[The Empyrean] Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros // Book Review

  

Fourth Wing
Rebecca Yarros || Publication Date - 02.05.2023

Basgaith, a war college where you either graduate... or die.

Fiction | Fantasy | Adventure | Romance

Affiliate Link - https://bookshop.org/a/110173/9781649377371

Violet Sorrengail begins her journey vehemently reiterating to her sister how she wishes to follow in her father's footsteps and enrol as a Scribe at Basgaith War College. She wishes to continue meticulously listing the history of the war college, noting down heroic Riders and strategies which have won or lost battles along their protected land.

She is instead, however, being pushed to become a dragon rider by her mother who is the General of the Rider's Quadrant. Understandably she is terrified. There is only one way to measure success within this area of the college, by students surviving, or dying.

Despite her fears, she emerges on the other end of the parapet as a Rider. What comes next is a variable onslaught of studying, training, and dodging death as she makes her way becoming a force to be reckoned with. A force that is ensnaring her greatest rival, Xaden Riorson, who holds the key to blowing apart all she understood about their world and what could possibly be existing outside Basgaith's protective boundaries.

The Review (may contain spoilers)

It has been so long since I've read a Fantasy like this. It was gripping from page one, the premise was interesting, the characters were amazing and the entire world was shadowed and mysterious. I loved how the characters were all challenged in different ways. They all had their strengths and weaknesses which made it interesting to see how they would overcome their struggles, or simply die. I appreciated that Violet from the beginning is actively dealing with a chronic illness that affects the way she achieves her goals at Basgaith. Not only was she resourceful as a character, but she also didn't let her condition impede her success. This further cemented Violet as the feminine warrior I was really hoping for going into this series.

Rebecca's writing is fabulous. She has an amazing writing style that is easy to follow and explains the world, magic, dragons and action scenes very well. There is also just enough put out by the story that things remain very obscure, until they're revealed, and everything clicks into place smoothly. It was very satisfying!

There was no sugar coating how this college operated and I appreciated the blunt nature of a lot of the characters in this novel. It was very matter of fact, living where death could take anyone at any time, especially with the training and dragons. There was a real sense of uncertainty through the novel and it only made the final words of this book all the more impactful.

After finishing Fourth Wing, I genuinely sat on my couch staring into space for a good 10 minutes before I registered what I had just read. I then immediately pre-ordered Iron Flame and had been waiting impatiently for November 2023 to roll around so I could continue this series.

Overall Thoughts

What do I think of this novel? Almost certainly one of my top books for 2023. If you love fantasy, a strong female lead, dragons and great characters I won't even hesitate to ask you to read this book. I've recommended it to everyone I know who loves Fantasy.

I do want to warn you, this book put me into a HUGE hangover after finishing it and also put me into a slump. It took me a month of mediocre reading afterwards to get back into normality. Nothing felt as amazing or as polished as Fourth Wing until I had read another amazing Fantasy later that same year (review incoming).