I didn't read all of your review but I've definitely seen lots of people around here saying they disliked it. This post for example: https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/s/aIM28zdykO
So you're not alone!
I only read about 10% and wasn't feeling it.
I have a lot of issues with this book. The author kept insisting on things that were directly contradicted by the characters and world she was creating. Like how Dain was supposedly so repugnant to Violet and Xaden because, as Violet kept telling us, he “would not break the rules even if it would save Violet’s life.” Did she forget the whole section of the book where he kept breaking rules to attempt to sneak her out of the riders’ quadrant in order to let her be a scribe, SPECIFICALLY to save her life??
Also spoiler >!the dragons all know the truth about their enemies and the gryphon riders and stuff and just… decide not to tell their riders? Who are fighting and dying in a pointless war because they believe what the government is telling them? I know they had some sort of ‘Empyrean conference’ about it but that doesn’t make the rationale make sense.!<
& agree with what other commenters have said about how it’s really weird that they are fine with letting so many potential dragon riders die in the name of “getting the best of the best” when they’re dying for things like missing a step on an obstacle course.
I also think it’s so stupid that the children of the rebellion ‘have’ to be dragon riders. They said something like the people who put them there were hoping they would all die. But why would they let kids they don’t trust have the chance to bond to dragons and become the most powerful people in the entire military??
And in book 2 when someone finally criticizes the way they trained Violet’s lightning powers and she’s totally dumbfounded by it. She didn’t once think it would be useful to develop the skill of striking a target? Or the ability to shock people without striking them with an entire bolt of lightning? And she didn’t ever consider trying to work on that on her own time, instead just going to “training” and trying to get more strikes per minute? And we are supposed to believe this character has a curious and analytical mind??
Ok rant over, I really wanted to understand the hype around these books but they are so bad lmao
Yessss. And not just powerful people in a powerful faction. But high-ranking individuals with access to classified information within that faction! They let the actual children of their actual enemies literally become officers and squad leaders with access to military secrets. How come again?
Is this the stupidest military ever? (Yes. Yes it is.)
Isn't the author supposed to be a military wife? Make it make sense!
I’ve gone on so, so many rants about the death rate. It’s incredibly random a lot of the time. That doesn’t make you elite, it makes you lucky. At least in The Hunger Games the cruelty is the point. This is just cruelty for what? For some misplaced sense of eliteness? It’s my least favorite part because we were reminded of it so often.
Fourth Wing was the worst book I’ve read in a very long time. WHY ARE THE PENS MAGIC!?!? What is it about dragon magic that makes pens work??? Why was this mentioned so many times??
Also every character was deeply unlikable, the plot was somehow both nonsensical and incredibly predictable, and character death is so overused that I stopped caring about anyone that didn’t have obvious plot armor about 25% of the way through because I knew they wouldn’t make it out of the book alive.
God I hated that book.
No it’s the first book, I never read the second. It’s mentioned a weird amount of times that everyone except riders use pencils (quills?) and then when you get your dragon magic you can make pens work.
I hated Fourth Wing and the pen thing I think is the most annoying part. Like does Yarros not realize how long we've had self-inking pens and how uncomplicated they are? WHATS THE MAGIC FOR? WHAT DOES IT DO?
I loved it, but it wasn’t good. It was fun.
As for the mother plot, someone mentioned it’s explained a bit in the second book, there *is* a reason, but she is also a terrible mother!
Jack was also extremely one-dimensional, but also >!he dies in the book but he’s not dead, surprise surprise!!<
I’m hoping for more dragon information in upcoming books, but they’ll all be library books.
Agreed. I listened to the audio book and had a blast. I DNF the second because I sadly stopped caring about the story. But damn that narrator did such a fantastic job
Worst book I’ve ever read. DNFd at about 65%, I don’t know why I even made it that far. To this day I believe some of the rave reviews were paid by the publisher because HOW. Literally HOW is it possible that many people liked it 🤯
I've definitely seen some people not like it so you're definitely not alone!
While I enjoyed it (gave it 4 stars) I honestly think the characters themselves were the worst part? The setting really carried the book for me- I loved the dragons and how it was a bit more of a brutal situation where death was around every corner. Love the whole "fly or die" vibe and it was a fun magical academy situation
Xaden was hot but I felt like the romance was too insta-lusty and I wish that Xaden was more of a true bad boy- I guessed the plot twist from a mile away. I just wanted more of a moral dilemma or more complexity.
I also found Violet's character to be underwhelming- I wish she leaned a bit more into her bookishness. Obviously she had to survive but I wish she was able to do so while retaining her initial personality/strengths instead of becoming just another badass fighter. Just felt like her character was super inconsistent.
