Book Review: ‘Fourth Wing’ by Rebecca Yarros
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros was released on May 2nd, 2023 and has become the Fantasy phenomenon of the year. Thanks to #booktok, new releases have gotten way more recognition than usual. Everyone on social media raved about this novel for months, and the fanbase grew.
Yarros has said that she’s happy romance and fantasy readers can come together and enjoy this series. This is the perfect start for anyone who has had trouble dipping their toe into the fantasy genre. It has the perfect balance of world-building and a tension-filled love triangle. Filled with childhood friendships falling apart to enemies to lovers capturing the hearts of many readers, Fourth Wing is a riveting page-turner that will consume you.
Fourth Wing was Maude’s Book Club pick for the month of September. Our community loved it so much that many of us have pre-ordered Iron Flame, which will be released on November 7th, 2023. And we have it locked in for January 2024!
Synopsis:
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general — also known as her tough-as-talons mother — has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans.
They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
***SPOILERS BELOW***
Quotes
Violet: “Thank you, but being smart and compassionate isn’t going to help me when it comes to Threshing. You know more about dragons than anyone else in the quadrant, probably anyone else on the Continent. They choose strength and shrewdness.”
Professor Kaori: “They choose for reasons they don’t see fit to share with us. And not all strength is physical, Violet.”Xaden: “Here’s the thing Sorrengail. Hope is a fickle, dangerous thing. It steals your focus and aims it toward the possibilities instead of keeping it where it belongs — on probabilities.”
Tairn: “One does not live a century without being well aware of the space one takes up.”
Colonel Dacton’s Guide to Excelling the Scribe Quadrant (Chapter 18): “There is nothing more sacred than the Archives. Even temples can be rebuilt, but books cannot be rewritten.”
Violet: “This place cuts away the bullshit and the niceties, revealing whoever you are at your core. Isn’t that what you said to me? Is this who you really are at your core? Someone so enamoured by the rules that he doesn’t know when to bend or break them for someone he cares about? Someone so focused on the least I’m capable of doing, he can’t believe I can do so much more? Let’s get one thing straight Dain. The reason we’ll never be anything more than friends isn’t because of your rules. It’s because you have no faith in me.”
Violet: “Even the most effective poisons come in pretty packages, and Xaden is exactly that— as beautiful as he is lethal.”
Violet: “Xaden is the last person I should be craving, but lust and logic never seem to go hand-in-hand.”
Violet on Xaden after bringing up his father: “The pain in his eyes is the kind that never dies, the kind that rises like an unpredictable tide and floods the shoreline without mercy.”
Mira: “Killing someone isn’t the only way to destroy them. Keeping you from reaching your potential seems like a great path to the retribution he (Xaden) swore against our mother. Think long and hard. How well do you even really know him?”
Page Eighty, The Book of Brennan (Chapter 28): “Winning the War Games isn’t about strength. It’s about cunning. To know how to strike, you have to understand where your enemies — your friends — are most vulnerable. No one stays friends forever, Mira. Eventually, those closest to us become our enemies in some way, even if it’s through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live long enough to become their villains.”
Violet: “All this time, I had this tiny, driving hope that I would be like Brennan, and that would be the twist in my little fable. That my signet would be mending, and I could put all the broken things back together. But instead, I’m made to split them apart. How many people will I kill with this?”
Xaden: “As many as you choose. Just because you gained power today doesn’t mean you lost agency.”Xaden: “I’m not sweet. Please don’t mistake any part of me for soft or kind. That will only get you hurt, and whatever you do… don’t fall for me.”
Violet: “You don’t really know me. Not at my core. Isn’t that how he replied when I told him that I’d end up falling for him? As if knowing him would somehow make me want him less, but everything I learn about him only makes me tumble harder and faster.”
Violet: “There’s nothing about this man that scares me anymore, except the magnitude of my feelings for him.”
Xaden: “Because it hurts to think we’re the kind of kingdom that would do this. It hurts to rearrange everything you think you know. Lies are comforting. Truth is painful.”
Tairn: “One generation to change the text. One generation chooses to teach that text. The next grow, and the lie becomes history.”
Violet: “Their parents died to expose the truth while mine sacrificed my brother to keep this heinous secret.”
