Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

126 reviews

nj_preusser's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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knockoffrainbow's review against another edition

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orionmerlin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

Characters: 4/10
Violet Sorrengail is supposed to be this weak but brainy underdog, but don’t let the book fool you—she conveniently wins every life-or-death trial, making her struggle feel about as real as a reality TV show fight. Her fragile body? Not an issue, because plot armor beats bone density every time. Xaden is your standard brooding bad boy with a tragic past who somehow manages to be both infuriating and predictable. Jack, the main antagonist, is so cartoonishly evil that he might as well have a mustache to twirl. And then there’s Dain—walking proof that not all men should be childhood best friends. Secondary characters? They exist, mostly to die or make Violet look better.
Atmosphere/Setting: 5/10
Basgiath War College is basically Murder Hogwarts, but with dragons. Sounds cool, right? Well, it could have been if the world-building wasn’t so half-baked. The school’s entire philosophy is “survival of the fittest” but also, like… maybe don’t kill too many recruits because, hey, we need soldiers for this ongoing war? Consistency is optional here. The dragons? Underutilized. The war? An afterthought. The actual world outside of the school? Barely developed. If you like settings that look cool but fall apart under scrutiny, you’re in for a treat.
Writing Style: 4/10
The prose is functional, which is the nicest way I can put it. But let’s talk about the real problem: modern-sounding dialogue in a fantasy world. I get that snark is the lifeblood of this book, but having Violet drop lines that sound straight out of a 2020s Twitter thread? Yeah, that kills immersion real quick. Also, if I had a coin for every time Violet internally monologues about how weak she is despite, you know, constantly outmaneuvering and outlasting everyone, I’d be richer than this book’s publisher.
Plot: 4/10
This book is like an amusement park ride—thrilling in the moment, but the second you stop and think about it, you realize it makes no damn sense. The trials Violet faces? Arbitrary. The life-or-death stakes? Undermined by her constant success. The romantic tension? Predictable as hell. The War College structure? A logistical nightmare. I mean, why would a military academy just let their cadets kill each other willy-nilly when they need actual soldiers? Oh, and the big plot twists? If you’ve read any YA fantasy in the last decade, you saw them coming from a mile away.
Intrigue: 5/10
Yes, it’s fast-paced. Yes, it’s action-packed. But is it actually engaging when you stop being blinded by the constant movement? That’s debatable. I kept turning pages, but not necessarily because I was invested—I just wanted to see if this mess would eventually balance itself out (spoiler: it doesn’t). The story never lets you breathe or feel the weight of what’s happening because it’s too busy shoving the next dramatic moment in your face.
Logic/Relationships: 3/10
If you’re expecting well-developed relationships based on mutual respect and emotional growth, you’re in the wrong book. Xaden and Violet’s romance follows the "we hate each other but also want to rip each other's clothes off" formula without an ounce of originality. Dain spends half the book being the overprotective, condescending childhood friend no one asked for, and the rest of the cast exists to either be obstacles or cheerleaders. As for logic? There is none. The rules of the world are more flexible than Xaden’s moral compass, and the entire “dragons choose their riders” system feels like it was written on the fly.
Enjoyment: 5/10
Look, I didn’t hate it. If you turn off your brain, it’s fun in the same way that a bad action movie is—you know it’s dumb, but you’re still entertained. If you like hot, broody love interests, badass dragon battles (that we don’t get nearly enough of), and training montages where the protagonist somehow doesn’t die despite every odd stacked against her, then yeah, you’ll enjoy this. But if you’re looking for depth, logic, or actual stakes? This ain’t it. 
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juliiitschka's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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anightfilledwithstars's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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thequiltyreader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of the best books I've read in a while. Absolutely fell head over heels for the main characters. The story took me on a rollercoaster of emotions and I couldn't put it down. I cannot wait to start book 2.
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probablytoolate's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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anna_c_porter's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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azathaliya's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

If you're into sexual scenes or descriptions of how hot men are, this book is for you. If you're not, steer clear of this one.

You can easily tell this was written by a woman, as she goes into detail about the bodies of men, especially Xaden Riorson's, and how Violet feels about this. Men are being objectified here, not women. While this is a breath of fresh air for once, I was not a fan of this. Yarros mentions how hot the men are plus Violet Sorrengail wanting to have sex with them or wanting them in general far more than it mentions the dragons and war college, which are supposed to be the focuses of the book.

This book was actually really fun at first, but as Violet began to crush on Xaden, it began to feel more like a cheesy enemies to lovers book. I was slowly turned off by the book once they started to develop a relationship when Xaden was supposed to be the antagonist in a way. Then, there was the sex scene. It felt awkward to read through! Not even thirty pages later, there's another sex scene. Between both scenes, Violet mentions sex so many times and Xaden does too. It got on my nerves, and I didn't feel like finishing the book, but I powered through. The final battle was short and anti-climactic, it felt rushed too. It was at the tail end of the book right after the second sex scene, you could tell Yarros probably realized, "Oh crap, the book is about to end and I forgot to include a real battle scene!"

Violet felt awkwardly cliche too. She was weak, and followed the lame "Not like other girls" trope as always. They barely go into why she was so weak and had silver hair because Yarros was too focused on talking about how sexy Xaden was.

Xaden felt like the cliche "bad boy" with his broody attitude and generic "sexy" body.

Liam Mairi, Rhiannon, Zidoc, and Sawyer were better characters. I think the story would've been greater if it focused on them instead of Violet and Xaden.

Not to mention the story had a plot twist ending with a cliffhanger. Immediately, I knew this story will become a "the enemies are actually the good guys, and the good guys are evil" trope.

The only redeeming qualities were two things; The war college's worldbuilding (one star) and the dragons (second star). Both were written well and I was invested in them.
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alekss_books's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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