The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
I didn’t think I was going to like this book, but I loved it.
Even though I had been hearing about this book from various places for a few months, I wasn’t particularly excited when my book club selected it as the next read. I just can’t get into fantasy, and this one was supposed to be a YA fantasy, which was even less appealing.
The land of Navarre is a country protected by an army of dragon riders. At the age of 20 Violet Sorrengail, is sent to the Basgiath War College by her mother, a military General and all-around bitch, to learn to be a Dragon Rider or die trying. “Ride or Die”.
Except Violet is, at least not physically, not your typical Dragon Rider recruit. Although highly intelligent, she is small and a little clumsy; more a bookworm than wyrm rider and dying seems a much more likely outcome than riding in her case.
There is a lot going in this book, and it kind of reminded me of a slightly less violent, more romantic, Game of Thrones mixed with a little bit of Eragon and the darker bits of Harry Potter.
However, even though this book has a lot of the tropes and archetypes typical of a YA fantasy, I think it fits better in the emerging genre of adult “Romantasy”. The main characters in this book are college age and in those moments where her life isn’t in imminent danger , Violet enjoys quite the sex life. There are more than a few fairly explicit sex scenes that border on erotica. That was one of the key reasons I loved it, but I’m not really sure I would want my 12-year-old reading this one.
The sex aside, this book was very well written. Even though this is still a fantasy, I found the characters engaging and detailed descriptions of the people and places made me feel a bit like a fly on the wall. I also appreciated the strength of Violet as a character and as a woman. While she might be less physical, mentally she handle just about anything. She is the classic underdog and it feels good to root for her.
This is one story that lived up to all the hype as is well worth the read, or if you’re like me, the listen (the audible version has great narrator; Rebecca Soler, and Teddy Hamilton). Amazon MGM won the rights last May and are apparently already working developing the series. I can’t wait to see what they do on screen and who they cast as Violet!