Xaden: “She can’t die, and not just because there’s a chance I won’t survive. She can’t die because I know I can’t live without her even if I do. Somewhere between the shock of our attraction at the top of that turret to realizing she risked her own life by giving up a boot for someone else on the parapet that first day to her throwing those daggers at my head under the oak tree, I wavered. I should have realized the danger of getting too close the first time I put her on her back and showed her how easily she could kill me on the mat — a vulnerability I’ve allowed no one else — but I brushed it off as an undeniable attraction to a uniquely beautiful woman. When I watched her conquer the Gauntlet, then defend Adarna at Threshing. I stumbled, stunned by both her cunning and her sense of honour. When I burst into her room and found Oren’s treacherous hand at her throat, the rage that made it so easy to kill all six of them without batting an eye should have told me I was headed for a cliff. And when she smiles at me after mastering her shield in mere minutes, her face lighting up as the snow fell around us, I fucking fell. We hadn’t even kissed, and I fell.”
Themes
Power and Corruption
Societal Divisions
Blind Faith
Fight for Justice
Question Authority
Characters
Violet Sorrengail is the youngest of three siblings, Brennan and Mira. Her mother is a rider, and her father was a scribe. Violet remained close to her father reading as much as she could in the archives. Her mother forces her to the Riders Quadrant even though she knows it will be difficult. Violet is smart, confident, and stubborn. She does not want to kill anyone and will always find a way to disarm or weaken her opponents instead. She is bonded to the dragon Tairn.
Xaden Riorson is a third-year rider and wingleader of the Fourth Wing. Xaden is reserved and hard as stone. He has a tough exterior but exudes confidence. He is bonded to the dragon Sgaeyl and is a shadow summoner. He is also a weapons expert and helps the younger riders train. His father is Fen Riorson. He was marked with a rebellion relic.
Dain Aetos is a second-year rider and squad leader. He has been Violet’s childhood friend since they were five years old. He is bonded to the dragon Cath, and he has the power to read someone’s recent memories via touch. He always follows the rules and is very adamant about others following the rules. He puts the rules above all else, which can be frustrating.
Rhiannon Matthias is a first-year rider and Violet’s best friend. She is in the Second Squad in the Flame Section of the Fourth Wing. Rhiannon is a beam of light in Violet’s life. She is well-trained and a force to be reckoned with. She helps Violet train early on to keep her safe. Rhiannon and Violet trust each other with everything and are very open.
Liam Mairi is a first-year rider who grew up with Xaden Riorson after their parents were killed for leading the rebellion and were fostered by the same family. Liam is sweet, kind and compassionate. He becomes Violet’s right-hand and closest friend because of Xaden. He’s loyal, charming and is always cracking a joke. Even though he has been through a lot, he always keeps things light and carries himself well.
Jack Barlowe is a first-year rider. He is bonded with the dragon named Baide. He is cocky, impatient and arrogant. When he found out Violet was present on Conscription Day, he needed to take her out because of who her mother was. Jack’s signet power is pain projection; he can force internal power into a body and cause immense pain that could lead to a death blow.
Mira is Violet’s older sister. She is a Lieutenant and one of the best riders they have. She helped Violet before she went to Conscription Day by giving her a sheath of dragon scales to protect her during Threshing. Mira is strong and outspoken.
Brennan is Violet’s older brother, who died in the Battle of Aretia and was killed by Xaden’s father. He is a brilliant strategist and left notes for Mira when he was in the Riders Quadrant. Those pages were then passed down to Violet, and it is the one thing that kept her brother alive for her.
Tairn is a Black Morningstar and is bonded to Violet Sorrengail. He is an old dragon who lost his rider long ago. He has had trouble finding the perfect rider until he meets Violet. His other half is Sgaeyl, making them a mated pair.
Andarna is a Gold Feathertail who is also bonded to Violet Sorrengail. Her gold colour is special because of how young she is. After Violet protects her from Jack Barlowe and his friends, Andarna takes a liking to Violet and chooses her as well. However, Andarna is too young to bond and her powers will eventually change.
Sgaeyl is a Blue Daggertail and is bonded to Xaden Riorson. Sgaeyl is icy and reserved just like Xaden. Her other half is Tairn, linking Violet and Xaden for as long as they live.
Review
How does Violet’s perception of herself change over the course of Fourth Wing?
At the beginning of Fourth Wing, Violet has been taken care of by her older sister Mira and trained by her father, who was a Scribe. She was set up to be in the Scribe Quadrant until her mother forced her to become a Rider. Mira has had a condition ever since she was a child, she was too frail and would land herself in the infirmary. She knew she wasn’t built for the Riders Quadrant even if Mira told her what she had to prepare herself for.
Once Violet goes to Conscription Day, she feels very inadequate. She sees the other Riders and what they’ve trained for. Violet knows she’s weak based solely on the physical aspect of the trials but because of her Scribe training, she sees things differently on the field. The biggest change in Violet is realizing that her mind is her greatest strength because the others do not think like her. Instead of being timid during her time at Basgiath, she’s outspoken and confident.
