Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - Fourth Wing

Unfortunately I can’t rate this 5,000 stars. Sweet lord this book was so good!! From the characters to the magic to the world building, I loved everything. I can’t wait for book two in November!!

Content Warnings

emmwalker's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

Fourth Wing is an immersive adult fantasy that takes place in a fictional military school, where our protagonist Violet becomes a dragon rider, after a lifetime of preparing to be a scholar. Listening to this audiobook evoked what I felt reading my childhood favourites, it has all the makings of a cult favourite fantasy and I am already so obsessed. I accessed this story as an audiobook and I couldn’t stop listening! Though I now realise that as I listened to this story, I don’t know how to spell any of the names of the characters or places.

The story was immediately immersive, slowly beginning rich world building without info dumping and overwhelming the audience. The early establishment of the sisterly relationship between Violet and Mira was so incredibly well done, encapsulating the tricky balance between deep love, protective instinct, pesky joking and even a sense of being overshadowed. It was indicative of the writing and the realistic relationships in an unrealistic world. The writing and descriptions were so vivid and detailed and I was easily able to picture this school, the dragons and characters. The story is so well written, I was wracked with anxiety at times due to the anticipation and constant worry for my favourites and I felt elation for their successes.

I was instantly able to connect with Violet, she loves books, has a good grasp of history and feels most at home in a library. Her struggles made her likeable and relatable. Xaden was mysterious, powerful and dedicated, I adored the scenes he was in, I think I’ve found a new book boyfriend. The narration was clear, consistent and expressive. Rebecca Soler has a soothing voice that was emotive and brought Violet to life throughout the narration in the audiobook. There was distinction in the voices of each character, which aided in the flow of the story (no cringey voice attempts) and the tone of the story (especially suspenseful or action packed scenes) was clearly established in the tone and pace of the narration.

The trigger warnings at the beginning are a great inclusion, I listened to them and probably didn’t take them as seriously as I should have. The depictions of violence do occur on page and start quite early on in the story and keep going throughout the whole story. Readers should take these warnings seriously and consider if this story is for them.

I wish I could give this more than five stars, I think I’ve found a new favourite and I can’t wait for more.

Thank you to NetGalley, and RB Media, for giving me the opportunity to listen this audiobook in exchange for an honest review, these thoughts are all my own.

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