In honor of the sequel, Iron Flame coming out this week, I wanted to get my thoughts on the first book out there. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros may be considered the Book of the Year if that were measured by overwhelming hype on social media. For months, I couldn’t scroll Instagram, TikTok, or even Facebook without seeing some praise for this novel. At first, I was determined not to read it because I am too good for anything that the commoners are enjoying (yeah, I’m not like other girls). Jokes, clearly, but in all seriousness, I was originally determined not to read this. A book that was this promoted could not bode well, especially because TikTok has let me down far too many times on their book recommendations. But, I needed a switch up from all the thrillers I was reading and the book was offered to me and I was doing a reading marathon with a friend and the stars aligned, so I got the book and I read it. Here’s what I thought.
The novel follows Violet as she tries to enter the Rider’s Quadrant and follow in her mother and sister’s footsteps of protecting their land by riding dragons.
For this novel, I’d like to get my main qualm out of the way first. Fourth Wing is action-packed, yes, but you’ll mostly find extreme amounts of worldbuilding and background information for at least the first half of the novel. Obviously, when crafting an entirely new world, it’s important to establish the history and laws of the land as they are important to the motives and actions of the characters and the plot. However, there’s a very fine line that separates “not enough info” and “too much info” where the “just the right amount of info” lies. This novel, for me, has crossed into “too much info all at once”. If you’re new to fantasy or don’t read it very often, I’d say to leave this novel alone for now because the overwhelming amount of things you need to comprehend at the novel's beginning may be too much for you to continue. It’s not completely undigestable, but it is most definitely a lot.
I also have a gripe with how the information is given. This might just be nitpicking on my end but I don’t think anyone recites centuries of historical knowledge to comfort themselves as they’re potentially facing their demise, but hey, what do I know?
Info overload aside, this novel is a fantastic fantasy. The pacing of the novel is great as you see all the new riders complete their time as first years in the quadrant. The main timeline is over the course of the new rider’s first year from their initial training to choosing their dragons to challenges between the different wings, and when a time jump is made between these moments it never feels awkward like we missed something important, it just flows really well. Plus it helps that the major development points for Violet are fleshed out and written beautifully. Anytime she’s doing hand-to-hand combat it’s easy to follow and get a clear image in your head of where characters are and the movements they’re taking, and her inner thoughts are clear and concise so all of her actions make sense in the moment. The calmer scenes are also constructed well and I have to give Yarros props for being able to convey the exact mood and overall vibe of every scene in the novel.
The characters are well-developed, too, and it’s easy to see the motivators behind all the characters' actions and reactions. They don’t feel dropped into the novel to move the plot along but feel rooted in the world Yarros built. I could tell the rest of the world is still moving and operating as normal despite whatever is happening with Violet. I grew really connected to other characters throughout the novel like Liam (and even Dain), as well as the dragons. In fact, I think I’m more connected to Tairn and Andarna than Violet herself!
I do think this is a great fantasy novel and I’m glad I picked it up despite the overwhelming hype it was getting and my normal contempt for that. I was so wrapped up in this novel that I finished all 512 pages in less than 24 hours. I feel like I should mention that the novel can be a bit predictable with your typical fantasy tropes like the romance between Violet and Xaden, Dain’s downfall, and the cliffhanger ending, but hey if you are new to fantasy or get surprised really easily, I won’t spoil any of those things for you! For me, this is a SAVE and I’m excited for my preordered copy of Iron Flame to get delivered!
Xoxo, Wednesday
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