A review by nicosta_music
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Is this really the book y'all have been hyping up so much? Fourth Wing is generally entertaining enough to keep you reading, but it's by no means a masterpiece. The first thirty-something chapters could have been condensed (or even cut entirely), since the book only got interesting in the last few chapters. Some character choices or world-building facts had no logical explanation besides the plot requiring them. I wish the book had focused more on the world itself than whatever Violet spent this book doing.

The writing style felt like it tried to be YA but the book was actually adult fiction. Despite this being a high fantasy setting, the author used the phrase "for the win" three separate times (I counted), but thank god she changed "birth control" to "fertility suppressant." The same zinger phrases are repeated word-for-word across multiple chapters. I also thought a few lines were just plain corny but that's personal preference.

All of the characters in this book were clichés, which isn't a bad thing if it's done right, but these characters were not. Violet in particular was a Mary Sue. She constantly calls herself and gets called weak, small, fragile, etc. despite also being the super-special chosen one archetype. The most interesting characters were the dragons themselves,
and they mostly exist as disembodied voices.


Overall, this book reads like a CW TV show in literary format. It's fun and exciting but lacks the depth I was expecting from a book with this much praise. 
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