Introduction:
Violet Sorrengail, a twenty-year-old, was originally meant to live a peaceful life among books and history in the Scribe Quadrant. However, her mother, who is also the commanding general, has ordered her to become a dragon rider and join hundreds of other candidates in Navarre. Unfortunately, Violet is smaller and frailer than most people, and dragons don’t usually bond with such individuals, as they are prone to death. The scarcity of bonding dragons means that many candidates would be willing to kill Violet to increase their own chances of success. Additionally, Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant, would kill Violet simply because she is her mother’s daughter.
Violet must use her intelligence and every advantage available to survive and see the next day, as the kingdom is in the midst of a deadly war, and the kingdom’s wards are failing. To make matters worse, Violet begins to suspect that leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Thoughts:
SPOILERS AHEAD.
So I gave into the hype and did a buddy read with my best friend. While she was blown away by Fourth Wing I was left unimpressed by it. I am not gonna lie, when I read the book blurb I was really intrigued too. The premise was great and even the start was great. I mean who doesn’t love a military school with dragon riders? However as I kept reading the book, all my hopes of being impressed went up in smoke. If you eliminate the “insanely hot” protagonists and lightening inducing orgasms you’ll find there is nothing much in the the story at all. I am not saying there isn’t anything good about this book. It is just that the bad outweighs the good by a lot.
The world building and the politics was extremely underwhelming for a stratocracy. With an author who boasts of being a second generational military brat I certainly expected more. The plot… what plot? All the characters were stereotypical. Violet was the underdog no one rooted for and your typical ‘I am not like other girls’ girl who eventually got the most powerful dragon, the most powerful magical power and the hottest guy to ever walk the earth. Xaden was the typical broody, mysterious, misunderstood hot guy with a heart of gold. Dain was ‘I’m doing all this to protect you’ guy and do you mean to say none of you saw those twists at the end coming? Also Lilith’s (Violet’s mother) decision to push Violet into Riders Quadrant knowing full well she has a chronic illness? I felt like she was just having her ‘THIS IS SPARTA!’ moment.
I would really like to know which military thinks it is the best to murder a group of rebels right in front of their children’s eyes, conscript those children to the most dangerous quadrant of their military, equip them with dragons, the best weapons their country has to offer and go ‘well, that didn’t go according to plan’ when they turn against the military and dear mother of god… you’ve been at war with the neighboring kingdom for four hundred years? You truly suck, I guess.
Let’s talk about the ‘romance’ between Xaden and Violet or let’s call a spade, a spade and say the ‘lust’ between Xaden and Violet because except for raging hormones and obsession, until the very few last chapters we got a glimpse of what it really could have been, I actually couldn’t call any of their interactions or feelings ‘romance’. There was no true base for their romance at all and I honestly didn’t understand how they fell for each other. Wanting to jump each others bones? Yes, that I understood. And I appreciated it too. Romance? nah! However, the author really succeeded with making us hate Dain.
I really wish the other female characters like Imogen, Rhiannon and Mira were given a chance to really shine. And poor Jack Barlowe! That guy had it coming from the very start. Just think about it, Violet owes him everything in this story. All the pivotal moments of her life happened because of him. The parapet, getting the most powerful dragon and the most powerful magical power. Rest in smoke Jack Barlowe! lol! You did great!
The action scenes were well written though and I really enjoyed reading them. Also the banter amongst friends was great too even though at times I felt the conversations were kind of clunky. The steamy scenes were great. What???? I DO enjoy my erotica!! Although I saw it coming, there is a glimmer of hope of what’s to come with the plot twist at the end.
Wrapping up, there is a lot of potential in Fourth Wing. It just needs better execution as the story progresses.
Rating:
The Book Cover
