Book Review: FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros

FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros (Red Tower Books, September 2024) Paperback, 544 pages. ISBN #9781649377371 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

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.

The Empyrean series is best enjoyed in order.

Book #1 Fourth Wing

Book #2 Iron Flame

Book #3 Onyx Storm

MY FOUR-STAR REVIEW ON THE GOODREADS WEBSITE . . .

     With over 30,000 reviews on Goodreads, this title certainly doesn't need any help from me, so I'll be brief.

     Epic. Great world-building. Highly detailed. Characters to care about. Equally compelling secondary characters. Touches all the bases. A good debut for this series.

     It took me almost a month to read this, simply because I found the length daunting and never became so engrossed that I would read in 100 page batches - more like one or two chapters at a time. Still, it's a great story and I'm not sure I can identify what sections to cut to make this a shorter novel without taking out any important elements. They are all important. I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was divided into two separate novels - - that might have elevated my rating to Five Stars.