Fourth Wing: Empyrean, Book 1

Plot or Character Driven: A mix Strong character development: Yes Loveable characters: Yes Diverse cast of characters: Yes Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated Fourth Wing has been on my TBR list for quite some time. I finally had the time to read, and I now know why so many people have been talking about this series. I quite enjoyed reading Fourth Wing. The story is engaging, with a plot that leaves you wanting to know more, and the characters are entertaining. This slow-burning, enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance is definitely a page turner. Adding the dragons to the mix makes the read even more exciting. Violet always thought she was to be a scribe, writing the times and reviewing the history of the city and its future. She was not like her brother, a healer or a badass rider and fighter like her sister. She was a scribe like her father. Violet is also quite fragile; every week, something happens to her resulting in an injury. However, times have changed, and her mother, who is the General, demands that she become a rider. Violet has to go through the list of challenges, just like the others. The only rule is that one must stay alive. As Violet makes it through the challenges. She learns that not only is her fragile state something she has to work on, but also the other prospective riders who may view her as competition or even harbour hatred towards her because of her family name. Violet finds the courage and strength to overcome these challenges one by one. She is even chosen by one of the most powerful dragons to be his rider. Xaden, a third-year wingleader, has revenge on his mind towards Violet. After all, her mother killed his father in battle. He moves Violet and her squad to his section and lets her know that he intends to kill her. After watching her move through the challenges, he has started to develop respect for her and thinks less of killing her. Xaden's dragon and Violet's dragon are mates. This leads to them spending more time in each other's space. The attraction between them starts to sizzle. Xaden has now turned his focus toward keeping Violet safe. Reasons I enjoyed this book: Action-packed, Entertaining, Great world building, Page-turner, Romantic, Twisted, Wonderful characters

Let's get those two small warnings out of the way, okay? 1. Amazon lists this as a three book series (likely because that's all the author has written so far), the author plans it as a FIVE book series. Yeah, I failed research - after reading the sample of Fourth Wing, i bought books 1-3 and went aaarrrrgggggggh at the end of Onyx Storm, only to find reviews that noted there are two more books to come. My own fault, but trying to help others here. 2. Forget about doing *anything* else while reading these. Compelling? Absolutely. Full throttle from beginning to end? Yes, sir/ma'am! Keep you reading till way after your bedtime? Find yourself reading while fixing and eating breakfast/ lunch/dinner? Yes, and very yes. 2(a) If you have trouble with f-bombs or explicit sex scenes, this series is not your best bet as there are plenty of each. I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book(/series - I gobbled up Iron Flame and Onyx Storm also). Our protagonist, Violet? I like her. She's far from perfect, but she is smart and resourceful, capable of thinking outside the box (without things becoming too cryptic). And there are plenty of other three-dimensional characters to interact with her. Characters show true growth in this series and the world building is solid (and expands beyond the initial borders in books 2 and 3). Clearly our author is thoughtful, careful, and determined to write books that you want to/ought to read. Technically a romantasy rather than high fantasy, but there is a lot to like, especially if you don't mind 100mph rides. And hey, there are way cool dragons.

Guys. I’m not lying here: 2023 is MY YEAR for reading. I cannot tell you how many books I’ve read that have been so astonishingly beautiful and amazing and overall top tier. This novel is no exception. Coming into this book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The only other book I’ve read by Rebecca Yarros is The Things We Leave Unfinished. Also amazing, but if you’ve read it you know it’s on a completely different playing field than this book. I mean, Fourth Wing is on a different world and isn’t a historical romance novel. It is epic, though, and I’m not using that word lightly. Fourth Wing is a fantasy novel set in the world of Navarre where dragons, griffins, and magic are real. If you’ve followed a majority of my reviews on my blog, you know that I hardly ever review fantasy novels. I honestly think the only other fantasy novel I’ve reviewed was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which honestly was a real world fantasy, so wasn’t that far outside of my realm. With that being said, this book is outside of my typical comfort zone but holy hell did I love it. Now I’m thinking I’ve been missing out on all of these amazing fantasy novels and I might just go on a binge. So, what exactly did I like about this novel? Everything. But to break it down: the world building that went into writing this is absolutely insane and makes it an amazing read in itself; the characters that don’t necessarily make you think “oh this again” with the main heroine; the unbeatable plot; and the beautiful, comical writing style that Rebecca Yarros demonstrates. The world building speaks for itself, but the characters that don’t follow typical patterns particularly made me like this novel. For instance, our main heroine, Violet, is way weaker than other riders. She doesn’t fit the mould. While this is typical for our main character, what follows isn’t. Instead of her beating all odds and becoming the strongest rider of all, she basically just… adjusts. She has to do things differently and doesn’t just become a natural born rider. It’s amazing and you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve read the book. The plot is just like what I said: unbeatable. You have foreshadowing, a romantic subplot, tension and high stakes throughout the entire novel, and man is it satisfying. I’m not sure how long this series is going to be, but I am here for it. Lastly, Rebecca Yarros’ writing style in this novel is nothing short of spectacular. You get epic battle scenes, romantic moments that play with your heart, and comical snips that make you laugh out loud. It really does have everything and I was thoroughly entertained throughout the entire novel. Overall, this review is huge but I had a lot to say. I honestly can’t even point to something that I disliked about this novel, which just goes to show you how much I loved it and how great I think it is. If you enjoy fantasy novels, you’ll fall in love with this book. If you don’t enjoy fantasy novels? You’ll still fall in love with this book. I’ve already recommended it to my book club, my mom, and my brother. Y’all are welcome. Favorite quote: “And when others are quick to stand in front of me, Xaden always stands at my side, trusting me to hold my own.”

