Series: The Empyrean #1
Release Date: May 2 2023
Publisher: Piatkus
Find it: Goodreads Waterstones
Source: I bought a copy of this from my local Waterstones
Rating: 3/5 stars

Synopsis

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.

Review

Fourth Wing is a book I feel really conflicted about. The story follows Violet Sorrengail, daughter of a general with plans to enter the Scribe Quadrant and live the quiet life she’d always dreamed of. When her mother demands she enter the Rider’s Quadrant, she has no choice but to enter the deadly Basgiath War College where there are only two options – graduate or die. There Violet meets Xaden Riorson, who has plans to end her life for being her mother’s daughter. Can Violet survive long enough to bond with a dragon and prove herself strong enough to be a rider?

Fourth Wing is one of those books where it was one hundred percent a case of the hype getting me – otherwise, I doubt I would have picked this one up. I love dragons and I love school settings, but I’m not really a romance person. The story was fairly compelling and I really enjoyed the bits where Violet was training to be a rider and fighting to stay alive but the romance very much overshadowed those parts. I am intrigued enough to continue the story, but this one didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.

The writing style was easy enough to get into, though the modern vernacular felt a bit jarring in the setting. I did feel the world building was a bit shaky and could have done with being more fleshed out. I also felt at times the story was a bit formulaic and I struggled to get through the last half of the book. Despite all this, it’s a book I still think about even though I finished it months ago, so it has definitely stuck around in my brain. I am on the fence about picking up Iron Flame, but I’m not desperate to find out what happens next. If you’re at all intrigued about this one I would definitely say give it a go, I am definitely in the minority about this one!