Fourth Wing
Ratings1,699
Average rating4
Probably my first proper romantasy title.It's closer than a one then a two star, but there had some promising set-ups and a few things I really liked. For example, I like how the main character has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) and the author also has this. I just finished reading [b:Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body 52167161 Sitting Pretty The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body Rebekah Taussig https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582074044l/52167161.SX50_SY75.jpg 68010691] where this author talks about growing up without disability representation - especially in romance!! So, after reading that and coming back to Fourth Wing really made me appreciate this aspect tremendously. - Some notes on this, I knew she had a disability but I didn't know the specifics? Or what was happening to our character? I thought it was a plot device type of thing until I got to the saddle/accommodation portion of the book before I thought to look up if the author had this and could do representation. I think the author should take more time with this because I want to know what EDS is like and the journey with this character. -Surprise! For some reason - despite a war/injury being abundant- the worldbuilding/college is really very ableist. I was hoping there would be something more deep to say about this, but nothing yet. The closest thing we had was a dragon saddle portion. The dragons are awesome. I like them and we don't get to see them a ton, but so far I like the personality. Those are the things I liked; I really had a hard time liking this book. I kept getting pulled along by some set up that diminished. Mostly I thought the editing could use a bit more time and I had trouble liking the main character. I couldn't explain it, but the book just oozed with military life vibes (despite the story set up) and so when I also saw that the author was an army wife and this character is obviously a self-insert. Which is fine - you write what you know...but I just can't see this book breaking surface level plot. I could nitpick more stuff - but nah. This book was an ok read. I don't regret reading it and at times I thought it was fun. It's def. not the worst book, it's just fun for a lot of people and that's cool.There are some great set ups, but so far they feel like empty promises. I'm going to give book 2 a try and see where things go. I'm hoping that the world has been set up that now a bigger story could take place! This book deserves a 2nd chance.
5★
maybe i'm just a sucker for all things romantasy but this book had me on the edge of my seat for the entire duration and it definitely lived up to the expectations and hype. i'm so glad i don't have to wait to start the next one because the cliff hanger — while it was all a little predictable — still has me reeling. i so look forward to seeing what the characters (and dragons!!!) get up to in the second instalment: Iron Flame
4.25? Liked the story a lot, felt the writing was immature at times and a bit disconnected?
I honestly loved this book . I went into this with high expectations and this exceeded them. I devoured every part of this book and absolutely loved xaden and violet. I can't decide who i am in love with more.
Meets My Approval
I received “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros as a gift from my Goodreads secret Santa, and initially, I didn't expect to enjoy it. However, thanks to a buddy read in my reading group, my perspective gradually shifted, and I found myself loving the book. I want to express my gratitude to my secret Santa for choosing a book that I wouldn't have picked up on my own.
The story captivates from the first page, maintaining a relentless pace without burdening the reader with extensive worldbuilding. The narrative seamlessly immerses us in the realm of Navarre and Violet Sorrengail. As someone hesitant about delving into fantasy due to the often overwhelming worldbuilding, I appreciated that “Fourth Wing” dives straight into the compelling elements.
The novel introduces us to Violet, a complex protagonist with physical vulnerabilities but unmatched intelligence. Trained for the scribe quadrant, her destiny takes a drastic turn when her military leader mother dictates her entry into the perilous dragon rider's quadrant. This quadrant is a merciless school of challenges, where survival is not guaranteed, and fellow cadets can be as deadly as the tests themselves.
“Fourth Wing” excels in providing everything one seeks in the debut of a fantasy series. Violet's character is flawed yet resilient, navigating a school that poses lethal threats and challenges. The dragons, a cornerstone of fantasy literature, are brilliantly portrayed, and the psychic connection between them and their riders adds an engaging layer to the narrative.
The dynamics of friendships in the story are equally fascinating, ranging from instantaneous bonds to lifelong connections, unexpected alliances, and reluctant partnerships. Violet's journey through the tests and trials of the rider's quadrant unfolds uniquely, emphasizing the importance of instinct and individuality.
Rebecca Yarros skillfully crafts a diverse array of abilities among the characters, ensuring each signet possesses distinct qualities. The anticipation of discovering the next cadet's unique talent adds an intriguing element to the narrative.