An extraordinary ride full of dragons, danger, shadow daddy enemies to lovers, friendship, lies and deception, and so much more! I absolutely loved this one so much!! I was interested and entertained the entire time! The danger, fear, friendship, love, tension, all of it! The characters were also so amazingly written! The plot was incredible and had its own uniqueness and the ending had me on my toes ready to dive until the next book! The plot: I thought it was so interesting that the main characters were studying at a war college that they could literally die during. Like what?! They had all these challenges they had to complete or lose their lives and not only did they have that danger they also had to watch out for fellow schoolmates who might off them. But it kept me on my toes nervous for Violet and all her friends and classmates. And we can't forget about the dragons and the huge role that they play in the story and plot. I love a plot where dragons are an integral part of the story! Violet: I loved her character! I loved seeing her growth throughout the book. I loved how she proved that she wasn't some fragile girl and she could and would find a way to hold her own. And I loved that her friends stood by her and helped her as well. I think she was a very well-rounded character. She loves her family and friends dearly, she's kind but can be ruthless at times when need be, and she's incredibly smart and witty. I loved her banter with Xaden and the fact that she didn't step down. Overall, great character! Xaden: Oh, the shadow daddy of all shadow daddies! I totally get all the hype for him now! Oh my did I love and enjoy his character. His wit, his banter, his sexiness, his teasing, his fierceness, and everything in between. He's everything you want to see in a MMC. I loved his nickname "Violence" for Violet. I also can't wait to see more of his growth to come and everything else he has up his sleeve! Violet's friends: I loved and adored Violet's friends they each had their quirks and were so loyal and loving to her. I'm still heartbroken over a certain someone IYKYK. I think they all played a great part in the storyline and her development. I'm excited to see what comes next for them, hopefully, it's some good. Dragons: I loved the various dragons and how there were different species per day with different colors, tails, traits, etc. I loved that we got to know what they were thinking and saying. I thought that was really cool and unique. I hope we get more of them in the next one! Romance and spice: Man should this book write notes on how to do an enemies to lovers with witty banter and tension amazingly. There was tension, build-up, banter, and so much more. And man did it get steamy and spicy in this one! The detail was to die for. Loved the MMC and FMC's romance with a passion! Tropes: • Dragons • War college • Shadow daddy • Enemies to Lovers • You can talk in my head • Tension and witty banter • You 💀, I 💀 • Spicy • Grief ... And more! Check trigger warnings!

