Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Have you ever had a book that has been staring you in the face wherever you go? That is my relationship with Fourth Wing. I swear I have seen it in multiple bookstores’ front windows, displayed on recommended shelves, and being pushed to me online, so it was definitely on my radar. I also didn’t know too much about this book other than it was fantasy and involved dragons. I noticed a friend on Goodreads started reading it, so I thought it was about time and put it on hold in my Libby app. All this is to say, I went into this book kind of blind and with a lot of assumptions.

This is the first “romantasy” book I have ever read, so I was in for a surprise. I don’t want to come off as a prude, and I have read a Science Fiction romance novel before (The Rule of Luck by Catherine Cerveny), which I kinda liked. I just want to emphasize that I wasn’t prepared for the adult nature of this dragon fantasy book.

In Fourth Wing, Yarros paints a brutal culture where the highest honor of service to Navarre is to become a dragon rider. Becoming a dragon rider means cadets have to go through extreme mental and physical challenges where they often die, all with the hopes of bonding with a dragon. There is a lot of jockeying for status and power within the cadet structure, with hints of that happening within the dragon riders proper. Once bonded with a dragon, you can wield god-like powers used in the defense of Navarre against a competing faction of griffon riders.

We follow the perspective of Violet Sorrengail as she is forced into becoming a dragon rider by her mother, the commanding general. The Sorrengails have a history of being dragon riders, everyone except Violet’s father, who was a scribe. Violet was on the path to become a scribe, because of her father and her physical build, until her mother intervened. Violet constantly faces challenges as a first-year cadet, using her wits and allies to help her overcome them. There is a third-year student, Xaden Riorson, who by all accounts should be her mortal enemy due to an apparent family blood feud: Violet’s mother killed his father, and Xaden’s father killed her brother.

I liked following Violet’s arc, from her just coping with her situation and trying not to die to really believing in herself. This theme was punctuated by the love triangle between Dain Aetos, her best friend outside the academy, and Xaden, ostensibly the bad boy. Dain was constantly in the way, shielding her from the experiences she needed to grow as a rider, while Xaden encouraged those situations and gave her the tools she needed to succeed on her own. The belief in her own ability and always pushing herself is a theme I really enjoyed in this book.

Minor spoiler warning.

I really liked that she bonded with two dragons. That was a nice surprise that emphasized her specialness despite her outward abilities. And that the feather tails are dragon hatchlings added some spice that made the world seem more real. I wanted to know more about the dragon society and their politics. The hints of dragon interactions make it seem as complex as human politics but with more fire. The powers dragon riders channel through their bonds seem almost godlike, and I’m not sure if there was enough balance. Or at least, the limits of their powers weren’t clearly balanced. The leader of the dragon riders could see the outcome of any conflict? Huh, that seems powerful, unless there are more than three people rebelling. Xaden is a shadow wielder. Does that mean he can kill anyone anytime? Or spy on anyone at any time, anywhere? And Violet is a lightning wielder, and that can kill the venin. Okay.

I feel like the ending twists lacked the surprising but inevitable punch to be fully satisfying to me. The foreshadowing was there, but it lacked something for me. Overall, I liked the book and plan to continue the series. My friend’s review when I asked was, “I enjoyed it, but I felt shame for enjoying it, lol.” Although the romance was explicit and not really my usual preference, I enjoyed it.

Romance books are not my wheelhouse. Is there a good romance sci-fi or fantasy that should be on my radar? Let me know in the comments below.