A review by embee_the_nd_enby
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

If i had to summarize:
  • Dragons Gift Powers to Their Riders, Whom They Choose
  • Quippy Pale Disabled Studious Woman Turns Imperial Soldier, and Must Fight For Her Life Against Her Horniness (i'm not even joking) For the Tall Dark Mysterious Superior Officer, Much to Childhood Friend/Crush's Chagrin. 
  • Forbidden Love Interest Believes She Can Hold Her Own, Childhood Love Believes She Should Only Be Protected
  • There is explosive sex, pun intended, and penises aren't referred to as "members;" additionally, the clitoris is actually referred to as a clit!
Disclaimer: I write this as a reader that is FAR more invested in characters than plot--as in, i have a really hard time caring about the plot if i'm not down w the characters. However, after this book, i have the interesting experience of wanting to know what happens to the story more than i care to look at the characters in it.
So i read this on recommendation and did it via library audiobook. There were a lot of fun concepts that had follow-through; there is violence (pun intended, i guess) that is written, not just a wishy-washy fade-to-black; there's a good deal of humor; adults swearing and being horny; action sequences that were follow-able; and compelling dragon universe components. I talk about this later on, but there is very much a Shadow and Bones vibe with the battle-between--strong-dark-and-"frail"-light aesthetic, with the addition of them wanting desperately to fuck each other. I'll list things I enjoyed with my critiques because there were several with the writing, and one glaring issue with the author that i'm mad i didn't look up before borrowing the book.
I will start with the author since I think it important that people know where their money/support is currently going.
  • Currently, the author engages with marginalized communities and human rights violations (i.e. Israel's genocide, brief mention of DRC, American imperialism) in a way that is shamefully tone-deaf and weaponized-incompetence-y vibes (re: "iM LeArNiNg" vibes). Aparently this also comes up in another book of hers about Afghanistan? As I understand it, there has been considerable editing to her public posts to indicate learning from mistakes, as well as donating to and "uplifting Palestinian children" (she emphasizes children a lot) and following/supporting Black and brown creators. And like, cool, but i'm not gonna give a fish a cookie for swimming? If you're able to talk about learning from your place of privilege, why do you continue to reference your place of privelege as reason you be excused for having distance from the human rights issues for which you say you are passionate? I like to think that she's trying to learn, I dare say she has taken in some lessons! And, when critiqued about ways she has written/spoken, she has centered herself as a victim rather than taking accountability for how she may have behaved in a not-great way. 2/10, it's lame
The rest from here obviously implicate the author as a person, but is more about her writing.
  • Since I listened to the book, i almost fell out of my seat laughing because my brain heard the main character's name... in a dragon book... as "Soaring" "gale." Not necessarily bad, i just thought it was cute. After that the names used got steadily less fun.
  • I was kinda twitching in my seat about Gaelic name pronunciation--to me, it sounded a little wack, but then i heard from people who actually know Scottish Gaelic that the audiobook is trash with pronunciation (and also that apparently the author was swapping Irish Gaelic for Scottish in a interview). Please either commit to learning about an already-existing language you want to integrate/draw from, or make your own. Like come on now. Google is largely free. The Scottish and Irish fight against British Imperialism isn't news. But, some people may say "well isn't that the narrator's fault?" Someone has to sign off on the pronunciation of an author's work, my friendss, and I imagine it'd be the book's author
  • It was exciting to have a type of physical disability shown in the main character, gotta write the characters you wanna see 💯💯💯 There were accommodations, methods of adapting to challenges, and some failure given that the military isn't always, uh, accommodating.
  • Also having Sign in the book and a Deaf character!
  • Again, my first thought about the characters is that it very much gives Shadow and Bones: pale disabled studious girl gets wrassled into becoming an imperial soldier, and inexplicably linked to the mysterious dark (literally) power wielder that others hate to love and love to hate. And this isn't necessarily bad. I love a good shadows/light visual concept because it can be fun! We can recognize the inherent eroticism of yin and yang amiright? Earlier i mentioned appreciating characters being allowed to be horny. And that is true; I need all authors to allow non-men characters to have sexuality outside of purity culture. However, the degree of horniness is... distracting
  • Violet's perspective is written to be so completely occupied by her horniness that a majority of her engagement with Xaden is as if the author wants to make sure everyone remembers keenly that Xaden is hot and Violet hasn't had sex in a long while. There is an EXCELLENT section at the ending in which their tension/dynamic is communicated well, i think, without the very repetitive reminders of Violet Being Horny For Xaden. There are bits of flirting and banter that are super fun! But other than those bits, it's no longer me enjoying a woman written as wanting/enjoying sex for themselves, it's me wanting to just be like GIRL WE GET IT, DAMN. 
  • Option 1 of harmful writing for Xaden: the author did not commit at all to making him POC. Xaden, who is from a different land than Violet, is described in a very racially-ambiguous way ("tawny" and i think "teak" were used as complexion descriptions) that white authors will do for throwaway inclusivity points. And like, I get it, you should be able to write a character as having any sort of identity, so why not have a main interest as Brown? But to half-ass it like that? Like the man could be a very tan Italian for all we know 🤦🏻‍♀️
  • Option 2 for harmful writing for Xaden that relates to dark/light dynamic not being fun: the author did decide to genuinely make Xaden a brown man, AND decided to make his dynamic with Violet to be one that gives very "white girl good and light, vaguely brown man dangerous and dark and not good." Like, that is a terrible look, my friends! With a long, horrible history! And this is particularly annoying because the author has other great characters in which you find out casually about their skin tone or hair texture or sexuality or gender. So why must the love interest that's maybe supposed to be brown be pigeonholed to not just one but two harmful rhetorics? The second harmful rhetoric the story aligns with is Innocent White Woman Lusts After and Sexualizes the Dangerous Black/Brown Man. But again, this is in the event that Xaden IS read to be a POC outside of his sparse descriptions as such.
  • Autonomy and consent are actually big themes in this book, it actually really surprised me since stories like these often forgo autonomy for things like the fantasy of the partner just "knowing what we want" (which is funny for several reasons). And like, yeah, there are moments where Violet and Xaden do the "i've read the room and i gather that You Want Me" declarations, but don't break consent. Also, given that the universe subscribes to the Dragon Riders Have Powers direction (which i fucking adore, i love when stories do that), consent with powers is a big thing and so I'm glad it was a theme.
  • Now, i already don't trust empires, so that may have affected my perspective 🤣 but the empire isn't written as infallible, like there are components about the history and makeup that various characters openly question or lament as well as openly scorn. Always question your elders, my friends 🤙🏼
  • I adore the dragons and the bonding :)
Overall i think there was quite a bit of potential and promise for a fun time, and there were lots of things that were indeed fun! And there were aspects that were handled ignorantly, at best.
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