Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...
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
Fourth Wing is fast paced and fun, but ultimately a little disappointing. Perhaps I went into the novel with overly high expectations. After all, most of the online reviews are glowingly positive. However, Fourth Wing at times felt clunky, overly predictable, and heavy-handed on the dramatic romance. Still, I will not deny the reading experience was entertaining — I am always excited to read about dragons.
Violet Sorrengail is occasionally a lackluster heroine. Especially at the beginning, her only traits are that she is small and fragile. And, of course, she has two men deeply in love with her (in typical love-triangle fashion). However, I do believe she has opportunities for character growth in the second novel in the series. Yarros hints at the possibility of more violent and subversive tendencies in Violet, which I believe could add more depth to her development. I also appreciate that Yarros has fashioned her as an intelligent heroine, and enables her to use cunning rather than brute force in some challenges.
The romance also feels lackluster and undeveloped. The main male love interest often feels like an unoriginal stock character (he's just another hot guys who can fight) and, in my opinion, he falls for Violet unrealistically fast. The chemistry between them seems forced, silly, and over-exaggerated. Furthermore, their lack of communication was frustrating. Additionally, the world building at times feels shoddy and Yarros' plot twists are predictable. For instance, in one chapter readers are given relevant information just a page or two before a big reveal. The conspicuously heavy-handed placement of this key information ruins the plot twist, and this happened several times.
However, the dragons in Fourth Wing are spectacular. Undoubtedly, the scenes with dragons are the strongest. I was interested in their characters, their background, and the world in which they inhabit. Often, the dragons are comic characters and Yarros writes humorous scenes and dialogue well. Furthermore, I enjoyed the fight scenes and the challenges that Violet faces. These scenes kept me turning pages. That said, I do hope that, in future books, Yarros addresses the copious amounts of violence in her world and further addresses the psychological effect it has on her cast of characters.
Overall, I would recommend this novel to readers looking for an entertaining romantic fantasy novel who are willing to overlook unoriginal tropes and occasional weak writing. Fourth Wing has its flaws, but I also eagerly read every page. Sometimes, we all just need a fun book about dragons and a boarding school romance.
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