OK I’m going to try to put my thoughts and feelings about The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros into words as best as I can manage. The second this book was announced my obsession for all things Red Tower Publishing began and I just knew this was going to be the publication for me. If there’s one thing I love it’s all things fantasy. Fantasy romance? Sign me the hell up.
Now, for The Fourth Wing specifically it honestly had me at dragons. I feel like it’s been a while since I read a full fledged dragon fantasy series and this one sounded like the kind of masterpiece I needed in my life immediately. Even though I had huge expectations going into this I don’t think my mind had even touched on how phenomenal this war college with dragons novel was going to be. When I say I was so hung over after finishing this book that I couldn’t so much as look at another book and just straight up decided I was useless for anything besides going to bed, I’m not exaggerating. I couldn’t focus on anything else so sleep was my answer to dealing with finishing this book.
Violet comes from a family of strong women, both her mother and sister being important members of the dragon riders. However, Violet chose to follow in her fathers footsteps in being a Scribe, focusing more on using her intelligence for the war. This is for a number of reasons, but not least because she was born with a conduction that makes her body significantly weaker than the average individual. She’s more prone to breaking bones, tearing muscles, bruises, and a number of other conditions that put her body at a disadvantage in strenuous situations.
Unfortunately this means little to her mother who insists that anyone with the Sorrengail name will be a dragon rider or nothing at all. Thus Violet ends up joining the dragon riders at the war college though she has spent her life working towards becoming a Scribe, putting her at even greater a disadvantage. Violet spends the book, which spans her first year, working extra hard to compensate for her body’s limitations and all together, just to stay alive and make it to Threshing where she will hopefully secure a dragon. Without going into too much further detail for the sake of spoilers, the time covered is such a highlight for the growth that not only Violet goes through, but also a number of other characters. Seeing how far the characters come is something that made this book so special to me, because it felt like you grew right along with them and were a part of their struggles and triumphs.
It wasn’t only violet and Xaden, some of the more main characters that I fell for endlessly and wanted to see succeed, but other characters, in large part her fellow classmates who I honestly spent every second of the story afraid for, especially after the challenges towards becoming a rider began because absolutely NO ONE was safe and you learn that very early on. Every challenge had my anxiety so high.
One of my absolute favourite characters ended up being Liam, who spends so much time with Violet, and the two of them build such a wholesome yet quirky relationship that gave me so much life. Of course Xaden was also high on that list because as always I’m a sucker for the bad boy, morally questionable male main character. Again, the banter between Xaden and Violet had me looking forward to every one of their interactions, and his character growth from start to finish was just next level incredible for who he starts the book out as being.
I could go on and on with praise for this book, for these characters, (for the fact that it has dragons because enough said there), because I have endless amounts of praise for this book. I’m also still having a hard time wrapping my brain around my feelings on the The Fourth Wing and how to actually put it into words, because I feel like I can’t find the right words to do justice to it. The range of emotions this book had me feeling was so extreme. There was anxiety, happiness, anger, betrayal, tears of both joy and devastation, and the list goes on.
The ending in particular had my emotions all over the place, and I’m absolutely beside myself with where the last few chapters took us. I cannot describe how relieved I am that we’re getting the sequel in 2023 because having to wait until next year or even longer would be such torture. Even just waiting until the end of this year seems impossible. I already have so many editions of this book, and have plans to get even more because I’m just that obsessed. I cannot wait until the sequel comes out in November, and I’m sure will have to tide myself over with multiple rereads until then. Here’s hoping I can get my hands on an early copy!
