By Tessa, Grade 7
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros was the book responsible for making me the fantasy book fan I am today. At the time, I was not a big fantasy reader at all. When I got recommended
Fourth Wing, I was very skeptical of a book that was advertised as being about dragons and people called riders. The one thing that convinced me to give this book a chance was the quote on the back cover; “A dragon without its rider is a tragedy. A rider without their dragon is dead.”. It was a brief yet incredibly intriguing quote.
The world designed in this book was great once I got to understand it. One small issue I had was that some of the writing didn’t fully clarify some aspects of the different places. But, my difficulty understanding might not apply to every reader.
In this book, the characters live in a kingdom named Navarre. It is tradition for people there to train to enter a specific quadrant when they are old enough. The quadrants include the healers, infantry, scribes, and the notorious, deathly riders quadrant.
The book opens with an introduction to the main character, Violet Sorrengail. She trained her whole adolescence to become a scribe, just for her mom, General Sorrengail, to force her to enter the riders quadrant at the last moment. The riders quadrant is where all of the rebels are sent, and where a lot of violence occurs.
Yarros’s writing is so perfectly detailed that it allowed me to feel as though I was Violet, experiencing everything in my imagination as I read it. As the reader, you get launched into action straight away. Fourth Wing doesn’t have the slow build-up, like so many other fantasy books do. Instead, by chapter two, the characters are already facing their first dangerous challenge, the parapet, a foot and a half wide stone bridge, hundreds of feet in the air. I really enjoyed this, and it made me hooked on this book so quickly.
Every 5 star book has at least one problem that the characters face. In the case of Fourth Wing, Violet learns that the protection around their kingdom, Navarre, is failing and the leadership are hiding a generous handful of secrets from everyone. Throughout the book Violet and her fellow cadets deal with so many challenges, leaving you turning page after page, refusing to put the book down until you know what happens.
Not only is this book the fantasy dream, it also has some top-notch romance. No spoilers, but get ready for a heated love triangle and a specific enemy, Xaden Riorson.
Fourth Wing was a roller coaster of emotions for me and I could not stop thinking about the characters for days after I read that last page. The book will leave you with so many questions, but don’t worry, you can just continue on to read the equally thrilling sequel, Iron Flame. There are three more books set to come out in the upcoming years to finish off the incredible series that all begins with your next great read: Fourth Wing.
Add a comment to: Fourth Wing: Your Next 5 Star Read