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jqui_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Bullying, Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, and Death of parent
ka_cam's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This is a good book if you want to turn off you brain, dissociate and pretend you haven’t read any YA fantasy from the last 15 years or so. The plot is predictable, writing not great, and characters flat, but that can be comforting in its way and I did finish it. I felt bad for how one dimensional Xaden and Dein were, and it felt stilted how the author randomly threw in a range of identities that had no real meaning in the world besides to make 2024 US readers feel like they were getting a ‘diverse’ book (though the treatment of Violet’s Ehlers-Danlos style condition was one of the more interesting threads, though also pretty predictable). World building in general left some to be desired. For me the sex scenes read like a high schooler fantasy, and the lusting was a bit tedious, but if it works for you it works for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Animal death, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, and War
guccishoestrings's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
P.s. this is coming from a male perspective, this book is definitely geared towards the female audience so do not take everything I say to heart as my perspective might be wildly different to many others.
I came across this shortly after it was first published and soon put it on my to read list. I started to notice a few friends reading it and then my sister a couple weeks ago read it and gave it a five star rating. After I saw her giving it a five star rating I soon finished the book I was reading and then picked up this book and I have to say, I had a great time (so thanks @literarymary95 for getting me to read this book next).
Ok let's actually get to the book. Fourth Wing takes place in a fantasy world primarily the country of Navarre in the war college of Basgiath. In this fantasy world, gryfons and dragons are used by the two countries at war to fight each other and the war college is used to train riders to bond with dragons and use signets to combat the gryfons of the other country. The narrator and main character of this series is a young woman named Violet Sorrengail and here first year at said war college. Her life is that of a military brat, her mother is a general and her brother and sister are basically prodigies in the military. At the start of the story, we find out that her older brother Brennan was killed stopping a rebel uprising of the Tyrrendor by the leader of said uprising. This may not seem important at the start, but we soon find out that the rebellion's leader (who was promptly executed after the rebellion was stopped and by Violet's mom) has a son named Xaden who ends up being a third year at the college Violet is joining. This leads to Xaden wanting to kill Violet and Violet wanting to kill Xaden. How will Violet navigate this school of death and her worst nightmare breathing down her back? well you will just have to read the book to find out.
Now lets take a look at some of the good, bad, and hilarious parts of this book:
The Good:
I came across this shortly after it was first published and soon put it on my to read list. I started to notice a few friends reading it and then my sister a couple weeks ago read it and gave it a five star rating. After I saw her giving it a five star rating I soon finished the book I was reading and then picked up this book and I have to say, I had a great time (so thanks @literarymary95 for getting me to read this book next).
Ok let's actually get to the book. Fourth Wing takes place in a fantasy world primarily the country of Navarre in the war college of Basgiath. In this fantasy world, gryfons and dragons are used by the two countries at war to fight each other and the war college is used to train riders to bond with dragons and use signets to combat the gryfons of the other country. The narrator and main character of this series is a young woman named Violet Sorrengail and here first year at said war college. Her life is that of a military brat, her mother is a general and her brother and sister are basically prodigies in the military. At the start of the story, we find out that her older brother Brennan was killed stopping a rebel uprising of the Tyrrendor by the leader of said uprising. This may not seem important at the start, but we soon find out that the rebellion's leader (who was promptly executed after the rebellion was stopped and by Violet's mom) has a son named Xaden who ends up being a third year at the college Violet is joining. This leads to Xaden wanting to kill Violet and Violet wanting to kill Xaden. How will Violet navigate this school of death and her worst nightmare breathing down her back? well you will just have to read the book to find out.
Now lets take a look at some of the good, bad, and hilarious parts of this book:
The Good:
- The world is interesting, it doesn't open up much in this book as most of the book takes place within and around the college, but it does show that the world has a lot of potential for future growth.
- The book is always entertaining. It might be get really stupid at times, but it never gets boring. I would rather read a book that is stupid than boring any day.
- Most of the characters are interesting. The students that a re children of rebellion members, are by far the most interesting. Ridoc and Rhiannon are good side characters but do not get enough screen time (or in this case book time) to really flourish as characters. Violet is a solid character at the start (more about her in the bad section), Xaden has a lot of mystery behind him and im not sure what I think about him yet (I am leaning more towards liking though), Liam is by far my favorite and it is not even close, and Dain sucks, (way more about him in the bad section) but he his written to be disliked.
