If you are like me and delayed reading FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros because it was THE It book last year, do yourself a favor and read it. Now. Not only does it live up to the hype, it exceeds it. I finished the book in twenty-four hours, and it has been years since I've done that. I regret only that it took me so long to read this masterpiece. 

Since finishing FOURTH WING a week ago, I've been trying to determine one area of weakness because no book is perfect. Except, FOURTH WING may be perfect because I can't find fault in anything. Violet and the other characters are great, with strong development where necessary. The story itself is unique and fascinating. Ms. Yarros builds the world of Empyrean and its war college so well that it requires no effort to picture them. 

The slow-burn romance in FOURTH WING is one of the slowest of slow burns, and the tension is nigh unbearable. But once those sparks finally meet, watch out. The romance is everything you could ever want in an enemies-to-lovers story and everything you never knew you wanted. Somehow, Ms. Yarros manages to keep up the "will they or won't they" tension until the very end, and everything about that tension is magic. Your head will explode, you will get the best butterflies in your belly, and you will never look at your significant other in the same way again. 

And the dragons! The dragons! The story would not be the same without the dragons. They are the heart of Violet's story after all. But the dragons in FOURTH WING are unlike dragons in other stories I've read. They have personality while still being terrifying, and deadly while also providing comfort. Plus, you have to appreciate any entity so willing to put puny humans in their place. They are at the top of the food chain, and they make sure everyone remembers it. They take the drama out of human interactions and distill them down to their basic elements. I don't know how she does it, but the FOURTH WING dragons are so real and so worth everything Violet endures to become a rider.

After finally discovering the magic of FOURTH WING, my biggest dilemma now is whether to read the second book in the series or wait a little longer. It appears The Empyrean series will consist of five books when Ms. Yarros finishes, and we don't even have a publication date for book three yet. On the one hand, I want more of Violet, Xaden, and the dragons more than I've wanted anything in a long time. But the wait for book three might kill me. In the meantime, I'll just urge everyone and anyone to read this fabulous book if you haven't already. It just might be bookish perfection.