I made a promise that I would talk about the book that got me back into my reading era, and my promise is kept. That book is “Fourth Wing,” by Rebecca Yarros. 

TikTok often has a lot of book recommendations that spark my interest to read that book – a.k.a. BookTok. “Fourth Wing” was one of those books for me that came from “BookTok.” When everyone else is reading it, you might as well read it, too, right? I wanted to understand why everyone was going crazy over it. And boy, do I understand why.

Yarros is quite literally a genius. Enough said. She takes us into the world of Basgaith college, a dragon riding school that is dedicated to teaching young Navarrians how to ride a dragons. 

Violet Sorrengail, the main character, is faced with being forced into the Rider’s Quadrant and just trying to survive. Once a dragon chooses its rider, that rider will eventually manifest a signet, which is basically a superpower. Not only does Violet bond the most powerful dragon, named Tairn, but she bonds a baby dragon, too, named Andarna. 

Violet’s power is to wield lightning, which is immediately a top tier power in any story. 

This sets her character up for success because she is already unique. It has been years since someone has bonded Tairn, no one has ever bonded two dragons and a lightning signet makes her the most powerful rider.

My only issue with this story is that it reminds me of the “Divergent” series, by Veronica Roth. In that series there are 5 different sectors, and the main character is sectored into choosing the “cool” and “tough” option, Dauntless. Now, I am always one to try and not compare stories, but the similarities I feel are a tiny bit blatant. Although, I would say there are more differences than similarities, there are billions of books so there are bound to be some that have same qualities and storylines. 

Xaden Riorson is the main love interest in this book, and Yarros did not disappoint. Other than the fact that he is clearly attractive from his description, he has this loyalty to Violet and only her alone. He is cold to everyone else, but behind closed doors when he is alone with her and they are not doing the unspeakable, he is soft. 

He also has the ability to manipulate shadows and the darkness, which is oddly a perfectly fatal combination to Violet’s lightning.

Violet and Xaden’s relationship is not perfect. They are constantly arguing about how Xaden is keeping things from her, not in a cheating sense, but in a “there is a secret rebellion happening that no one knows about, and I am the leader of it” sense. 

I understand Violet’s point of view on this because her character has trust issues. Her father died when she was young, and her mother is heartless. Violet is scared to trust people because she is afraid that they will leave once she loves them too deeply, and that pain alone is not something she is able to fathom. 

This being said, I have to side with Xaden in this consistent bickering. He too comes from a broken home, even more complex than hers. She was essentially given the silver spoon, if we are comparing who had it worse. 

Xaden also has trust issues, but in a different way. He is afraid that once people find out the truth, they won’t like what they see and use it against him. Not to mention, Violet’s mother tried to kill Xaden once before. He doesn’t trust Violet completely and he shouldn’t. From a logical standpoint, why would he tell Violet about the rebellion when she could just go running to her mother and risk the entire rebellion and the lives of those involved? Too much is at stake. 

Lastly, the villains are not fully introduced until the ending, and they gave me goosebumps. They are called Venin, and they ride two-legged white dragon-like creatures called “Wyvern.” 

The Venin drain power from the earth, which is unsacred power, and they use it to live longer, or as they call it “feeding.” To tell if one is a Venin, they have red web-like veins below their eyes once channeled. In other words, they are terrifying. Killing just one Venin takes a lot of energy. The way Violet executes this is by striking them with lightning, but she is still training to execute this with punctual target hits.

Yarros has written three out of five of the Empyrean series, and I cannot wait until the fourth book is announced. In each book, there is a lot to unpack. Stay tuned for next week’s feature on the second book, “Iron Flame.”

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