The adversaries in the story are formidable, with warnings and threats looming from the start. Violet's encounters with Xaden Riorson and other challenges in the rider's quadrant create an intense and unpredictable atmosphere. The development of her relationship with Xaden is a beautiful and honest aspect of the narrative.
However, I must acknowledge that the book's impact was slightly diminished for me due to a heartbreaking death towards the end. This character's loss deeply affected me, and it's the primary reason for my four-star rating. Despite this, my lengthy review reflects my genuine enthusiasm for “Fourth Wing,” and I encourage readers to explore this captivating fantasy world. Click the link below for easy access to the book and experience the adventure yourself.
Tenía muchas expectativas con este libro y las ha cumplido todas.
Violet siempre ha querido ser escriba y trabajar en el cuadrante de escribas de la academia militar con más renombre de la región pero su madre la obliga a entrar en el cuadrante de jinetes de dragón por tradición familiar así que como no tiene más remedio empieza a enfrentarse a unas pruebas muy duras aún siendo ella una persona con una enfermedad en los huesos que la vuelve muy frágil.
Al principio el libro se centra en el entrenamiento de Violet, que necesita convertirse en una persona digna para el día en el que deba presentarse ante los dragones y ser elegida por alguno de ellos y una vez entran en juego los dragones, ganan más protagonismo y el libro se siente más completo.
El wordbuilding es fantástico. En este primer libro se centra más en la región donde están los estudiantes, más específicamente en la academia porque es donde pasan la mayor parte del tiempo pero el mundo es mucho más vasto y lo que ha llegado a enseñar me ha gustado mucho.
Los personajes, tanto principales como secundarios están muy bien escritos. Todos tienen algo. Algunos te harán sentir el mismo asco que a la protagonista, otros rabia y otros te llegarán al corazón.
El vínculo que tienen los jinetes con sus dragones es tan fuerte que cuando uno de los dos muere es muy probable que el otro también muera y eso me ha resultado muy bonito.
Las escenas de acción y las batallas están muy bien narradas, sientes que estás allí con ellos y puedes palpar la intensidad de la escena.
El ritmo de la historia lo he sentido perfecto, cada suceso y cada escena pasa cuando debe pasar.
Es un libro que te atrapa desde el principio, la lectura es muy dinámica y se mantiene durante toda la historia, lo he disfrutado mucho.
This one took me a while to get into. I had a few false starts, but then finally committed to finishing it after hearing from some friends who enjoyed it. While I don't typically like romance novels, this one had a strong enough story that it kept my interest. I will admit to skimming/skipping certain parts when it got a little too hot and heavy.
La trama est?? bien, pero la forma de escribir (o quiz?? la traducci??n) me tiran para atr??s. Adem??s, parece que ha cogido ideas de aqu?? y de ah?? y ha armado un batiburrillo. Me sobra tambi??n toda la descripci??n de cada encuentro sexual. Sin embargo, tengo curiosidad por ver qu?? viene a continuaci??n.
3.5
✯✯✯☆☆
Supongo que luego haré una reseña más detallada.
Pero diré que esto fue el resultado de meter en una licuadora:
•How to Train Your Dragon (Cómo entrenar a tu dragón)
•Divergente
•La Reina Roja
Y un par de pizcas de:
•ACOTAR
•Harry Potter
•Game of Thrones
Me sorprende que siendo un revoltijo de otras historias, con un lenguaje tan básico y una protagonista que raya en lo Mary-Sue, tenga un exito tan grande como para ser ganador en Goodreads.
Digo, visto así, con lo fácil que es encantar al lector hoy día y ganarse la popularidad, yo también escribiré una historia que FINJE/ENGAÑA ser un Enemies to Lovers (que fue un falso marketing porque estos carajos nunca demostraron ser un «Enemies to lovers» dignos, sino mas bien un «Rivals to Lovers»), con DRAGONES (porque el añadir dragones que hablan fue lo que enloqueció para mí a todos) y siendo una fantasía que más parecía distopía, para ser un Boom también...
Y por no mencionar más ampliamente la cagada de la autora junto a su funa sobre el asunto del pésimo pronunciamiento y trato sobre el lenguaje gaélico en el libro...