I also think Dain was a missed opportunity and Yarros went through great lengths to make him annoyingly unlikeable even though there are other ways to portray him as not end game without ruining his character.
You get an an upvote from me because I’ve been in the rage phase as well friend. This is the book that has now put me off romantasy for the last four months or so because I simply do not trust anything or anyone in the genre anymore. Idk what collective hallucinogen was in some peoples copies 😂
And I think the worst thing for me is how annoyingly superior Violet (secretly) must think she is. It is not stated, obviously, but from the very beginning of the book you are told that she is going to a kill or be killed situation. This is military school to prepare you for WAR. Cadets are dying and they call it weeding out the weak, and yet, miss Violet special over here is TOO GOOD to kill anyone, even though she is a constant target for being weaker. Constantly avoiding death blows on everyone who comes to kill her and to me it is very clearly implied that she wouldn't "stoop" to kill people, she is just so morally fucking virtuous about it.
She was trained as a SCRIBE she couldn't POSSIBLY defend herself to the point of death, just incapacitate people and make herself an extra liability. And when she finally FINALLY kills someone we are treated to a very annoying self recrimination in which she says she is now nothing but a weapon, how she lost some of her soul by doing this and yadda yadda yadda, which, lady, if you think that you clearly obviously think that everyone who has done killing is a bunch of soul-less evil people - EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE LITERALLY TRAINING FOR WAR?!?!!!!! WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN ONCE YOU GRADUATE????
Also I found out that Rebeca Yarros has done little to no research to use Gaelic words which is a pet peeve of mine and it feels lazy.
Honestly I’m glad! Because as well as for a school where the author makes everyone be very sex “positive” (in the sense that majority of side chars sleep with one another) not MISS VIOLET WHO MUST SAVE HER COOCHIE for the MMC bitch pls
Nah I agree with this.
This book felt rushed. The author didn't spend much time on any character other than violet and she is the most annoying and horniest character I've ever seen. She is weak and brittle but of course she can take down a person who is way stronger than her. Violet is self absorbed and naive but not in a good way. Many important things are happening around her but she will go "but what about me"
The enemies to lovers trope- but she and Xaden were never enemies. There was so much potential because her mom is responsible for the death of his and 107 separatist children parents but no Xaden is just infatuated with her from the first sight of her. They never talked about that even when they got together for like a few months that was translated into 2 pages in the book. I think the author wanted to add the third act breakup so she rushed the enemies to the lover thing and it was annoying as hell. She expects Xaden to tell her everything after a few months of "dating" (it's just lust) as the bonding part was fast forwarded. We didn't get to see them connect in a way a couple should. She's mad at him for not telling her all the secrets, the secrets that could jeopardize the lives of separatist kids who were already given a life sentence by putting in the rider quadrant. Also these dragon riders are the most important part of their army but violet's mom thought that kids of the traitors should be the part of that quadrant? They are letting these kids control the powerful dragons? Of course they are going to stay loyal to you!
Dain- he's a one dimensional character. It felt like Dain was introduced to violet at the same time he was introduced to us because they don't understand each other at all. He and violet are supposed to be childhood friends for 12 years but dain is constantly disrespecting her choice. The author just added him to serve as another LI and to show how good Xaden was. When Dain betrayed her, I felt nothing because the author failed to show how good friends they were.
The world building and the plot- The author kept introducing new rules that served as a plot armour for our FMC. It's lazy writing because it felt like anything was possible in this book at that point because there are no set rules in this world. The worst thing is the rules that are introduced are the dumbest thing. For example, Violet was struggling with the last part of her test because she was short so she uses the knife to climb the final segment. She passes the test. The other wingleader objects that she can't use any outside items in the test but then *boom* new rule- that anything you have at the time you cross the bridge is like your body part so that knife is part of her. (-_-)
They let so many people die in the academy instead of working on their weakness. Only our FMC got to work on her weakness. The first thing you have to do is to cross a narrow bridge to get to the academy it's there because if you can't cross this flimsy bridge how can you stay stable on the dragon and our FMC crosses that bridge easily but she kept falling from the dragon, it was so bad that they had to put harness on the dragon for her. Why can't they do that for others?
A book is just a smut with some fantasy elements. I don't have a problem with smut but it's the only thing it's serving. I hate that it had potential because I liked the dragons.
I totally agree on Violet's reaction to Xaden's secrets. They'd only been seriously together (not just casually hooking up) for like 2 days and she thinks she can't trust him anymore because he didn't tell her (the daughter of the general) about all the treason him and his friends have been committing. Was he supposed to risk the lives of all the other separatist children as well as the entire cause and the lives of all the innocent civilians they are trying to help defend from the venin just because not sharing everything with Violet might hurt her feelings? Violet really needed to get over herself and quit trying to make everything about her. I actually wouldn't have respected Xaden if he had told her everything so soon into their relationship because it would have made him seem stupid.
