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A review by electrachet
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
This book had a lot of hype around it last year which I didn't buy into at the time (or now) so I wasn't exactly disappointed or impressed after finishing it. The plot and characters are unoriginal, especially with the classic "smoll fragile girl MC" who's somehow "super special" and ends up bonding with two of the most powerful dragons of her lifetime . The romance wasn't horrible, but there's very little real chemistry or actual animosity between them for it to be a believable "enemies to lovers trope".
The writing itself is also pretty bad, but the worldbuilding was the worst, especially with all the info dumps and Violet just reciting history lessons to herself out loud. And the dialogue is filled with cheesy modern slang that has no business being in a fantasy world. It completely took me out of the story.
I wasn't impressed by the disability representation either. The author spends so much time telling us how frail and breakable Violet is, but then she's having wild sex scenes and doing physically impossible stuff and there are no real repercussions to pushing herself past the limits of her body since she can heal easily. I did like that Xadenmade her a saddle, but realistically those should be made for all riders. The stupidity of the military and the academy allowing over 70% of their candidates to be killed is why they're in a centuries-long war to begin with .
There were a couple of bright spots - I liked the side characters Rhiannon and Liam more than the main characters. And the magic/dragon system was kind of cool albeit underexplored and unoriginal. The beginning was also solid, but I started slogging through by the end. If you want some cringey romantic fantasy fluff, this is still entertaining and has its target audience.
The writing itself is also pretty bad, but the worldbuilding was the worst, especially with all the info dumps and Violet just reciting history lessons to herself out loud. And the dialogue is filled with cheesy modern slang that has no business being in a fantasy world. It completely took me out of the story.
I wasn't impressed by the disability representation either. The author spends so much time telling us how frail and breakable Violet is, but then she's having wild sex scenes and doing physically impossible stuff and there are no real repercussions to pushing herself past the limits of her body since she can heal easily. I did like that Xaden
There were a couple of bright spots - I liked the side characters Rhiannon and Liam more than the main characters. And the magic/dragon system was kind of cool albeit underexplored and unoriginal. The beginning was also solid, but I started slogging through by the end. If you want some cringey romantic fantasy fluff, this is still entertaining and has its target audience.