Sepan que sí me gustó el libro pese a todo lo que he dicho, pero mis estrellas se derivan a:
✯= Los dragones Tairn, Andarna y Sgaeyl (Tairn, eres mi favorito ♡)
✯= Xaden (vale, el hombre me gustó)
✯= Liam (no te merecías ese final, corazón)
.5= Violet (la chica se hizo querer pero no tuvimos un buen comienzo)
Can't believe I read something like this. I loved the world building, the tasks, and the powers and dragon pairing. It reminded me of Harry Potter and Divergent mixed together. The romance was just enough and didn't overpower the book. I am very proud of myself for finishing this (and liking it!!) it's so out of my comfort zone. Will be continuing the series!!!
i bought a 30 dollar copy of this at barnes and noble and then proceeded to read the entire thing on my kindle. man.
Pre-Reading Updates:
i just spent 30 bucks for a copy of this at b&n aka the only place i could find it not sold out locally........ booktok u better not let me down w this one
Decent story. Decent slow build romance, but too much focus on the sex and thoughts about wanting sex that really just detracted from the story and severely slowed the pacing. Character building could use some work as well. World building...you're only told what's relevant to the story. No lore, no deep history, no religions. Does it serve the plot? No? Cut it to make room for the sex.
The story could easily make this a 4-5-star book for me, but pornographic literature is what is selling right now. It's just not for me.
Quick, clear start that lays strong ground work and foundation with just the right amount of world building that allows the reader to still keep up. There are also some significant action-oriented and intense/dramatic scenes very soon into the book that establish the significant stakes and the journey the reader is being set up to take. Continues with a very strong pace through the first 200 pages and actually completes a big part that could've been understandably dragged out over the full 500 pages. Kudos to not stretching out predictable story beats just to elongate the novel- this is a rare one that earns the length. There are great transitions back to the fast pace just before certain elements might become overdone and the last 80 pages provide the perfect surprises that make for a very strong ending.
El libro empieza relativamente bien. Muchos cliches, cierto pero no me esperaba menos:
- Una madre dura con la que no se habla
- Una protagonista debil que todo el mundo espera que pierda
- Un chico peligroso del que no te puedes enamorar
- Un amigo que no es tan amigo
etc. etc. Miles de cliches!!
Pero no me importaba, yo estaba aqui para disfrutar de la aventura y punto, sin tampoco ponerme a analizarlo. Le estaba dando, cliches y todo unas 4 estrellas a la primera mitad.
Aunque las escenas de acción eran confusas, aunque los diálogos a veces no fueran a ninguna parte , aunque algunas pensamientos se repitieran multiple veces, aun asi, era un libro divertido, le iba dando 4 estrellas mentalmente.
Pero son 500 paginas de libro y según avanzo, mas y mas me molestan todas esas cosas.
Una escena de acción tan mal escrita que tengo que releer trozos y aun asi no lo entiendo.
Yo suspirando de mala manera cuando la protagonista piensa por enésima vez cuanto le atrae el protagonista.
Un dialogo lo dejo a mitad y me voy a dormir porque se que va a decir lo mismo que ya ha repetido en otro 30 paginas antes.
Creo que el libro tiene buenas ideas, un mundo interesante, la tension sexual y el romance, todo eso me parece bien. Pero la ejecución es tan mala que algún profesor podría enseñar literatura durante un semestre apuntando a lo que no hay que hacer con solo ejemplos de este libro.
Un par de cosas mas:
- La trama es ... Oh madre mia, los buenos son los malos y los malos son los buenos! Increíble, el libro secreto sospechoso del que nadie sabe nada excepto yo, tenia razón en todo lo que ponía! La persona que todo el mundo actúa raro cuando digo que ha muerto, no ha muerto!
Vamos, una cantidad de sorpresas increíbles, jamas podría haberme imaginado que iba a ocurrir EXACTAMENTE ESTO.
A los 5 minutos de aparecer un personaje puedes pensar, bueno este esta aqui para morir y enfadar al protagonista y .... Efectivamente.
* update after reread **Oh how I love this story. Bumped it up to five stars the second time around! Turns out the dialogue is much less cringey when you read instead of listen PLUS I love all of the little easter eggs you discover through the reread! Iron Flame here I come!
