Author: Rebecca Yarros

Genre: High Fantasy

Summary: In Fourth Wing, we follow a physically frail main character, Violet Sorrengail, who is mentally anything but. While she may be better suited to join the Scribe Quadrant of the war college that she attends, she is forced by her own high-ranking mother to join the most dangerous quadrant there; the Dragon Riders. Not wanting to appear weak, Violet has to endure all sorts of turmoil and overcome obstacles others in her class don’t have to worry about. And amidst learning how to survive this place, Violet comes to trust the one person she never thought she could.

My Review of Fourth Wing

Rating: ★★★★☆

Plot

Stories that follow the main character’s time of growth and finding their true strength and magical powers are my favourite. The plot, although stretched out a bit, kept me reading at a good pace. You’re kept intrigued and wanting to find out more about Violet and what she is starting to uncover.

Maybe it was because of my familiarity with the fantasy genre, or maybe it was a little predictable, but none of twists shocked or surprised me. Did I gasp at the end? Yes. But only because I thought it was going to be someone else… I still expected the story to play out that way.

This book is very similar to the From Blood And Ash series.

Characters

The characters were all fun to read about, and the tension between different foes was portrayed so well that it was radiating off the pages. Similarly, you could feel the strength that some of the characters gathered from each other, and the friendships formed was written brilliantly. So much so, that I felt the loss of Rhiannon in the last chapters, and wished she was there with Violet.

World-building

I think the reason that I don’t mind Fourth Wing being such a big book is because I enjoyed every second of learning more about the college and the world beyond. Although we don’t get much information on the kingdom’s towns and villages, the world still comes across as the author intended. Which is how you know descriptions have been written cleverly and executed well. The two maps at the start of the book, of the kingdom and of the war college, are a great tool to help Yarros establish the world-building effectively.

Writing

The style of writing was easy to follow, whilst also being engaging. I personally found it enjoyable and I had no problems reading all 500 pages of the book. The only thing I picked up on that slightly irked me was at one point all Xaden and Violet called each other was beautiful. Which isn’t a huge negative but a few things got a little repetitive around that part of the book. So it made the “they’re finally all in” feeling a bit less epic.

Vibe

This book comes across as being dark, as it mostly takes place in a giant grey stone structure jutting out of the side of a mountain. A place filled with secrets and betrayals. But saying that, the overall vibe is not too gloomy. Instead, you get a soft dark academia vibe with a hint of sweet romance and mythical creatures.

Is this bookstagram star on your TBR? Or have you already devoured it? Let me know in the comments, and share your Fourth Wing review with us.