It's hard to remember a fantasy novel more hyped in the national press than Fourth Wing. The book, a romantic fantasy* novel, has even resulted in news articles proclaiming the birth of a "new" genre they've called "Romantasy", which really is a longstanding fantasy romance or romantic fantasy genre that fans in the know have enjoyed for years and years at this point. But apparently it took this book, often described as combining romance with dragons, and some help promoting it (thank you BookTok) to really bring the genre to mainstream attention. And so I couldn't help but be curious to see how the book itself was, even if I haven't really been a big fan of some of say BookTok's favorite other SF/F books (although just to be clear, this is not a self-published novel like some of those other BookTok discoveries).
*You may note I list this as a "Romantic Fantasy" novel and NOT a "Fantasy Romance". This is deliberate as romance novels are required to have a Happy Ever After or Happy For Now Ending. Fourth Wing does not have that, but it is the first book of a trilogy so it's likely the series will end that way...but it doesn't really fit the definition for those seeking JUST a romance novel.
And well, my thoughts on Fourth Wing are....mixed. On one hand, the book is immensely predictable, features a romance that is just okay (the sex scenes are enjoyable if not super remarkable), and features a plot setup that feels like lazy dark fantasy writing: we have a government (probably hiding bad things) that establishes its dragon riding armies by having potential recruits face a training schedule that can not only get them killed...but also allows their fellow recruits to kill them as long as they follow nit-picky rules and thus promotes people being utter pscyhopaths, which makes little sense to go along with a bunch of other things in the setting. But the main character Violet, who is forced by her general mother to undergo this training rather than be a scribe even though she is frail of body (with a possible weakened bone condition?), is very easy to root for and care about, and the writing style is very readable, such that it is kind of easy to get sucked in by the time you get through the book's first third (honestly, the beginning is rather rough). So yeah, I can see why this book obtained a pretty large following, even if it's not nearly as good as many other books in the genre: it's fine, solid romantic fantasy.
More specifics after the jump:
Plot Summary:
Violet Sorrengail never wanted to be a Rider - she spent her whole life planning on joining the Scribe Quadrant and working with books and history, just like her father had before he passed. But with his death and the death of her brother, Violet has been ordered by her mother - the commanding general in the army of the Kingdom of Navarre - to enter the Rider's Quadrant of Basgiarth War College instead...to become one of the candidates to be chosen to ride the Dragons that form the backbone of Navarre's military. Dragon Riders are the elite of Navarre's military forces - not just because dragons are deadly and powerful, as many of them are, but because being bonded to a dragon gives its rider access to powerful magic. Magic like that belonging to Violet's sister Mira or her dearly departed brother Brennan, dragon-riders both.
The problem is: Violet's bones are weak and Violet is small and hasn't been physically training to compensate for that since birth, like most of those who enter the Riders Quadrant. And with fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, the trainers in the Quadrant enforce a training regimen that kills most of the candidates....even before they face the deadly dragons who are known to kill those they dislike. And even worse: while the rules of the Codex protect cadets to a certain extent, they still allow plenty of opportunities for prospective riders to kill off their competition....
Violet's weak constitution makes her an easy target for those looking to increase their odds of bonding to a dragon. Her last name makes her an even more tempting target - after all, among her fellow cadets are the children of those who rebelled years back...and whose parents were killed in retribution by Violet's mother. Such as Xaden Riorson, the handsome and incredibly powerful and ruthless third year cadet who leads the Fourth Wing to which Violet was assigned. But in trying to survive at the war college, Violet will find her own fate tied more and more to Xaden's, especially as the Kingdom's security seems to be getting more and more insecure from attacks from its gryphon-riding enemies. But even if Xaden won't kill her as eagerly as she'd expect, he still carries secrets...secrets that will force her to make a deadly final choice....
Fourth Wing is a story narrated by Violet Sorrengail, a very intelligent, if physically weak (although apparently very quick in short bursts), young woman* who would rather learn than fight and would definitely rather stay away from people than kill. Violet is essentially disabled, although the book (in its subtlest moment) never labels her as such, due to having brittle bones and/or joints that have a tendency to break under pressure. That said, Violet gets extremely pissed and driven when peole question her capabilities in front of her due to her physical weakness - she can have doubts about her capabilities, but others who try to make decisions for her on account of those disabilities can stuff it. She's also quite horny, even if she doesn't have sex in this book until like 2/3 of the way through, with her noting how her two potential love interests are drop dead gorgeous the moment she first notices them. But mainly Violet is a woman who just wants to survive and to not be a bad person - she wants to help those who she calls friends (largely her first friend Rhiannon) survive just as well as she does and doesn't want to deliberately do anyone serious harm...even if they're trying to do the same to her.
*I see in some places this book is described as YA, but Violet is 20 and Xaden is 23, so the age group of the protagonists doesn't fit, even if they do sometimes behave like horny teenagers.
She's a good person in a really shitty world, and to some extent this is where the book loses me because parts of this shitty world do not make sense. The trope of an academy that kills many of its students is almost overplayed at this point (Scholomance, Atlas Six, to name just two popular works), but fine maybe that makes sense for a fascist government with a limited number of dragons for people to ride...but the "we let absolute psychopaths openly murder classmates" thing just makes no sense even for such an academy. Certain characters here obsess over rules even as we're told from the start that the Riders don't really care about the rules - and one lawful character in a major moment decides to break those rules for....reasons? And the book also decides to teach us about new shitty aspects of this world just before those aspects come into play, so it at times just feels like the book is trying to be super edgy for the sake of it.
And well to be honest, this book's plot is insanely predictable as well which can get rather frustrating. Readers will see that the government is clearly a fascist one that is hiding dangerous secrets and will guess that the so-called traitors were probably in the right pretty quickly, well before we get reveals in the final act. Certain plot elements are so obviously signaled in advance you will hit your head over how unsubtle they are, and the romance is similarly unsubtle....If you are looking for a subtle romantic fantasy or really strong character development over a period of time, you're looking at the wrong book.
And yet, Fourth Wing's fast pace allows it to never drag once you get past the book's irritating first act (the book gets significantly better once the dragons are involved) and it does pay off generally these heavily foreshadowed elements. The romance isn't super developed well, but it's solid and the sex scenes are enjoyable, if mostly remarkable for how explosive they are magically rather than how sexy they are (although to some people that will I guess seem sexy). And Violet, as the book's heroine, is incredibly easy to like and root for, which makes it a lot easier to bear with the groan-worthy plot elements.
Would this be the romantic fantasy I'd introduce to new people to the fantasy genre? No. But it's a solid and enjoyable entry despite its flaws and I'm intrigued enough that it's possible I'll try the sequel...or maybe not.
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