It was initially hard for me to give this 4 stars despite what a great read it was and it truly was a really great read. I hate when a writer has the FMC chase and pursue the MMC, even more so when he rejects her. This one took it to a new level. She persistently chases after him and pines for him; her desperation made me cringe so many times I lost count. For the majority of the book, the MFC is constantly drooling and obsessing over the MMC yet he’s seemingly indifferent to her. Then when something does happen between them, it’s just casual sex for him while she chases and chases, she just wants him so bad 🙄 and he tells her several times he doesn’t want to be with her. I get secondhand embarrassment and it’s just an uncomfortable feeling for me, especially with how far it went. She seeks him out, even stalks him, walking across the parapet risking death when he wants to be alone on a painful anniversary. Like Jesus girl WTF? Ladies, a man is supposed to pursue you, neither should chase but this is one of the reasons women find themselves emotionally attached and in “situationships” with men they want so desperately to be with. I’m not chasing no man regardless that’s why it frustrates me for book heroines to do so. But alas, that’s just me. Some annoyances were as follows: The instructors put the MFC up against Jack, knowing he’s going to try and kill her and if he kills her they lose the 2 strongest, most powerful dragon riders they have, and potentially their dragons as well who are also the strongest/fiercest. They’re complete idiots. If this were real war, they would get rid of him seeing as he’s a major threat to their most valuable assets of a war they’re clearly struggling with. MMC doesn’t kill Jack when he’s blatantly trying to kill the MFC yet he’s killed several others for the exact same thing. At one point in the book, the MFC’s childhood friend admits to her that he wouldn’t break a rule to save her life yet he tries relentlessly to convince her to leave the Rider’s Quadrant and sneak and join the Scribes against the General’s orders. So he won’t break a rule but he’ll disobey and disregard the direct order of a General.. it’s pretty contradictory especially considering the latter would be treason. So won’t break a rule but will commit treason.. Another thing that irked me was how many Rider’s they lost whose deaths were 100% avoidable. I understand such a high mortality rate throughout the training before they bond a dragon and their ‘weed out the weak’ mentality but once they make it through that first long stretch of training and they’re successfully bonded to their dragons, there’s absolutely zero attempts/efforts to mitigate deaths even though they’re so very alarmed that the numbers of bonded riders are dwindling every year and there’s already not enough riders. Many Rider’s deaths are complete accidents and not a result of weakness. It’s beyond nonsensical to me. Especially considering the MFC gets to use a harness/saddle for her dragon yet other riders have fallen off their dragons and died. Then there was the totally unrealistic scenario with Jack, one of the villains, racing across the parapet (which is a super thin ledge and in this case with a hundreds-of-feet drop), while it’s super slick from pouring rain along with raging wind, and being able to push another trainee off then gaining on the MFC when she was way ahead of him, especially when he’s described as being quite a large guy so he would therefore have much larger feet which would make it even harder for him. I thought that was pretty ridiculous. Also annoying is how dramatically the MFC reacts to learning a secret the MMC has been keeping when he’s told her several times he has secrets and she’s lamented several times about how he clearly has secrets but wanted him anyway but then she finds out he has a secret and is so ridiculously dramatic about his secret lol Like what? You knew he had secrets. I like how inclusive the writer was with same sex relationships, etc. without making it weird, she managed a natural flow which I can’t describe how other writers I’ve read have just made it awkward like I’m all for representation but I hate when it just doesn’t flow with the story and they’re clearly they’re forcing it. All in all, it was a very good read with a captivating and original plot that never felt like it was dragging, a strong female lead, (aside from the simping), a strong masculine male lead that was morally gray without being abusive, all of which is exceptionally hard to find in stories these days. I definitely recommend this especially if you’re tired of stories lacking the aforementioned elements.

For starters just the look of the book itself is gorgeous. This is hands-down the prettiest book I have on my bookshelf and I will be getting the rest of the series in the same design as they continue to come out. The actual story itself, is by far one of the best fantasy stories I have ever read. And I am a huge snob for stories. If I read something and do not like it, I will simply put the book down and just throw it away or donate it. This one however I was not able to put down. I read the sample online before I ordered it, and read it all over again as soon as the book came in instead of skipping over what i already read because it was simply that good. From cover to cover is nothing but cliffhangers or jaw dropping moments that make you want to read chapter after chapter until it’s finished. The only critique I would give making the story a 4 out of 5 would simply be all the romance and intimate scenes between the main characters. This is where the book really drops the ball and almost seems like someone else wrote these scenes rather than the original author. ( with no spoilers ) there are only so many times that someone can call a person; beautiful, gorgeous, sexy, or “worship” a particular muscle or body part before everything starts to get a little old. And every… single… intimate scene plays out exactly like this saying the same things over and over again. They literally take what should be a five page “love scene” and draw it out for a whole chapter obsessing over hair, skin, eye color, etc. to the point where myself and others who have read the books actually started skipping these scenes entirely because they were pointless and annoying. Aside from that one little annoyance, the story is solid, the fantasy is believable, the dragons feel like real fire breathing dragons with personality and morals, not some cartoony how to train your Dragon or some demonized always evil monster. I would also definitely recommend even though this series started out for “ young adult “, this is not something that I would ever let an early teenager read between the sex and the violence that takes place throughout this story. Literally nothing gets held back. They actually threw in the sex scenes to try and get out of the young adult category as the series progresses. Coming from someone who is currently halfway through the second book already, I can say that it just gets more and more brutal as you go. Overall, this is an incredible story with amazing dragons, lovable/enraging characters, great action, well choreographed combat, believable fantasy when it comes to magic and lore, and I would definitely recommend this for anyone over the age of 17. Like I mentioned earlier, the only letdown was the annoyance of the romantic/intimate scenes with its repetition and over obsessive tendencies.