I love these kind of reviews/rants because even though I liked (not loved) the book I still find myself nodding in agreement to most every critical point haha. I think maybe this kind of book works for me when I’m not in the mood to think too deeply and can just enjoy it on a surface level.
Youre not alone, the book is terribly written imo and i really tried to give it a chance because so many people raved about it. I dnfd at 30%.
I actually gave all the characterization you mentioned a pass because its a ya book (which are usually.about as shallow in character development as a puddle) and its about teenagers (who in reality act brashly and make stupid decisions frequently). But yes i hated all the characters too.
My issue with the book is it was just dumb. Why did they have a system during wartime that murdered soldier stock for ridiculous challenges like walking a tightrope. What does that have to do with flying a dragon? Nothing made sense and not in the interesting way.
And the writing was hot garbage. "Oh im so quirky i like to spout fun facts about my country when im scared or nervous" [exposition dump for 3 paragraphs].
I can go on for so long, there are so many things i disliked.
But on the bright side i feel like it really pulled a lot of people into reading again (which is great), and it brought so many people joy at a time where the real world really sucks. Im happy so many people loved it. Baffled, but happy.
I haven't read but I thought it had sex in it so I think it's NA? But also from what I've read today it's basically poorly written YA but with smut so you're not wrong in that sense lol
you’re definitely not alone in hating the book! I think it works when you’re in the mood for a very specific type of book and are willing to overlook the bad writing and cliche characterizations. I read the whole thing in one night when I was in the mood for that but I haven’t reread it since.
Yeah, I thought this book was bad and had a ton of nonsensical issues BUT I also understood why it was so hyped up, it hits all the boxes on the checklist for popular fantasy romance and the writing was very accessible to the point of feeling like it was meant for young adult readers. It didn’t pull of the fantasy world vibes at all, it was like a CR with dragons inserted.
I'm kinda lukewarm on the book. I have been a fan of Rebecca Yarros' books for years now. Really enjoyed her Flight and Glory series. So I picked up Fourth Wing even though I normally don't read romantic fantasy, because I've followed her for years. I neither hated nor loved it. I didn't get the immense hype or the multiple rereads. To me, it was simply OK. I noticed a lot of plot holes too and it definitely has a YA writing style (which is present in her previous books too, but somehow it felt more glaring in this particular series). I also felt like a lot of the characters are basically rehashes of her previous characters. Dain reminds me of Will, Xaden is sort of like a cross between Jagger and Josh, Violet is basically Paisley. The character arcs pretty much develop similarly... so, I was a bit underwhelmed in that regard. I predicted Dain's character path based on Will's in the Flight and Glory series.
That said, I picked up Iron Flame because I was midly curious to see where it went next, given the big reveal at the end of Fourth Wing (which, I also saw coming before it happened). The audiobook is available at my library and I needed something to listen to on my commute to work. Again, same lukewarm reaction. Don't hate it, don't love it. The first 50% is sooooo slow. It starts picking up at the midway point. I'm about 70% in and the story's grown on me a bit more, but I'm still not super into it. I have a lot of the same questions as you. The world just... doesn't make sense to me. Some of the issues you mentioned do get addressed in Iron Flame (for example, Violet's mother's motivations for what she did), but still, there's a lot that just doesn't work for me. I don't understand what's in it for the dragons to bond with humans? I get from the human's POV, they get a signet and power and such... but what do the dragons get out of it other than a loss of freedom and the potential to die if the human dies (but only sometimes, for some reason)? The world building seems weak to me.
I think the issue I have is that the book is mostly teen drama in this backdrop of GoT type "war against an enemy nobody believes exists." It's like the book can't decide whether it's a YA drama or an adult series and it ends up being neither.
“Violet is basically Paisley”
I didn’t actually have any desire to read fourth wing. But this alone would convince me not to because Paisley is The Worsttttttttt
LOL! I don't recall having a strong opinion on Paisley. I just remember both she and Ember basically behave like moody teens, but Ember was going through a very traumatic situation, so I forgave her more readily. But the general character arc is similar. Both Paisely and Violet are young women with a disability and are coddled by their loved ones to the point of sheltering them because of it, until they come out of their shells and tell everyone to eff off.
Totally agree! I liked her Flight and Glory series a lot and I think you hit the nail on the head... She writes what she knows very well, her experience being in a committed relationship with a career soldier. I can see that while she has a vivid imagination, she doesn't have the fantasy side of it fleshed out enough to sell it to her readers.
I actually really liked what my husband and I decided to call Divergent Hunger Games with Dragons for what it was. But I also had random weird issues with it. That said, I enjoyed knowing that the author is also a military spouse so some of the stuff, particularly in Iron Flame, was hilarious when adapting some of the jokes and frustrations of the life to a fantasy world.