How does the relationship dynamic between Dain and Violet change?
Dain and Violet were childhood best friends. They were inseparable, and Dain would often look after Violet. Once Violet gets into the Riders Quadrant, Dain is focused on his role as a squad leader in Second Squad. He is strict and follows the rules, which annoys Violet. Violet has spent many years in the Archives and understands the history of Navarre, but she still has questions about how their government operates.
Throughout the book, Dain is condescending and keeps trying to get Violet to go to the Scribe Quadrant instead of believing in her. He doesn’t want her to get hurt, but it comes off as thinking she’s too weak to continue. The more Violet learns from Rhiannon and Xaden, the more confident she becomes in her strengths and who she is. By the end of the book, Dain becomes someone entirely different to Violet and she knows she can’t trust him. Dain’s signet is kept hidden from the government, but he uses it to spy on Violet without her even knowing.
Why does Violet choose Xaden over Dain?
The reason why Violet chooses Xaden over Dain is quite simple. Xaden wants to help her grow as a fighter in the Riders Quadrant to keep her safe, while Dain wants to hide her away. On top of that, the way Xaden treats Violet (even though he’s crabby and sarcastic) is more of an equal. Even though he grows to love her and is tender with her eventually, he sees her as this beautiful woman who is able to fight for herself and he helps her do that.
Dain was too focused on the rules to see that Violet wanted to learn more from him. Even their relationship, after years of him wanting to be with her. He risked his relationship with Violet because she was a first-year, and they weren’t allowed to date anyone outside of their year. Violet didn’t understand this version of Dain. That is what created the distance between them, even after the kiss. Dain was hot and cold, while Xaden was warm with her and expressed himself clearly. It’s interesting to see Dain became the villain after everyone pegged Xaden from the start. It was a good switch-up, considering this series has another four books on the way.
What is the meaning of Violet’s dragon pairing and her signet?
There is a lot that happens during Threshing. Jack Barlowe and his minions are on the loose trying to kill a Golden Feathertail because they are young and shouldn’t be on the field. The dragons are all around Violet and Rhiannon as they asses the new riders. Violet catches wind that Jack is after the Golden Feathertail and goes to stop him. By protecting the Golden Feathertail, known as Andarna, she chooses Violet. A dragon named Tairn, who lost his rider years ago, also chose Violet because of what she did. Tairn respects Violet and how courageous she is in defending a dragon. So now, Violet is paired with two dragons, and she has to tell everyone. It’s unheard of for two dragons to choose one rider, but Violet has something strong within her that no one has seen before.
As the story goes on, Violet becomes closer to Xaden. She realizes it’s more than just a regular attraction. She discovers that Tairn and Sgaeyl (Xaden’s dragon) are paired. They can’t stay far from each other and are linked for eternity. So naturally, Xaden and Violet are paired as well. They can hear each other’s thoughts and communicate like Sgaeyl and Tairn. This leads to laugh-out-loud moments between the riders and their dragons to add entertainment to their relationship. It becomes helpful on the battlefield to telepathically communicate mere feet away from each other. The pairing of Xaden and Violet will be useful during any war, even if they are afraid to lose each other on the battlefield.
After a dragon chooses their rider, their signet (the power linked from dragon to rider) will naturally develop. While on the practice field, Violet unleashes her signet…twice. Violet can yield lightning, but she can also stop time through Andarna. For Violet to control lightning makes perfect sense because of her characteristics. She may appear reserved and weak but will strike when you least expect it. Violet has never been a violent person. It’s funny that Xaden gives her the nickname “Violence” because of how she wields knives. Violet tends to bottle up her pain and anger and unleashes it all at once, similar to a lightning strike.
What happens at the end of Fourth Wing?
The ending of Fourth Wing will throw everyone for a loop. Rebecca Yarros flips the perspective and gives Xaden his chapter. After Violet gets brutally injured, readers will get a different side of Xaden as he expresses his feelings. Once Violet comes to, she wants to know where she is. After battling Venin on the battlefield, she knows what her mother is hiding. They are in Aretia, a place that was supposed to be burned down and left for dust. Violet keeps apologizing to Xaden for not believing him. And out of the corner of the doorway, her brother Brennan appears. Xaden tells her that she wasn’t healed, she was mended by her brother. And Brennan welcomes Violet to the revolution.
What did you think about Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros? Did it give you all the feels? Let us know in the comments below, or join our discord today! Iron Flame is available for pre-order and will be released on November 7th, 2023.
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