If you can scroll more than 30 seconds without seeing some kind of post about Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, I kinda envy you. It’s everywhere these days, from rave reviews to the chaotic search for the first edition with the sprayed edges, to people whining about how many posts there are about it without grasping that they too are part of the onslaught of continued conversation.

So, I had to test this for myself. If you’ve been around the LiteraryHypewoman sphere for a minute, you’ve probably noticed I don’t review much fantasy. While I do enjoy the genre from time to time, it’s not my favorite and I am pretty picky about it.

Fourth Wing [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] follows Violet as she embarks on her first day of military college… for dragon riders. She 100% doesn’t want to go. She’s only going because her mom is a high-ranking military official and ordered her to go like her sister and her brother (RIP). Her father (also RIP) trained her to be a scribe instead since she’s a bit fragile. But with no choice, she heads out to start school, where there’s a very high chance she’ll die before graduation.

We wouldn’t have a thicc book like this if she died in the first challenge, so we’re gonna go with saying she makes it through is not a spoiler. She gets assigned to her childhood best friend’s unit, but Dain has issues with her being there and wants her to leave. Then there’s this other pain in the butt, Xaden. His dad was the leader of the uprising (which resulted in Violet’s brother’s death). He publicly vows to kill Violet, even though a lot of others want to kill her too because of who her mom is.

Did I have a few issues with the book? Of course. No book is perfect. Were all of the big moments and twists predictable? Yup, but somehow that did not detract from the story for me. My biggest annoyance with Fourth Wing is some of the word choices. I definitely groaned out loud when “gained purchase” was used for the seventh time, and this might set a new record for most uses of “macabre” in one novel.

Overall, this is an entertaining story. It’s pretty well-paced with the action and intensity not being overwhelming, which would be easy to do in some of these situations. The slow burn romance builds so much tension that chapter 30 is *chef’s kiss* with the spice. That payoff is great as well as more spice later on in the book. Plus, there’s a pretty fun cliffhanger that has me eager to get my hands on the second book. Like… sooner rather than later, please!

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