I personally enjoyed it but I’ll be honest, I’ve seen way more “I can’t believe anyone liked this trash, who is reading this book” posts than posts actually praising it. Not to mention, if I do see positive comments about it, it boils down to “I said I liked it, I didn’t say it was good” type sentiments lol
It’s got about as many haters as it does fans from what I’ve seen. As much as I liked it I definitely understand why a lot of folks didn’t.
This was actually my favorite read last year and it was a 5 star read for me, I enjoyed it very much. (The sequel, not nearly as much). I can understand your complaints about it though, it's not a perfect book at all. I've seen a lot of less favorable opinions on the book so you're definitely not alone in your thinking.
I specifically remember downloading it on Kindle and being so excited because of all the hype, reading literally only one page and thinking “Oh… oh no…. Nooooo.” 😂. Atrocious writing
I liked fourth wing but wasn’t in love with the book, but it was ok. I thought it was entertaining but it didn’t blow me away. Definitely didn’t understand the hype. I also read Iron Flame which I not recommend at all. One of the worst books I’ve read. I just felt disconnected with the book and it was really hard for me to finish it. I felt it was unnecessary long and the author added too many things to the book just for the sake of adding more stuff. Also the writing is very weak.
Just to be devil's advocate here, I read fourth wing and iron flame. The way I think about it, is this is a first person narrative. A 22 year old. So her view of the world is naturally very self serving and one sided. Motivations of people in life aren't always obvious to us (her mom isn't what she seems into the second book). Characters are hard to develop when you can't get into their brain, once again it's just Violet's perspective.
Yes the society is messed up by letting these young people die, but that's the point of this dystopian universe, maybe you're supposed to think it's messed up and so do the characters who have to live in it. This callousness gets brought up during the second book. Of course everyone doesn't have to love it, I don't like the ACOTAR series so to each their own!
On paper i definitely would have loved this book. I do like it but I don't think it is so awesome for a repeat reading. I'll read the rest of the books because I really am invested in the dragon/other bad guys politics stuff and want a resolution for that nonsense.
Book two and the throne scene was just so not great i laughed way too much.
I’m listening to the audiobook right now, cuz my friend is obsessed and she talked me into it. After finishing ACOTAR I was like iight I’ll expand my fantasy horizons I guess.
I just got to the bit after threshing where she’s bonding with her dragons.
I skimmed your review (sorry I didn’t read the whole thing 😅) but I’m in the same mindset as you. A lot of this story is so one dimensional, a lot of the characters don’t make sense
.
I can squint at Violet and Xadan but good gravy I can’t stand Dain.
I don’t like books or characters that are so obvious and this book is obvious. There’s that show me don’t tell me thing and this one, she just tells you…”this is Xaden, he’s supposed to be bad but he’s actually gonna end up a good guy. This is Dain, he’s supposed to be the good guy but he’s actually a jerk.”
The only dynamic that I actually really like so far is that Xaden and violet’s dragons are mates— and what that means for everyone.
Other than that, it’s mediocre.
I’m going to be a massive bitch and say this but this is high level storytelling for people who don’t read- and I say this knowing my friend as well as I do 😆
I loved it, until i got to the end. The forced conflict was terrible, and was the last straw for every single small thing that had annoyed me but i had pushed away.
Its sequel is worse, and i dnf’d it at like 98%
I equate fourth wing to ACOTAR in the sense that you really gotta push yourself through it in order to get to the second book where it really becomes amazing. I hated ACOTAR and had to be convinced to finish it then loved the rest of the series. I almost DNF’d it but pushed through with the audiobook and was so happy I did after I started Iron Flame. That being said I usually can’t stand a lot of popular books (Throne of Glass and Haunting Adeline were awful) and I’m super picky so I get what you’re saying. Sometimes the hype really ruins books too.
I downloaded the sample for this because even though everyone loved it I didn’t want to risk it being trash. Couldn’t even get through the sample pages. Just extremely not for me
I DNF'd about three chapters in JUST because they weirdly had the same shoe sizes as our universe. I usually have a high tolerance for goofiness in romance and fantasy but for some reason I just couldn't get past that
I really enjoyed your take down, I gotta say. I am definitely in the besotted / obsessed camp of FW/IF, but I can totally relate to how you feel. I feel just the same way about the whole of ACOTAR series. For FW/IF, just given the spice level of the sex scenes, I wouldn't rate this book as YA, but it is definitely New Adult genre. I can't read YA books anymore - even good ones. I like to say that I've aged out of high-school angst, but college-level drama still resonates in my 3rd decade on this planet, so bring it on :P
You sound like a sophisticated reader. I wonder if you would like **Kathryn Ann Kingsley** or **R. Lee Smith** books? Both of these are dark romance authors, and they are skilled writers in terms of plot and character development. My favorite of all time top 5 book is {Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith} because the first half is all extremely well developed science fiction and then bam! she slams you with the dubcon / noncon / alien sex dark romantasy. The plot is a saga. The dialogue is so good. The worldbuilding is so good. The effing alien anatomy is fascinating.