⭐️⭐️⭐️
⭐️4.25/5
(i'm redoing a bunch of ratings because i don't know what parasite was in my head when making these decisions)
i LOVED this. i accidentally pulled an all nighter because i couldn't put it down, and i actually teared up on 2 occasions. fantasy is either hit or miss with me.
i've seen a lot of people say the worldbuilding was clunky - aside from a brief moment from the start, i didn't think so and i think it was quite easy to engage with and understand. this is usually the reason i DNF fantasy books, because the world is too confusing.
the characters - all of them, LOVE. my favourites were xaden (obviously), rhiannon, andarna and mira. they all had personalities. violet was developed well, she wasn't just instantly powerful from the start for no reason or anything like that
my only issue, is that the romance (which was beautiful) is hard to believe that it was ‘there from the start' or a ‘love at first sight' thing.
i imagined myself in this world, and i could see it so clearly in its head and i just couldn't stop telling people as it was going that it was just so cool. hunger games cross dragons (with big personalities) cross family bloodlines, absolutely epic.
3.7 rounded up to 4. While I wouldn't say that this truly and completely fits into the “traditional” Fantasy genre, as it is more of a Fantasy/Romance and almost YA novel, it was still a good read/listen, that I enjoyed and kept me intrigued enough to continue finding ways to do tasks that would give me time to listen to the audiobook. Once it ended I was also intrigued enough to find the second book in the series, so it is somewhat of thrill ride and keeps you interested in the drama and the storyline, even if romance isn't really your usual genre. And yes, there are some scenes that would be termed “spicy” by some of the ladies in the neighborhood book club. But, they are well written, include consent, contraception, and I'd even call the scenes erotic.
Overall a good, fun read that will keep most people engaged and intrigued, as long as no one is expecting a more traditional fantasy novel.
3.5. I'll start this review by saying that fantasy/romantasy isn't a genre I'm usually interested in. I am not the target audience for this book, so take this with a grain of salt.
I, undeniably, had a very fun time reading this book. I am into this plot and I'm starting Iron Flame tonight. HOWEVER, I had some issues (all of them named Violet Sorrengail) that keep this from getting to a higher rating:
-The reason they are enemies actually makes a lot of sense, but the way Violet is written undermines this constantly during the first quarter of the book. It's ok that she finds him attractive in spite of their rivalry, but some of the moments are completely ruined by her repeating over and over how hot he is. He's about to kill her and her brain is just like “wow isn't he so beautiful.” She is written like she is a 14 year old girl who has her first crush. The insta-love thing is immediately such a turn off. And of course now having finished it knowing that they were both like this makes me roll my eyes, but at least I only had to suffer through Violet's inner dialogue.
-Continuing with that thought, when she falls for him she becomes the most insufferable character. I like a bit of longing and descriptions of how much they want each other in book, but this author does such a disservice to Violet by writing her like her brain is pure horniness and nothing else. She thinks says and does the most stupid things at the most inopportune moments. I kept thinking that maybe what she needed was a good vibrator to not act like she was in heat all the time.
-In that scene where Xaden is very upset and is at the Parapet, tell me why this girl decides to make it about herself and try to DTR? It's a good thing he already loved her, because I would've shoved her. Time and place, Violence.
-Xaden repeatedly tells her she can't fall for him because she doesn't really know him. She says that she knows enough and ignores him. Then she's so surprised to learn that shocker he has hidden some things from her and now she says she can't trust him. It's not like he isn't to blame, but she fell for him and trusted him even when he was so clear that he wasn't opening up about everything. You can't be that outraged by something that he warned you about and you ignored.
Overall, fun plot. Good war scenes. Good plot twists. Accessible to non-fantasy readers. But it's very hard to be all in on the romance when the main character is so insufferable and seemingly immature (which is a shame because she is clearly brilliant and very powerful). The main character's dialogue (both internal and external) is the weakest point of this book.
3.5 ✨
Starting off by saying this book was very fast paced. I flew through it. Happy it didn't drag.
Now onto my main gripe - my aroace ass did not like the constant horny thoughts. The sex scenes were baaaaaad and I've read everything Ali Hazelwood has thrown at me. This was bad, bad.
I did like the storyline. Loved the sassy dragons. Loved the banter with the dragons. No one told me that was gonna be so much fun. Also liked how Violet had a chronic condition for a main character that did not get magically cured.
Fun cliffhanger ending!
PS. My friend and I nicknamed this as ‘the horny book.
P.P.S. THERE'S GOING TO BE 5 OF THESE??? (overkill)
