Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - BOOK FEATURE!

Hey! I was recently gifted a copy of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, and after hearing so many good things about it, I was so excited to finally get the chance to read it!

Fourth Wing is a fantasy novel that follows the story of Violet Sorrengail as she enters the Riders Quadrant to commence training as a rider. Here is the synopsis:

Welcome to the brutal and elite world of Basgiath War College...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and histroy. Now, the commanding general - 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, every day the war outside grows more deadly, the kindom's protective wards are failing, and even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Everyone as Basgiath has an agenda, so sleep with one eye open because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

I have seen so many 5 star reviews for Fourth Wing, and people saying that this was their favourite read of the year, and I was hoping that it would live up to my high expectations.

When I started the book, I was really confused, as I felt like there were so many characters being introduced and I couldn't remember who everyone was, so throughout reading it, I would forget who was who and how everyone was related to each other. There were also a lot of technical terms and words I didn't know of in the book, such as wards.

I also wish that we got to hear more about the other quadrants, and by the end of the book, I couldn't even name all of them because it had been so long since they were mentioned.

I didn't really understand the bonding with dragons part and how it all worked, and I felt that it needed to be explained a bit more.

*SPOILERS*

I was also confused about the part with the marked ones and what happened with their parents and why they were being punished for it. I felt like the part where they were at Athebyne at the very end of the book as confusing and I didn't understand about the choice that they had to make between the village and the quadrant until they went into the battle.

Dain also confused me. He had known Violet practically his whole life, but put following the rules above her??? I didn't understand how his father was related to anything either and I wasn't sure if he was trying to hurt Violet at the end or not, when she went to Athebyne.

*SPOILERS OVER*

However...

despite all of my confusion, I really enjoyed this book. Even though it was 500 pages with really small writing, I didn't feel like there was any part of the book that needed to be taken out. I think the story flowed really well, and left just enough out so that I couldn't guess what was going to happen next.

I loved how Violet developed her character throughtout the book, and while she started as a Scribe about to enter the Rider's Quadrant with hardly any training, she then came out of the first year still alive and with new friends and characteristics.

I don't usually read fantasy, but I loved this one and will definitely read it again. I highly recommend it even if you aren't a fantasy reader.

4.5/5

Let me know in the comments what your throughts are on Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, or how you stepped out of your reading comfort zone!

-Ashley :)