Alexis:
Look what came in from the library! And yes, I did sit down and binge-read it in two days.
I want to start out by saying that I know that Fourth Wing has been EVERYWHERE. Like, I have seen it not only on book accounts, but just all over the internet in general. And by the time I realized this might be a book I should read (especially since it’s my genre), it was sold out of bookstores. So, thank you to my local library!
Due to this book’s hype, I’m not going to include a synopsis here, so feel free to look up what this book is about if you’ve managed to miss the frenzied discussion around it.
First off, I want to start off with my criticisms of this book.
Fourth Wing is in the same vein as A Court of Thorns and Roses and The Serpent and the Wings of Night with a dash of Eragon on top, so if those are your jam, this might be for you.
This certainly isn’t a unique book, and honestly, that in itself is my main criticism—there were a lot of moments that were just too close to those of other books. I also found the plot to be extremely predictable. I can’t go into it that much without revealing spoilers, but I found that Yarros dropped too many hints about what ended up going down in the ending. The writing also does lean more YA, which honestly doesn’t bother me (this is NA people, that’s the point—adult themes but with the voice and snapiness of YA) especially because they’re in a college.
I also wish we got to see more of Violet’s dragon bonding. And I found Xaden, the love interest, to be exactly like every other love interest in the fantasy romance space and honestly not the most interesting character.
Yet, that being said, I couldn’t put this book down. It has that thrilling, adventurous feeling that’s addicting. Yarros’ writing style is easy to devour, and I appreciated the amount of action scenes in this book. There’s never a dull moment!
The Basgiath War College, aka the dragon riding college, in itself sounded super cool. I loved the brutality of both the college and the world. And I really appreciated the Ehler-Danlos syndrome rep, and I thought Yarros did a good job of exploring how it affects Violet’s training and her confidence.
This book was wholly engrossing, and I definitely think it’s a good start to the series. I’m glad we don’t have too long of a wait until the sequel arrives this fall!
VERDICT: 5⭐ reading experience
takes two to book review 