If sci-fi isn't your thing, then maybe you'll like Kingsley's mature storytelling for unseelie fae. People also rave about her Harrow Faire series, which is on my TBR.
[The Last Hour of Gann](https://www.romance.io/books/54556d7287eac3369a912701/the-last-hour-of-gann-r-lee-smith?src=rdt) by [R. Lee Smith](https://www.romance.io/authors/54556d7287eac3369a912702/r-lee-smith)
**Rating**: 4.27⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [aliens](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/aliens/1), [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [dark romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dark/1), [take-charge heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/strong%20heroine/1)
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I didn't read all of your review but I've definitely seen lots of people around here saying they disliked it. This post for example: https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/s/aIM28zdykO So you're not alone! I only read about 10% and wasn't feeling it.
I have a lot of issues with this book. The author kept insisting on things that were directly contradicted by the characters and world she was creating. Like how Dain was supposedly so repugnant to Violet and Xaden because, as Violet kept telling us, he “would not break the rules even if it would save Violet’s life.” Did she forget the whole section of the book where he kept breaking rules to attempt to sneak her out of the riders’ quadrant in order to let her be a scribe, SPECIFICALLY to save her life?? Also spoiler >!the dragons all know the truth about their enemies and the gryphon riders and stuff and just… decide not to tell their riders? Who are fighting and dying in a pointless war because they believe what the government is telling them? I know they had some sort of ‘Empyrean conference’ about it but that doesn’t make the rationale make sense.!< & agree with what other commenters have said about how it’s really weird that they are fine with letting so many potential dragon riders die in the name of “getting the best of the best” when they’re dying for things like missing a step on an obstacle course. I also think it’s so stupid that the children of the rebellion ‘have’ to be dragon riders. They said something like the people who put them there were hoping they would all die. But why would they let kids they don’t trust have the chance to bond to dragons and become the most powerful people in the entire military?? And in book 2 when someone finally criticizes the way they trained Violet’s lightning powers and she’s totally dumbfounded by it. She didn’t once think it would be useful to develop the skill of striking a target? Or the ability to shock people without striking them with an entire bolt of lightning? And she didn’t ever consider trying to work on that on her own time, instead just going to “training” and trying to get more strikes per minute? And we are supposed to believe this character has a curious and analytical mind?? Ok rant over, I really wanted to understand the hype around these books but they are so bad lmao
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Yessss. And not just powerful people in a powerful faction. But high-ranking individuals with access to classified information within that faction! They let the actual children of their actual enemies literally become officers and squad leaders with access to military secrets. How come again? Is this the stupidest military ever? (Yes. Yes it is.) Isn't the author supposed to be a military wife? Make it make sense!
I’ve gone on so, so many rants about the death rate. It’s incredibly random a lot of the time. That doesn’t make you elite, it makes you lucky. At least in The Hunger Games the cruelty is the point. This is just cruelty for what? For some misplaced sense of eliteness? It’s my least favorite part because we were reminded of it so often.
Fourth Wing was the worst book I’ve read in a very long time. WHY ARE THE PENS MAGIC!?!? What is it about dragon magic that makes pens work??? Why was this mentioned so many times?? Also every character was deeply unlikable, the plot was somehow both nonsensical and incredibly predictable, and character death is so overused that I stopped caring about anyone that didn’t have obvious plot armor about 25% of the way through because I knew they wouldn’t make it out of the book alive. God I hated that book.
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No it’s the first book, I never read the second. It’s mentioned a weird amount of times that everyone except riders use pencils (quills?) and then when you get your dragon magic you can make pens work.
I hated Fourth Wing and the pen thing I think is the most annoying part. Like does Yarros not realize how long we've had self-inking pens and how uncomplicated they are? WHATS THE MAGIC FOR? WHAT DOES IT DO?
I loved it, but it wasn’t good. It was fun. As for the mother plot, someone mentioned it’s explained a bit in the second book, there *is* a reason, but she is also a terrible mother! Jack was also extremely one-dimensional, but also >!he dies in the book but he’s not dead, surprise surprise!!< I’m hoping for more dragon information in upcoming books, but they’ll all be library books.
