Book Review: "Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros

 

 

4/5 stars 

*Spoiler alert!* 

Fourth Wing is the first book in what promises to be a fantastic, action-packed epic. I mean, I was sold at dragon-riders, but we’re not all me. Naturally, Fourth Wing is about a lot more than dragon-riding. It’s about loyalty, character, and the many different types of strength brought to the table. 

“A dragon without its rider is a tragedy. 
A rider without their dragon is dead.”

 

Our protagonist, Violet Sorrengail, is a reluctant dragon-rider cadet. She has an unfair weight to carry, given her mother, Lilith, is a general and each one of her children have been dragon riders. Even if Violet is built a bit differently than others, prone to bruises and broken bones. She’s trained primarily as a scribe, but now she must survive her first year at Basgiath War College.

 

Her best friend, Dain, is one of the more annoying characters in Fourth Wing, even if I do understand his motivations and reasoning. He’s doing anything he can to get Violet back to the scribes, because he believes she won’t be able to survive otherwise. 

“You look all frail and breakable, but you're really a violent little thing, aren't you?” 

 

However, physical strength is not the only kind of strength at play here. Violet brings her intellect to play, even as she works on improving her physical strength and hand-to-hand combat skills. She’s one of the sharpest around, and she’s been able to use that formidable intellect to survive and advance. He claims to believe in her, but his actions constantly prove otherwise. I found myself rolling my eyes at the amount of times he voiced his fears. Why not help her train, Dain? If you’re so worried about her.

 

Anyways, now that I got that off my chest. I admired Violet’s character growth throughout the book. As I mentioned above, I thought it was important that one of her strengths is her intellect. Brute strength on its own doesn’t mean much, if you don’t know how to apply it effectively. Not to mention, Violet doesn’t take doling out harm lightly, even as she proves her courage in defending those who aren’t conventionally strong from bullies.  

So, when she survives to present herself to the dragons willing to bond a rider, she does get a dragon, Tairn. (My apologies, she gets two dragons!) Tairn sees Violet defend Andarna, a young dragon not fully grown into her strength yet, from the biggest bullies in her year, even if it means a three on one fight.

 

Ultimately, Violet comes out having impressed two dragons, Tairn, and Andarna, and bonds them both, kicking off chaos that results in a lot of human and dragon meetings until it’s decided that, yes, it’s okay in this case that Violet bonded two dragons.       

“‘You are the smartest of your year. The most cunning.’” I gulp at the compliment, brushing it off. I was trained as a scribe, not a rider. “‘You defended the smallest with ferocity. And strength of courage is more important than physical strength. Since you apparently need to know before we land.’” 

I love Tairn and Andarna. It’s impossible not to. They’re my favorite non-human characters of Fourth Wing. They see all of Violet, not just the slightly compromised body she happened to be born in. They see past it to who she is at her core.  

Oh, and see below for one of my favorite Tairn moments, when Dain is once again trying to scare Violet into turning around and running for the scribes.  

“‘Tell him if he harms you, I'll scorch the ground where he stands.' 
 
'Oh, for fuck's sake, Tairn.' I roll my eyes and walk to Dain, whose jaw is locked, but his eyes are wide with apprehension. 
 
'Tell him, or I'll take it up with Cath.' 
 
'Tairn says if you harm me, he'll burn you,' I say as dragons to the left and right launch skyward without their riders, headed back to the Vale. But not Tairn. Nope, he's still standing behind me like an overprotective dad. 
 
'I'm not going to harm you,' Dain snaps. 
 
'Word for word, Silver One.' 
 
I blow a breath out slowly. 'Sorry, he actually said, if you harm me, he'll scorch the ground where you stand.' I turn and look over my shoulder. 'Better?' 
 
Tairn blinks. 
 
Dain keeps his eyes on me, but I see it there, the swirling anger Tairn warned me about. 'I would rather die than harm you, and you know it.’” 

(Liar, liar, pants on fire! Perhaps not literally—Tairn wishes—but my point stands.) 

You may have noticed that I haven’t touched on Xaden Riorson, Violet’s main love interest. Sure, Fourth Wing was promoted as a romantasy, but I could have done without the enemies-to-lovers journey we get with Violet and Xaden. Yes, I know it’s an unpopular opinion.

 

Overall, I’m more concerned about what Violet’s going to do in the second book, having been confronted with the truth that leadership has been lying about a conflict outside their borders.  

Happy reading! 

--BookOwl