Review: Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1)

Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1)
By Rebecca Yarros

Published By: Red Tower Books
Publication Date: May 2, 2023
Date Read: June 17, 2023
Genre: NA – Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Hardback
Pages: 528

From Goodreads:
Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

“Fascinating. You look all frail and breakable, but you’re really a violent little thing aren’t you?”

2023 has definitely been Fourth Wing Fever! Honestly, this book seemed to come out of absolutely nowhere. I heard about it on Instagram maybe a week or two before it released, when a friend of mine entered a competition to win the UK ARC bundle. Right from that moment I thought this book sounded perfect for me… I mean, hello! There’s dragons! What more do I possibly need? Then release day hit and this book was EVERYWHERE! So I had to know what the fuss was about. Well when I thought this book would be perfect for me, I couldn’t have been more correct! This book is like if someone asked me what all my favourite things are and they rolled them up together and presented this book to me! I freaking adored every single moment!

Fourth Wing follows the story of Violet, the daughter of an Empyrean general. Her mother will accept nothing less than her children following in her footsteps and becoming dragon riders… it doesn’t matter that Violet has a chronic health issue which would make it a million times more dangerous for her. Violet has been brought up knowing what to expect, and knowing everything that goes on in Basgiath… but as Violet goes through her training to be a dragon rider, she discovers that all is not as it seems, and surviving just became the least of her worries.

I fucking loved everything about this book! If you’re an avid watcher of TikTok, I did do many videos about my thoughts and how they changed as I went through this book, so if you are so inclined you can find the link to that on the side bar if you are reading this on my blog, or in my bio if you are reading this on social media. Fourth Wing gave me Divergent feels. It’s like Divergent but with higher stakes… and dragons! What more could you possibly want?

I absolutely loved Violet. It was so refreshing for me to see a main character who has a chronic illness, but she is determined not to let it stop her. Violet is such a strong character, but she has physical weaknesses and I loved that. You see so many heroines in books like this who have such physical strength and show no physical weakness that I loved having this different kind of strength evident in this one. Xaden is just utterly perfect. Right from the moment he was introduced I was obsessed with him. I loved everything about him, and I loved how he never viewed Violet as weak… unlike SOMEONE (if you know, you know).

Fourth Wing was perfect. It was fast paced and did a perfect job of building up the world without us feeling bogged down by it. Rebecca Yarros wrote this absolutely perfectly, and right from the start she had me living in this world. I fell in love, I got excited and obsessed… and I cried my eyes out. It was just utterly perfect. The ending was intense and amazing, and has got me so excited for book 2. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book! This is without a doubt the best book I have read so far this year! I loved every second, and recommend it to absolutely everyone. This book is perfection!

“I’ve been yours for longer than you could ever imagine.”

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