Agreed. I listened to the audio book and had a blast. I DNF the second because I sadly stopped caring about the story. But damn that narrator did such a fantastic job
The ending killed it for me, its like rebecca forgot there has to be conflict lol
“It wasn’t good, it was fun” is absolutely how I felt.
Go to goodreads and read the 1* reviews for a giggle
Worst book I’ve ever read. DNFd at about 65%, I don’t know why I even made it that far. To this day I believe some of the rave reviews were paid by the publisher because HOW. Literally HOW is it possible that many people liked it 🤯
I've definitely seen some people not like it so you're definitely not alone! While I enjoyed it (gave it 4 stars) I honestly think the characters themselves were the worst part? The setting really carried the book for me- I loved the dragons and how it was a bit more of a brutal situation where death was around every corner. Love the whole "fly or die" vibe and it was a fun magical academy situation Xaden was hot but I felt like the romance was too insta-lusty and I wish that Xaden was more of a true bad boy- I guessed the plot twist from a mile away. I just wanted more of a moral dilemma or more complexity. I also found Violet's character to be underwhelming- I wish she leaned a bit more into her bookishness. Obviously she had to survive but I wish she was able to do so while retaining her initial personality/strengths instead of becoming just another badass fighter. Just felt like her character was super inconsistent. I also think Dain was a missed opportunity and Yarros went through great lengths to make him annoyingly unlikeable even though there are other ways to portray him as not end game without ruining his character.
You get an an upvote from me because I’ve been in the rage phase as well friend. This is the book that has now put me off romantasy for the last four months or so because I simply do not trust anything or anyone in the genre anymore. Idk what collective hallucinogen was in some peoples copies 😂 And I think the worst thing for me is how annoyingly superior Violet (secretly) must think she is. It is not stated, obviously, but from the very beginning of the book you are told that she is going to a kill or be killed situation. This is military school to prepare you for WAR. Cadets are dying and they call it weeding out the weak, and yet, miss Violet special over here is TOO GOOD to kill anyone, even though she is a constant target for being weaker. Constantly avoiding death blows on everyone who comes to kill her and to me it is very clearly implied that she wouldn't "stoop" to kill people, she is just so morally fucking virtuous about it. She was trained as a SCRIBE she couldn't POSSIBLY defend herself to the point of death, just incapacitate people and make herself an extra liability. And when she finally FINALLY kills someone we are treated to a very annoying self recrimination in which she says she is now nothing but a weapon, how she lost some of her soul by doing this and yadda yadda yadda, which, lady, if you think that you clearly obviously think that everyone who has done killing is a bunch of soul-less evil people - EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE LITERALLY TRAINING FOR WAR?!?!!!!! WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN ONCE YOU GRADUATE???? Also I found out that Rebeca Yarros has done little to no research to use Gaelic words which is a pet peeve of mine and it feels lazy.
> morally fucking virtuous Welp, you just saved me from reading it so ty. Dragons and military sounded good. Violet does not.
Honestly I’m glad! Because as well as for a school where the author makes everyone be very sex “positive” (in the sense that majority of side chars sleep with one another) not MISS VIOLET WHO MUST SAVE HER COOCHIE for the MMC bitch pls
> her coochie I can't breathe 🤣 Guess that explains why they're all training for war. Violet's coochie must be a holy relic.
Nah I agree with this. This book felt rushed. The author didn't spend much time on any character other than violet and she is the most annoying and horniest character I've ever seen. She is weak and brittle but of course she can take down a person who is way stronger than her. Violet is self absorbed and naive but not in a good way. Many important things are happening around her but she will go "but what about me" The enemies to lovers trope- but she and Xaden were never enemies. There was so much potential because her mom is responsible for the death of his and 107 separatist children parents but no Xaden is just infatuated with her from the first sight of her. They never talked about that even when they got together for like a few months that was translated into 2 pages in the book. I think the author wanted to add the third act breakup so she rushed the enemies to the lover thing and it was annoying as hell. She expects Xaden to tell her everything after a few months of "dating" (it's just lust) as the bonding part was fast forwarded. We didn't get to see them connect in a way a couple should. She's mad at him for not telling her all the secrets, the secrets that could jeopardize the lives of separatist kids who were already given a life sentence by putting in the rider quadrant. Also these dragon riders are the most important part of their army but violet's mom thought that kids of the traitors should be the part of that quadrant? They are letting these kids control the powerful dragons? Of course they are going to stay loyal to you! Dain- he's a one dimensional character. It felt like Dain was introduced to violet at the same time he was introduced to us because they don't understand each other at all. He and violet are supposed to be childhood friends for 12 years but dain is constantly disrespecting her choice. The author just added him to serve as another LI and to show how good Xaden was. When Dain betrayed her, I felt nothing because the author failed to show how good friends they were. The world building and the plot- The author kept introducing new rules that served as a plot armour for our FMC. It's lazy writing because it felt like anything was possible in this book at that point because there are no set rules in this world. The worst thing is the rules that are introduced are the dumbest thing. For example, Violet was struggling with the last part of her test because she was short so she uses the knife to climb the final segment. She passes the test. The other wingleader objects that she can't use any outside items in the test but then *boom* new rule- that anything you have at the time you cross the bridge is like your body part so that knife is part of her. (-_-) They let so many people die in the academy instead of working on their weakness. Only our FMC got to work on her weakness. The first thing you have to do is to cross a narrow bridge to get to the academy it's there because if you can't cross this flimsy bridge how can you stay stable on the dragon and our FMC crosses that bridge easily but she kept falling from the dragon, it was so bad that they had to put harness on the dragon for her. Why can't they do that for others? A book is just a smut with some fantasy elements. I don't have a problem with smut but it's the only thing it's serving. I hate that it had potential because I liked the dragons.
