Book Review: Fourth Wing

Spoilers!

Dragons are cool. Talking dragons with attitude are even cooler. Talking dragons within a world that is a bit more adult than young adult fantasy, that’s all the better. I’m one of those people when it comes to books or film that if something is getting a lot of hype, I gotta check it out. That was the case with Rebecca Yarro’s 2023 romantasy book, Fourth Wing. Because comparison is natural with these things, I thought of Fourth Wing as a blend of Harry Potter (primarily, the setting of a war college with youth all by themselves) and Game of Thrones (more on why later). With regards to language and sex, Fourth Wing is far more Game of Thrones than it is Harry Potter, which makes sense. These are 20-something kids, who are on the literal precipice of death each day. Of course they’re cursing and horny!

Obviously, Yarros’ book spends a good chunk of the first 50 or so pages (and sprinkled throughout) building the world she’s created. You know you’re in for a good time when the book starts with a map of a Continent and then a smaller map of the war college. On the Continent is Navarre, a kingdom of dragons with many provinces throughout, which seems to have more or less been at war with the Kingdom of Poromiel for 600 years defending its land, notwithstanding a recent rebellion in its Tyrrendor Province. The Poromiel people are gryphon (half lion, half eagle) fliers. All those who led the Tyrrendor rebellion were executed by the Navarre leadership, and even their children, 107 in total, are marked in society with a relic on their skin and castigated socially. More on what happens to them in a moment.

The Navarre people bond with dragons to protect their land. Or rather, the dragons select worthy riders. Through the power and magic of dragons, riders can use “lesser magic” like voice projection, closing doors, and using ink pens (?). But the real power comes through the channeling that creates a signet, which is, I suppose, bigger form of magic. The major of all Navarre’s forces not only has the biggest dragon, but the signet power of precognition (up to a point) to see how every battle will play out. Others have things like wind, ice, or metal control. Thanks to dragon magic, Navarre is protected by “wards.” Within Navarre is the capital of Basgiath, where the Basgiath War College is housed. All youth are conscripted and expected to choose one of four quadrants: infantry, healer, scribe, or dragon rider. Certainly, the latter is the most fraught, as every step along the way (almost literally every step!) could result in your death by your own stumble or accident, death at the hands of a rival first-year at the college, or death by an annoyed dragon. The stakes are high in Yarros’ book!

Our main character is Violet Sorrengail, who is the youngest daughter of General Lilith Sorrengail, the commanding general at the war college, a stubborn curmudgeon, and an ice cold mother. Violet is also the younger sister of two accomplished siblings: Mira, a dragon rider, and Brennan, a healer, who was killed during the rebellion. Violet initially wanted to follow in her dad’s footsteps and be a scribe, what some consider the most important role in the kingdom since it documents history and shapes the future. Instead, her mother, belatedly, forces her into the dragon rider quadrant. She’s small and prone to injury. Neither bodes well for survival or for a dragon choosing to bond with her. On the Wikipedia for the book, readers have said Violet has symptoms similar to those with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, including joint pain and her hair turning gray (it’s called silver in the book), which is what Yarros herself has. I think that’s a nice layer to add to Violet’s character and good for representation. Along with Violet are Dain, her overbearing long-term friend, who is constantly trying to get her to quit and is also, to the detriment of their friendship, an adamant rule-follower, even if it means Violet’s death, and his signet is the ability to read memories if he touches you; Rhiannon, another first-year and Violet’s best friend; Ridoc, a “class clown” of the first-years type; and Sawyer, who had to repeat first-year because he didn’t bond with a dragon on the first go-around. I came to quite dislike Dain for his nagging of Violet, which amounted to a lack of confidence in her abilities, and that was before what he does at the end of the book.

Something I don’t quite understand about the philosophy around the war college: They are quite literally okay with dozens and dozens of youth dying in a bid to be dragon riders throughout their first-year. Yet, we’re also told the “wards” are constantly being assaulted and outer villages are being ransacked. In other words, there is both a supply problem (death of young people!) and a clear demand problem (we need more young people!). Alas, there is also a bit more to the story.

So, the Tyrrendor children rather than being executed by the kingdom for the sins of their parents are allowed to enter the war college, but only within the dragon rider quadrant. Death now or potential death later. Or prestige, if you survive, despite concern over your allegiances. The “head” of these children is Xaden, whose father led the rebellion, and who took 107 lashes to the back representing all the children and accepted such a deal. All the other children feel indebted to him and help him (and later, Violet) during their time at the war college. Xaden is a third-year, a wingmaster, which is the highest rank among students leading the first- and second-years, and is bonded to one of the biggest dragons in the land, Sgaeyl. His signet is command of shadows. He’s also an expert hand-to-hand tactician. And supposedly, as everyone warns Violet, he will kill her as soon as he sees her because Violet’s mother oversaw the execution of Xaden’s father.

Instead, Violet and Xaden feel things for each other. When Violet does get to the point of having a dragon choose her, two dragons choose her in an unprecedented move. Tairn, an enormous black dragon that hasn’t been seen in years, and a smaller, golden dragon, Andarna. The humans think they get to potentially veto such a move (only so many dragons to riders, and it doesn’t seem fair to have one rider get two dragons), but Tairn reminds Violet, as he communicates with her through their minds, that humans have no say in the laws of the dragons. It should be noted, there is not a lot humans in this world actually know about the dragons and how they operate, other than their willingness to use humans to protect themselves. Andarna is a hatchling, a baby dragon essentially, which none of the human leadership knew about, and a hatchling bonding is even rarer still. Violet must keep it a secret from leadership. Additionally, Tairn and Sgaeyl are bonded dragons, which we’re told is deeper a bond than any human bond, and they will literally die if separated for too long. What does that mean then? Violet and Xaden are, in effect, bonded. Violet’s survival becomes Xaden’s priority to ensure his own survival (but he also looooves her). He orders his foster brother (after their parents were executed), Liam, to be Violet’s bodyguard. Liam was a lovely character; he was a pure heart, who enjoyed chiseling wooden dragon figurines. At one point during one of the War Games the war college puts on, Liam nearly died, but Violet learned through channeling Andarna, that she can stop time. She uses her newfound ability to save Liam’s life.

