The Fantasy Review’s review of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, book 1 in The Empyrean series.
Fast-paced, addictive, and completely unoriginal, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is a book that took the world by storm when it first came out, and I ignored it. That was, until two days ago when I picked it up and couldn’t put it down.
Spoiler-Free Review of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
First thing to say is this: if you are looking for something original, set in an epic fantasy world with intricate worldbuilding, etc, why are you reading romantacy? Ignoring a couple of exceptions, this genre is all about entertainment first, so snobby expectations are just stupid.
I picked up Fourth Wing knowing what it was and even then I was pleasantly surprised. The strongest part of this book is the characters – people and dragons.
The Characters
The main character, Violet, is a charming, determined protagonist. Her love and loyalty to her friends, plus her refusal to die despite the odds stacked against her, make her a fun and rewarding main character to follow.
I believe Violet has some kind of disability, which would have made for interesting representation in a fantasy book set at a War College, but unfortunately this aspect is not explained in much depth.
And then we have Xaden Riorson, the “enemy” of this enemies-to-lovers story. As a closed-off mystery for much of the book, it’s hard to get a read on his character other than the protagonist is attracted to him. Xaden is, however, hilarious – as are many of the characters in Fourth Wing – which gave his character a little bit of life.
Dragons & Found Family
My personal favourite parts of this book were the dragons and the found family element of the story. The dragons (much like the ones you might find in Pern or The Inheritance Cycle) have strong personalities.
Despite much of the worldbuilding around dragons being “lifted” from previous fantasy books, you can still enjoy this portrayal of the creatures in Fourth Wing. I grew more attached to the dragons than the characters surrounding Violet as the book went on!
Many of the characters in this book are lost in some way, and the trials they go through bring them together to form a close group of friends. This is a family, with arguments and all, and it’s a delight to watch.
Is There a Plot?
Yes, there is a plot in Fourth Wing, and it’s rapid-paced.
Because of these strong characters (humans and dragons), any threats to their wellbeing had me on the edge of my seat. Sure, it’s not deep, but when you’re there, within the pages of the book instead of thinking about it afterwards, it feels that deep.
I’m a mystery lover, and from the start there were some small inklings to a larger mystery. The answers were easy to guess, but that didn’t matter much when I was having so much fun following the characters as they were completely clueless.
The final few chapters of Fourth Wing prove that Rebecca Yarros knows how to write well. During a battle, the tension had me pushing through to the next page as fast as I could, and every step of the conflict was exciting.
This might not be a complex epic fantasy book, but in those few pages it proved that it belonged on the fantasy shelves, despite what a few curmudgeons might say.My final point for this review of Fourth Wing is that I’m glad I just went ahead and read it. After all, why not? It took less than two days to devour the thing and it was fun!
