Review – Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, Book 1) by Rebecca Yarros (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Length: 650 pages
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Release Date: May 2, 2023
ASIN: B0BGDM197Q
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Empyrean series
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 5/5 stars
“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.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Empyrean series. I borrowed this on ebook from the library.
Thoughts: This started just a tad slow but really picked up pace and impressed me as the story went on. This is an action-packed fantasy romance filled with dragons and secrets. This is the second Yarros book I have read; I also read “In the Likely Event” which I really loved despite it being outside my normal reading genre.
Violet was meant to be a Scribe, then 6 months before her admittance to the Scribe Quadrant her mother (the commanding general) announced that she would enter the challenge to become a dragon rider instead. Violet is not tough and is constantly struggling with her physical health, in addition to that many other dragon rider trainees have a reason to want her dead because of her mother’s actions. However, Violet is smart, and she has the support of her lifelong best friend.
I liked the beginning of this, but after the dragons get more involved in the story I started to love it! This has a blend of Harry Potter and Hunger Game vibes in the beginning. There are a whole bunch of students in a school trying to learn about combat and dragons, however, they are also pitted against each other and competing to attract a dragon to become its rider.
As the story continued I got some very “Dragonriders of Pern” by Anne McCaffrey vibes (excellent series that I would recommend and read about 25 years ago). I will try to describe this part without spoilers. Some of the dragons are mated to each other which has intriguing implications for their riders. The dragons can survive a rider dying but the riders cannot survive a dragon dying.
I initially thought that this was going to be a love triangle, which I really hate. However, the relationships here are a lot more complex than that. Violet is immediately sheltered by her best friend, who has matured a lot since she last saw him. Violet quickly realizes that this worry and sheltering is keeping her from growing as a person. On the other hand, she is drawn to the dark and dangerous Xaden, who is the surviving son of a traitor and wants to kill Violet. Xaden challenges her at every step, and Violet realizes she is growing into a much more competent person because of his challenges and training. It’s an intriguing look at two very different types of relationships.
Some of the love scenes in here are pretty spicy and they were all well done. Everything is entwined with urgent action scenes as well. The Basgiath War College is supposed to be for training, but sometimes the War Games end up more real than not. Of course, nothing is quite as it seems, and the more Violet learns the more she realizes has been hidden from her and everyone else.
I feel like I am going on a bit long, but there was a lot of food for thought here. I really enjoyed the dragons, the characters, unraveling the mysteries, the action, and the romance. This was incredibly hard to put down and very engaging. I read this way faster than I thought I would and let way too many things in my life go because I needed to finish it! I loved how this ended; it ends on a cliffhanger but it felt like a positive cliffhanger.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I really, really loved this and I totally understand the hype. There are amazing characters (including dragons!), fantastic world-building, heart-pounding action, steamy romance, and a writing style that practically reads itself. I would highly recommend this to those who enjoy action packed military fantasy blended with romance. I plan on picking Iron Flame up very soon!