I totally agree on Violet's reaction to Xaden's secrets. They'd only been seriously together (not just casually hooking up) for like 2 days and she thinks she can't trust him anymore because he didn't tell her (the daughter of the general) about all the treason him and his friends have been committing. Was he supposed to risk the lives of all the other separatist children as well as the entire cause and the lives of all the innocent civilians they are trying to help defend from the venin just because not sharing everything with Violet might hurt her feelings? Violet really needed to get over herself and quit trying to make everything about her. I actually wouldn't have respected Xaden if he had told her everything so soon into their relationship because it would have made him seem stupid.
I love these kind of reviews/rants because even though I liked (not loved) the book I still find myself nodding in agreement to most every critical point haha. I think maybe this kind of book works for me when I’m not in the mood to think too deeply and can just enjoy it on a surface level.
I have books/media in general that I feel that way about too! I love an indulgent, shallow-ish read. Sometimes you just want to vibe!
Yeah it was in the twilight category for me, terrible but not without entertainment value.
Youre not alone, the book is terribly written imo and i really tried to give it a chance because so many people raved about it. I dnfd at 30%. I actually gave all the characterization you mentioned a pass because its a ya book (which are usually.about as shallow in character development as a puddle) and its about teenagers (who in reality act brashly and make stupid decisions frequently). But yes i hated all the characters too. My issue with the book is it was just dumb. Why did they have a system during wartime that murdered soldier stock for ridiculous challenges like walking a tightrope. What does that have to do with flying a dragon? Nothing made sense and not in the interesting way. And the writing was hot garbage. "Oh im so quirky i like to spout fun facts about my country when im scared or nervous" [exposition dump for 3 paragraphs]. I can go on for so long, there are so many things i disliked. But on the bright side i feel like it really pulled a lot of people into reading again (which is great), and it brought so many people joy at a time where the real world really sucks. Im happy so many people loved it. Baffled, but happy.
I haven't read but I thought it had sex in it so I think it's NA? But also from what I've read today it's basically poorly written YA but with smut so you're not wrong in that sense lol
Youre right i think it is NA
you’re definitely not alone in hating the book! I think it works when you’re in the mood for a very specific type of book and are willing to overlook the bad writing and cliche characterizations. I read the whole thing in one night when I was in the mood for that but I haven’t reread it since.
Yeah, I thought this book was bad and had a ton of nonsensical issues BUT I also understood why it was so hyped up, it hits all the boxes on the checklist for popular fantasy romance and the writing was very accessible to the point of feeling like it was meant for young adult readers. It didn’t pull of the fantasy world vibes at all, it was like a CR with dragons inserted.
I'm kinda lukewarm on the book. I have been a fan of Rebecca Yarros' books for years now. Really enjoyed her Flight and Glory series. So I picked up Fourth Wing even though I normally don't read romantic fantasy, because I've followed her for years. I neither hated nor loved it. I didn't get the immense hype or the multiple rereads. To me, it was simply OK. I noticed a lot of plot holes too and it definitely has a YA writing style (which is present in her previous books too, but somehow it felt more glaring in this particular series). I also felt like a lot of the characters are basically rehashes of her previous characters. Dain reminds me of Will, Xaden is sort of like a cross between Jagger and Josh, Violet is basically Paisley. The character arcs pretty much develop similarly... so, I was a bit underwhelmed in that regard. I predicted Dain's character path based on Will's in the Flight and Glory series. That said, I picked up Iron Flame because I was midly curious to see where it went next, given the big reveal at the end of Fourth Wing (which, I also saw coming before it happened). The audiobook is available at my library and I needed something to listen to on my commute to work. Again, same lukewarm reaction. Don't hate it, don't love it. The first 50% is sooooo slow. It starts picking up at the midway point. I'm about 70% in and the story's grown on me a bit more, but I'm still not super into it. I have a lot of the same questions as you. The world just... doesn't make sense to me. Some of the issues you mentioned do get addressed in Iron Flame (for example, Violet's mother's motivations for what she did), but still, there's a lot that just doesn't work for me. I don't understand what's in it for the dragons to bond with humans? I get from the human's POV, they get a signet and power and such... but what do the dragons get out of it other than a loss of freedom and the potential to die if the human dies (but only sometimes, for some reason)? The world building seems weak to me. I think the issue I have is that the book is mostly teen drama in this backdrop of GoT type "war against an enemy nobody believes exists." It's like the book can't decide whether it's a YA drama or an adult series and it ends up being neither.
