Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1)
Summary:
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.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Review:
Ok, this one has a lot of hype so I was nervous about reading too much prior to going into it, but it was worth it. Violet follows a bit of a formula that has come out in fantasy / YA-style reads, but the world-building with the dragons was well done and had solid twists. I love a good training montage book and this had some fantastic scenes. The graduation challenges were interesting and had enough surprises to keep it from feeling repetitive. Then we get to the dragons.
The story never dragged, but it did feel like the plot ‘really’ started once the dragons joined the story and accelerated things. The only thing keeping me from marking this 5 stars is moments did feel a bit predictable and I didn’t quite get invested enough to have a book hangover. I will warn potential readers, we do get left with a cliffhanger that I did not see coming! Therefore, if you do commit to reading “Fourth Wing” you may as well mentally sign up for the sequel. Warning: Contains repeated violence Who should read it? Fans of the female hero pulling out badassery to make it (and throw in a love interest) formula.
Warning: Contains repeated violence
Rating: 4 stars!
Who should read it? Fans of the female hero pulling out badassery to make it (and throw in a love interest) formula.
Want to read the whole series?
Iron Flame (The Empyrean #2)