- Signets are the abilities characters get and some of them are really interesting.
- The dragons are interesting and I love the banter between Tairn and Violet and later Violet and Xaden (through the mind).
- The ending twist was really unexpected as (Do not read spoiler if you have not read the book, seriously it will ruin the entire book)
Brennan (Violet's older brother) is still alive, which makes the Violet-Xaden relationship actually make much more sense now. As they literally want to kill each other at the start (not exaggerating that as well).
The Bad:
- Get ready for a rant. WTF is this college, literally the first thing they do is cross the parapet which if you fall leads to your death, but that's not all other students can throw you off for sh*ts and giggles if they want. Like isn't this college for the best of the best, why waste strong talent if they make even the slightest mistake or if someone is an a**hat and decides to kill someone. They are at war and even if they don't pass they could go join the scribe or infantry quadrant. Then there is the gauntlet (which is literally and im not joking, the ninja warrior course) which kills some of the best students as well. Then back to the students killing students thing, it makes no sense outside of the threshing where you have to fight to bond with some dragons. End of rant.
- Time for rant number 2. Violet starts off as a weak character that is hated due to being the daughter of a general, but by the end is starting to become a Mary Sue as
She has two dragons (never happened in recorded history), gets lightning (which is super strong and hasn't been seen in over a hundred years), has the flaw of weak joints, but kind of disappears later in the book, is a goddamn genius apparently who also happens to be a scribe (who are the smart/historian people), gets bonded to the second strongest dragon you can get and gets a feather tail dragon (which is the first to ever bond with someone) to be her dragons, and later basically becomes either respected or feared by pretty much everyone and those that don't respect her are dead. End of rant number 2. - One of the plot twists at the end,
the one where if three of the rebel children are together, the general with the strongest dragon cannot predict the future of them, which is a weird thing that is never explained why and seemed to just be thrown in to be a way around an op ability of a future antagonist. - Dain is designed to be a hated character but he is just one dimensional. All is conversations are basically Violet leave because your weak and I do not want you to die or I love you Violet and why don't you listen to me or like me. Then gets pissy every time because he's a pompous ass.
- I enjoy cursing in any book, but some of the cursing in this book made me cringe and think back to my days of middle/high school when people threw curses in every sentence because they thought it was cool.
- Not really a bad thing but I hated it so Ima put it here because I can (don't read this if you have not read this book).
Liam f*cking dies, like why him. You could have taken out Imogen, Garrick, or Bodhi but you had to pick my favorite character by a mile to kill. I audibly said out loud no f*cking way when he died.
The Hilarious:
- Read chapter 30 before reading any other part of this book. It made me audibly laugh and took me about 40 mins. to read because of how much I was laughing. I mean Violet almost burns down the school for reasons that you will have to read to find out.
- The banter between Tairn and Violet is great and you can tell he is just a grumpy old man in a dragon.
- Ridoc is only in this book as the class clown and that is exactly all he is.
- Dain is so bad that what he does in the end will make you disdain him (pun intended which is why its here).
- The chapter where Tairn and Sgaeyl are doing the dirty is just a fantastic form of WTH am I reading type writing that I just love.
- Xaden and Violets relationship, if you read the book you know what trainwreck this relationship is.
