You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
cheesebagel's reviews
218 reviews
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
2.0
I decided to read this because of the hype (and fomo), and I figured it would either be highly entertaining or I'd end up hate-reading it, which felt like a win-win lol. I don't really read YA fantasy anymore, because I think a lot of it isn't very well written and just subscribes to some pretty predictable tropes, and while I think Fourth Wing was incredibly tropey, the writing was actually quite good, well paced and plotted, and very gripping (for the most part).
First, I really liked the world-building, which is obviously a really important part of high fantasy. The setting and cultures are really cool, and the whole dragon bonding and magic structure is super well crafted. There was some stuff I thought was kind of dumb, like needing magic to be able to use an ink pen (?? nonsense???), but generally it was compelling and all the social structures fit really logically together.
right, let's get to little miss Violet Sorrengail. Writing a protagonist who has a medical condition (effectively a disability) had the potential to be really refreshing and new for fantasy (and novels in general), but I honestly wasn't super duper convinced by the way that Yarros used it. This really might be a me thing, but I'm so not into the like helpless-and-fragile-girl-who-needs-to-be-protected-but-is-also-somehow-a-huge-badass-and-super-hot thing. As a fellow sore/weak joints girlie, I did kind of hope this would be characterized a bit more thoughtfully. I felt like it was just made part of her character so that Yarros could really hype up Violet's "pathetic but amazing" thing, and there was a big chunk of the novel where she kind of forgot about it altogether until it was convenient to bring back in.
As for the other characters, I thought Yarros made some really cool choices in terms of LGBTQ+, and also this is kinda minor but I really liked the names she made up for people. Beyond that, though, towards the end of the book I started to find everyone really annoying, especially Violet and Xaden (I wrote Dain off at the beginning lol), and kind of started to realize just how tropey the characterization was because I couldn't really FEEL the characters outside of like, a list of their traits and a couple of relatively unexplored bullet points about their backstories. Also... I'm not going to say what it is so that I don't have to mark this for spoilers, but Violet's signet power is so boring. I was hoping it would be something a lot cooler lol.
Anyway I feel like I've said a lot of negative stuff, but I did honestly enjoy this quite a lot, especially in the first half. I found it really hard to put down and I will definitely read the sequel when it comes out in November cus I was genuinely very entertained. I just think that Yarros sacrificed some real opportunities for quality in favour of satisfying the tik tok readers. 3 stars.
First, I really liked the world-building, which is obviously a really important part of high fantasy. The setting and cultures are really cool, and the whole dragon bonding and magic structure is super well crafted. There was some stuff I thought was kind of dumb, like needing magic to be able to use an ink pen (?? nonsense???), but generally it was compelling and all the social structures fit really logically together.
right, let's get to little miss Violet Sorrengail. Writing a protagonist who has a medical condition (effectively a disability) had the potential to be really refreshing and new for fantasy (and novels in general), but I honestly wasn't super duper convinced by the way that Yarros used it. This really might be a me thing, but I'm so not into the like helpless-and-fragile-girl-who-needs-to-be-protected-but-is-also-somehow-a-huge-badass-and-super-hot thing. As a fellow sore/weak joints girlie, I did kind of hope this would be characterized a bit more thoughtfully. I felt like it was just made part of her character so that Yarros could really hype up Violet's "pathetic but amazing" thing, and there was a big chunk of the novel where she kind of forgot about it altogether until it was convenient to bring back in.
As for the other characters, I thought Yarros made some really cool choices in terms of LGBTQ+, and also this is kinda minor but I really liked the names she made up for people. Beyond that, though, towards the end of the book I started to find everyone really annoying, especially Violet and Xaden (I wrote Dain off at the beginning lol), and kind of started to realize just how tropey the characterization was because I couldn't really FEEL the characters outside of like, a list of their traits and a couple of relatively unexplored bullet points about their backstories. Also... I'm not going to say what it is so that I don't have to mark this for spoilers, but Violet's signet power is so boring. I was hoping it would be something a lot cooler lol.
Anyway I feel like I've said a lot of negative stuff, but I did honestly enjoy this quite a lot, especially in the first half. I found it really hard to put down and I will definitely read the sequel when it comes out in November cus I was genuinely very entertained. I just think that Yarros sacrificed some real opportunities for quality in favour of satisfying the tik tok readers. 3 stars.
How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo
5.0
Castillo’s writing is uncompromising and piercingly clear. Everyone should read this.
An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It by Jessie Greengrass
5.0
without a doubt, one of the best short story collections I’ve ever read