certain they’ll be the best part of the entire series. 11/10 would adopt them, but I think I’d get roasted to a crisp with 0 regrets. They give huge “puny god” energy.

Fourth Wing is highly entertaining, easy and quick to read. It’s chock full of tropes and cliches (enemies to lovers, forced proximity) — it honestly gave me a lot of nostalgia and reminded me of peak 2010s YA if you included spice. If you gave this to mid-to-late teen me (if she liked spice), she would’ve eaten this up in a heartbeat just like the adult version did. It is, overall, a very solid book, and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on Iron Flame.