I was surprised how much I was entertained by this book. I heard a lot of differing opinions about this book and I felt why different about all of them. This book was downright hilarious in the romance parts and the action was not bad although really stupid at times. I will definitely be reading Iron Flame next and can't wait to see what that has in store.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and War
jreal's review
adventurous
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence
kdog02's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, War, and Violence
kailee_freitas's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
aminayuy's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
When this book started I thought it was a YA purely based on writing style and the characters. I gave it some leeway since the audience was mainly teens. There were some comments about sex but I thought it was just to add to the "cool" dragon riding school angle but BOY was I wrong 😭 this is a pretty explicit adult novel. The story overall is pretty mid and Violet is pretty average and a bit of a try-hard as an MC. The politics are pretty well done and so is the mystery behind what REALLY happened during the war. I'm trying to think why this was so hyped last year and I think it's cause it's pretty easy to read and the world building is fun and understandably.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
pphoebbss's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
This was fun and I understnad the hype around it! Defo hits the spot of a classic romantasy book while feeling like something a bit different to others in the same genre. I read this so quick.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
saretta02's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Sexual content, and Death
Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Bullying, and War
nicole_rietveld's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Cum să scrii o carte de succes? Copiezi aceeași formulă care a adus succesul altor cărți fantasy din ultimii 15 ani. Nu contează că seamănă atât de mult cu acele povești încât nu mai lasă deloc vreun spațiu originalității. Prinde la public? Prinde. Publicului îi pasă că e aproape identică cu Acotar și se vede clar inspirația din Spulberă-mă, Regina Roșie, Tronul de cleștar, Jocurile Foamei, Urzeala Tronurilor și Harry Potter? Își bate cineva capul cu faptul că e extrem de previzibilă? Nu prea. Nu știu ce le-a luat ochii celorlalți cititori. Poate dragonii, poate faptul că e un New Adult Romantasy, poate sentimentul de nostalgie... Habar nu am. Cert e că popularitatea nu mi se pare una meritată. Nu e o carte rea, însă e atât de identică cu predecesoarele ei încât mă îngrețoșează. Pare genul ăla de carte scrisă doar pentru profit. Nu pot ignora nici faptul că se va face și un film după ea, deci se pare că autoarea a știut cum să își joace cărțile.
E dureros de previzibilă, cu personaje prea identice cu altele citite anterior încât nu mi se par deloc reale. Pe lângă asta, urăsc personajele feminine slabe care se gândesc doar la personajul masculin. Nu doar că se gândesc, ci sunt obsedate. Violet e definiția unei persoane cu extrem de mult noroc pentru că deși ea nu are ce căuta în Cvadrantul Călăreților reușește să supraviețuiască cu brio. Fără Xaden cu siguranță nu ar mai fi fost în viață. Prietenul ei Dain e un sâcâitor enervant. Cred că se creează de vreo 5 ori discuția despre cum să o salveze pe Violet, însă ea foarte încrezătoare în abilitățile ei, nu se uită la cât de incapabilă e.
Cine zicea că Xaden și Violet sunt inamici? Da, pe hârtie sunt, dar realitatea e alta. La început se șicanează, dar, în rest, tot ce face Xaden pentru Violet e să o ajute. Îmi venea să îmi rostogolesc ochii de fiecare dacă când aducea vreunul în discuție uciderea celuilalt. Mda, sigur vă cred.
Ce mi-a plăcut: dragonii și faptul că acțiunea are un ritm alert. Dacă ignori faptul că e o copie, nu e așa rea, deși are defecte destul de evidente în anumite privințe. Având în vedere faptul că nu e plictisitoare și ar avea ceva potențial de dezvoltare pe marginea sistemul magic, nu i-am scăzut decât 2 steluțe. Voi citi și următorul volum cu speranța că va fi mai original.
E dureros de previzibilă, cu personaje prea identice cu altele citite anterior încât nu mi se par deloc reale. Pe lângă asta, urăsc personajele feminine slabe care se gândesc doar la personajul masculin. Nu doar că se gândesc, ci sunt obsedate. Violet e definiția unei persoane cu extrem de mult noroc pentru că deși ea nu are ce căuta în Cvadrantul Călăreților reușește să supraviețuiască cu brio. Fără Xaden cu siguranță nu ar mai fi fost în viață. Prietenul ei Dain e un sâcâitor enervant. Cred că se creează de vreo 5 ori discuția despre cum să o salveze pe Violet, însă ea foarte încrezătoare în abilitățile ei, nu se uită la cât de incapabilă e.
Cine zicea că Xaden și Violet sunt inamici? Da, pe hârtie sunt, dar realitatea e alta. La început se șicanează, dar, în rest, tot ce face Xaden pentru Violet e să o ajute. Îmi venea să îmi rostogolesc ochii de fiecare dacă când aducea vreunul în discuție uciderea celuilalt. Mda, sigur vă cred.
Ce mi-a plăcut: dragonii și faptul că acțiunea are un ritm alert. Dacă ignori faptul că e o copie, nu e așa rea, deși are defecte destul de evidente în anumite privințe. Având în vedere faptul că nu e plictisitoare și ar avea ceva potențial de dezvoltare pe marginea sistemul magic, nu i-am scăzut decât 2 steluțe. Voi citi și următorul volum cu speranța că va fi mai original.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Violence