"Hope is a fickle, dangerous thing. It steals your focus and aims it toward the possibilities instead of keeping it where it belongs—on the probabilities."
Let me just say, if I had realized there were
dragons as a
huge focal point of Rebecca Yarros'
Fourth Wing I would have read it
far, far sooner because
...me and dragons vibe like that. But I digress...as they say,
better late than never; and I am
so glad I joined the
Empyrean party sooner rather than later because
it. is. magnificent.
Twenty-year-old
Violet Sorrengail has trained to enter the
Scribe Quadrant at
Basgiath War College her entire life. As someone who is
more fragile than her peers, a quiet life spent surrounded by books and history seems an ideal placement for her. Not to mention she'll be following in her father's footsteps. But her world is quite...
upended when, weeks before entry,
Commanding General Lilith Sorrengail {aka Violet's
mother} orders Violet to forego her Scribe dreams to instead join the
hordes of
Navarre candidates striving to become part of the
elite Riders Quadrant. What is the Riders Quadrant, you ask? Oh, just
dragon riders. NBD.
Dragon riders are known for their strength, their brutality, and their desire to
bond with an elusive dragon. The former two, Violet is lacking in every sense of the word; the latter...let's just say that dragons don't bond with those who are weak, small, or fragile - rather,
they incinerate them. Violet is convinced that she's walking headlong into the dragon's mouth...literally; but dragons are the last thing she should be fearing, for prior to encountering them, she'll have to survive the
bloodthirsty humans surrounding her. You see, less and less dragons are choosing to
bond with humans with each passing year, making competition to find a bond more cutthroat than ever before. Most cadets within the Riders Quadrant would gladly take Violet out merely to
increase the odds of a bond; the rest would murder her just for having the last name
Sorrengail. Case in point,
Xaden Riorson. The most powerful, feared, and ruthless
wingleader in
all of the Riders Quadrant, Xaden loathes Violet with a
fiery passion for what her mother did to his father, and would do anything to see her fail. But she's determined not to.
Years of training as a Scribe have given Violet a leg-up over her fellow cadets. While they may outweigh her, she is
armed with wits, knowledge, and reasoning - three necessities that may just help her to rise with each new morning. But things aren't right within Navarre. The war is raging; wards established to
protect the kingdom fail almost daily; and people are losing their lives at a record rate. Worse, however, is Violet's suspicion that leadership {yes, her
own mother} is hiding something in the vein of a secret that could prove deadly to everyone involved - regardless of strength or weakness. But Violet understands what she signed up for. She is also aware that there are only two ways to exit Basgiath War College:
die or graduate. Given the current circumstances, however, Violet isn't sure which ending is more appealing.
NGL here, the
moment I began reading
Fourth Wing, I spotted the similarities to Veronica Roth's
Divergent. The
main difference, however, {aside from the
dragons, of course} was the characters. I never liked the characters in
Divergent - not a single one.
Fourth Wing though? The characters drive
everything - both the
humans and dragons. Like I would literally
die for
Andarna and
Tairn.
True story. But the rest of the characters? Kind of incredible too.
Violet shows that
Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? growth in personality, strength, and confidence as the story progresses {and yes, I did just reference
Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department #sorrynotsorry}; and the disability representation displayed in her character {she appears to have
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome} is such incredible inclusion - especially when you take into consideration the fact that Violet is frail but has to master such difficult physical capabilities. Then you have
Xaden and
Liam and
Rhiannon and
Mira, and this assemblage of
brilliant, highly lovable supporting characters {not a fan of
Dain tbh} that just ties the whole story together in a way that is just...
masterful. The cliffhanger, ngl, kinda killed me; but only made me want to get my hands on
Iron Flame sooner rather than later because I know it's going to be
insane. Plus, I'm in need of another helping of
Andarna and Tairn.
Star Rating: *****
xx