Violet is as close to a pacifist, or a conscientious objector, as one can be within this kill-or-be-killed world. Even as other first-years, like the bully Jack, are trying to kill her or when she’s trying to survive challenges (hand-to-hand practice sessions on the mat that sometimes result in death), she finds ways to survive and neutralize her attacker without killing them, including Jack. That is, until killing Jack becomes necessary. When she has to kill Jack with her signet through Tairn, which is lightning, Yarros appropriately has Violet feeling dismayed and alarmed at the violence within her. Xaden’s nickname for Violet is Violence, I suppose because he saw what she was capable of with her mastery of daggers and poisons, as well as her courage, cunning, and intelligence.

Just as Yarros built-up well to Violet killing someone for the first time and her reaction to it, Yarros also built the coupling between Violet and Xaden to a fever pitch (see that segue). The first time they had sex, which Yarros doesn’t hold back on the details, it felt earned. It made sense. It didn’t feel like smut for the sake of it. Later, the second coupling is a bit more unnecessarily smutty, but in hindsight for what happens thereafter, I get why Yarros did it that way.

Now, the reason I also compared Fourth Wing to Game of Thrones is that similarly to Game of Thrones, where kingdoms are jockeying for power and warring with each other while a much bigger threat looms in the distant (White Walkers), Yarros introduces a similarly distant, bigger threat. The “creation myth” of their world is that three siblings were created, one who went on to be a dragon rider, one who went on to be a gryphon flier, and one who was so corrupted by power, that they went on to be venin, creatures who corrupt magic for their ends and conjure up wyverns, corrupted versions of dragons. The venin are depicted similar to wizards and witches in flowing purple robes with noticeably red veins from the corruption. Interestingly, the venin and wyvern are the “monsters under the bed” folklore of this world, used to scare children to behave better. Nobody believes they actually exist. Even later, when Violet is confronted with them, she’s flabbergasted. But this is a world of dragons and magic! Why is this so beyond the pale?! Tairn and the other dragons knew about the venin, by the way, only adding credence to the fact that humans know so little about the dragons.

It turns out that Xaden and the rest of the Tyrrendor children have been helping the gryphon fliers by giving them weapons. Violet is aghast and assumes Xaden is a traitor to Navarre. But the reason they are helping the gryphon fliers is because of the encroaching threat of the venin, who are in search of something as they ransack villages. Navarre leadership knows about this, but are unwilling to help. Which is what led to the Tyrrendor rebellion, and Xaden’s actions now. In that way, a government suppressing knowledge (scribes!) and crafting narratives is also similar to the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter. My understanding is Navarre leadership doesn’t want to help the villages outside of their kingdom because the wards they have protect them from the venin.

Dain, that damn rule-follower, betrayed Violet by reading her memories without her consent, and learned about Xaden’s supposed treachery. Navarre leadership lured them into a trap ostensibly as part of another War Games; instead, venin are attacking an outpost’s village. Xaden and Violet, who is still mad at him for lying to her, decide to join up with the gryphon fliers to do the honorable thing and attempt to protect the villagers. Even if it means almost certain death. After all, even dragon fire has no effect on the venin. They must be killed close-up with a special dagger (a special dagger Violet realizes her mother has in her office, so she definitely knew of the threat!). This time in the battle, Liam is killed. That’s the tricky thing with introducing any sort of time stopping or time manipulation into a story. Why not just time stopping from the get-go, and while time is stopped, a.) evacuate the villagers and b.) walk up and dagger to death the venin, presuming such magic works on them? To be fair, Tairn and Violet didn’t want to risk Andarna near the battlefield since she’s a kid. She rebels and comes anyway, so they do use the time stopping power to help end the battle, ultimately, but not before Liam and his dragon are killed. That was heart-wrenching!

Violet is also nearly killed in the battle after being stabbed with a poisonous dagger by one of the female venin. The irony of the poison master being nearly killed by poison! Xaden and his team fly her to Aretia, within Tyrrendor, which they have been secretly rebuilding after it was burned to the ground to save her. Violet is healed back to life, and why was she healed back to life? Her brother, Brennan, the healer, who was assumed killed in battle (by Xaden’s father, no less) is still alive. The last words in the book are him saying to her, “Welcome to the revolution, Violet.”

Let’s go! Heck yeah! That twist completely caught me by surprise. I did not see that coming at all. I was thinking the healer was going to be Xaden’s mother or something. Not Brennan?! Very cool, and a great cliff-hanger leading into the second book, also released in 2023, Iron Flame.

Overall, Yarros’ book was a blast to read and while yes, I read 370 pages of the 498-page book virtually in one sitting in a bid to finish one more book before 2024 was over, I enjoyed that binge read very much. This world of dragons is a cool world to be in! The world was well-constructed, with its mythos and philosophy (each chapter added various tidbits), the characters mattered because the stakes were high, but I also liked those characters and I was sad as hell when Liam was killed, and the big bads, the venin, make for a worthy Continent-wide threat. Yarros absolutely succeeded in making me want to read the follow-up books. Or to put it another way, Fourth Wing delivered on the hype and then some.