Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Fourth Wing starts The Empyrean series. It’s set in a preindustrial world that’s been divided in two by a war that’s raged for centuries. The kingdom of Navarra is protected by a barrier of magic upheld by dragons against the enemy’s griffins, but the barrier has started to break.

Dragons need riders that are trained in a brutal military academy where the weak are weeded by death. Violet Sorrengail has never thought to follow her older siblings there. She has a frail body and mind best suited to become a scribe. But her mother, the commander of dragon riders, orders otherwise, and so, at twenty, she joins the hopefuls of her age group to try and make it to the academy through a deadly test that’s only the beginning of the torments.

There is an enemy within the academy too. Children of a recent rebellion within Navarra are forced to take the deadly training to become dragon riders in the hopes that the academy will kill them. They all hate Violet as the daughter of the woman who killed their parents. And their leader, Xaden Riorson, is the most powerful wing leader in the academy, and Violet’s commander in the fourth wing.

This is a dark academy type of story that follows Violet’s progression through the military training. There is foul competition to best and friends and allies to gather, and the book doesn’t shy away from killing both. Violet struggles more than most, but she’s cunning and determined, and when she triumphs, she does it with flair.

There’s romance too, a not-so-difficult choice between a childhood friend and the gorgeous and sexy enemy. And since this is adult fantasy, and the author has written steamy contemporary romances before, Violet is a grown woman who goes after what she wants and the sex scenes are graphic and good.

The world is interesting with its dragons that bond with humans. They had very humanlike qualities too, making the reader root for them as much as the humans. The friendships were good, but since people could die at any moment, I didn’t dare to invest in them—and had my heart broken anyway. Violet was an excellent character with a good growth arc, and Xaden made a perfect counterpart for her.

The last fifth of the book opens the story to a more epic narrative. There’s an enemy within the enemy that turns the world upside down, and Violet doesn’t know who to trust anymore. The ending leaves everything open, with a bit of a stunner added in the mix. I’m desperate to read more.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.