Wow! It has been a LONG time since I have actually felt tension while reading a book. I can read the biggest action scenes at the end of various books and the majority of the time they just don't affect me at all - because I don't care that much about the characters. But THIS - this was different. I felt the tension. And it was real. Plus the author is very willing to kill characters so there is some uncertainty there as well. And the battle at the end of this most excellent book - it was hot and raging. Plus the enemy leaked danger as well. True menace. Very rarely does some enemy in a book impress me at all but this one most certainly did.. Right from the description I just KNEW there was something different about these mages called venin. They seemed impressive too. And very memorable. I wanted to draw them based off of the description. Very rarely do I get that urge. But what a battle at the end! It was touch and go. What would happen? Would the heroes win or lose? I didn't know. And I felt concern. This book has made me feel things. Earlier it had made me cry - tears of joy. And the book has surprised me too. The plot twists! I guess I should have seen it coming but I didn't so I was quite surprised. But it certainly makes the story way more interesting! And I am certainly eager to read the sequel too! This is a massive book and worth reading every word! And rarely do I feel that way. But its exciting and the characters face so many challenges. And there is death too. In fact there is a lot of death in here. Its a very violent world, a tough world of dragons and griffins and things that are supposed to be only legends to scare kids to eat their vegetables... But what I love the most in here in the main character Violet. She has a connective tissue disorder. I have one too (its called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome - EDS - and I am pretty confident that Violet actually has EDS). I have never run across a character in a book before that has EDS. And certainly not one that is bold enough to be in a fantasy world where she rides a dragon. How cool is that? So yes I certainly can relate to her very well! And so much of the stuff in here is quite accurate too. Exercise is the best way to protect the joints (and personally I find diet matters a ton too). And yes it certainly can make many things way harder. The joints are all wonky and they naturally hyper-extend so doing things - even just balancing - is way harder. But riding a dragon!!! I remember when I was much younger I used to read this other very popular fantasy series that included dragons and I used to try to imagine what it would be like to ride a dragon. Of course I never thought about the issues of staying ON said dragon... But since I ride horses these days I have a better idea of some of the issues. But wow this book is totally AMAZING! it totally captivated my attention. The first evening I started it I got 50% through. And I certainly would have powered through the second half yesterday but unfortunately I have packing to do as I am moving at the end of the month. If I could I would rate it 6 stars! The characters are just so real. And they go through character arcs too. They change. They face obstacles and have to find solutions. And there is certainly a bit of romance in here too. The story moved so smoothly. Never a dull moment at all. None. And I just loved the first person writing in here from Violet's viewpoint. But the story is about a young woman named Violet who has been forced by her very powerful mother to become a dragon rider. That is a warrior. But her body is weak and ill suited for it. So she was training to be a scribe (but all of that writing would be a huge strain on her too - in fact I cannot write very long at all by hand anymore without pain + numbness going down my arm and I get horrid shoulder pain) but that changed - she had to go be a dragon rider or die trying. But its not that easy in fact its very dangerous. Most people who try to become a rider end up dead. And you can be killed by your own classmates! Yes, its a very brutal school. And after all of these difficult obstacles - which Violet is ill suited to pass - she has to hope that a dragon will pick her. But what dragon will pick someone with a body that doesn't work right due to genetic mutations? And all of that is near the beginning of the book! For a huge mysterious and dangerous problem is brewing in the Kingdom! And poor Violet will run smack into it - err - fly into it. If she can stay on the dragon that is... You definitely should read this!

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros was a five star read for me. This book pulled me out of a reading slump and reminded me why I love getting lost in stories. I was hooked almost immediately and stayed engaged all the way through. One of the strongest parts of this book is the cast of characters. I cared about everyone, not just the main characters, which made the story feel richer and more immersive. Andarna was a standout favorite. Highly recommended for readers looking for an engaging fantasy that is hard to put down.