A review by storyorc
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Everything in this novel is engineered to create or satisfy romantic/sexual tension between the two leads. On that, it delivers with an indulgence few dare outside of fanfiction. Everything else is either an eye roll or downright laughable, but also mostly entertaining because of that. 

Things that strain the patience:
  • Why Violet's status as a General's daughter makes her a special target for MURDER in the academy. Personally, if my classmate's parent had the third highest military position in the country, I would not want to them to even know my name, let alone as her daughter's killer. The guy who wants Violet dead most doesn't even have a political revenge motive, he's just a professional hater.
  • Violet scorning Dain for coddling her while allowing Xaden to, and the narrative trying to gaslight us into believing he isn't.
  • One too many protagonist traits for Violet: her hair is half silver (sure, if the universe is going to saddle her with fantasy Ehlers-Danlos, at least bundle in a cool aesthetic); she's this nation's equivalent to nobility (ok, at least that won't be the big twist later); she's extremely smart and loves books (no author can resist giving these traits); all the hot boys like her (it is romantasy); she's the first ever to bond
    TWO dragons, one of whom is the off-limits giant one
    (nice, she's finally getting her dues), her power turns out to be
    stopping time
    (OP AF), her
    OTHER power is a lightning insta-kill so strong no-one in living memory has ever seen it
    (does the army even need anyone else??). Continuing to bully/baby her at this point is downright unhinged but that doesn't stop!
  • Copious, copious lusting. I signed on for a lot but have mercy.
  • The telepathy scales from psychic WhatsApp to a Vulcan mindmeld depending purely on whether it would be more dramatic for them to be intruding on each other or hiding things and barely impacts the story.
  • Rhiannon and Ridoc need more than one personality trait each. Every time we see them, one has to say something like 'sleep with that hot girl yet?' to the other in order to assure us that they have lives but I would much rather see those lives weaved into the plot. Liam has more nuance and he only comes in halfway.
  • The dialogue bounces between clever twitter burn and fanfic declaration. The novel would feel noticeably more mature with every third 'fucking' deleted and the characters would sound more natural with fewer clearly-set-up witty retorts.