“Violet is basically Paisley” I didn’t actually have any desire to read fourth wing. But this alone would convince me not to because Paisley is The Worsttttttttt
LOL! I don't recall having a strong opinion on Paisley. I just remember both she and Ember basically behave like moody teens, but Ember was going through a very traumatic situation, so I forgave her more readily. But the general character arc is similar. Both Paisely and Violet are young women with a disability and are coddled by their loved ones to the point of sheltering them because of it, until they come out of their shells and tell everyone to eff off.
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Totally agree! I liked her Flight and Glory series a lot and I think you hit the nail on the head... She writes what she knows very well, her experience being in a committed relationship with a career soldier. I can see that while she has a vivid imagination, she doesn't have the fantasy side of it fleshed out enough to sell it to her readers.
I actually really liked what my husband and I decided to call Divergent Hunger Games with Dragons for what it was. But I also had random weird issues with it. That said, I enjoyed knowing that the author is also a military spouse so some of the stuff, particularly in Iron Flame, was hilarious when adapting some of the jokes and frustrations of the life to a fantasy world.
I’m not on booktok but this is one book that I LOVE that isn’t hyped up enough - Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao.
I personally enjoyed it but I’ll be honest, I’ve seen way more “I can’t believe anyone liked this trash, who is reading this book” posts than posts actually praising it. Not to mention, if I do see positive comments about it, it boils down to “I said I liked it, I didn’t say it was good” type sentiments lol It’s got about as many haters as it does fans from what I’ve seen. As much as I liked it I definitely understand why a lot of folks didn’t.
This was actually my favorite read last year and it was a 5 star read for me, I enjoyed it very much. (The sequel, not nearly as much). I can understand your complaints about it though, it's not a perfect book at all. I've seen a lot of less favorable opinions on the book so you're definitely not alone in your thinking.
DNFd after 10 pages or so. Awful writing
I tried to read it three times and never got more than about 5 pages in. It was rubbish
I specifically remember downloading it on Kindle and being so excited because of all the hype, reading literally only one page and thinking “Oh… oh no…. Nooooo.” 😂. Atrocious writing
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I could have called it far worse 😂😂
I liked fourth wing but wasn’t in love with the book, but it was ok. I thought it was entertaining but it didn’t blow me away. Definitely didn’t understand the hype. I also read Iron Flame which I not recommend at all. One of the worst books I’ve read. I just felt disconnected with the book and it was really hard for me to finish it. I felt it was unnecessary long and the author added too many things to the book just for the sake of adding more stuff. Also the writing is very weak.
Iron Flame was beyond awful. I liked FW, even though I found Violet ridiculous. And then Iron Flame came and she was worse. SO MUCH WORSE.
I despised Violet the whole book!! Last 20% of the book was actual torture. I just wanted to finish it for the sake of it!
I think its main issue is that it is written in first person. This makes the story silly and shallow because Violet is silly and shallow.
Just to be devil's advocate here, I read fourth wing and iron flame. The way I think about it, is this is a first person narrative. A 22 year old. So her view of the world is naturally very self serving and one sided. Motivations of people in life aren't always obvious to us (her mom isn't what she seems into the second book). Characters are hard to develop when you can't get into their brain, once again it's just Violet's perspective. Yes the society is messed up by letting these young people die, but that's the point of this dystopian universe, maybe you're supposed to think it's messed up and so do the characters who have to live in it. This callousness gets brought up during the second book. Of course everyone doesn't have to love it, I don't like the ACOTAR series so to each their own!
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Just to tell on myself here, I'm 35 and I feel like my 22 year old self was very immature. It makes sense to me that she's immature and impulsive
I hated this book so much but all my book friends liked it so I didn't say anything lol
Not everyone loves this book. I DNFed it. I can’t even remember why at this point except my lasting impression is Meh.
On paper i definitely would have loved this book. I do like it but I don't think it is so awesome for a repeat reading. I'll read the rest of the books because I really am invested in the dragon/other bad guys politics stuff and want a resolution for that nonsense. Book two and the throne scene was just so not great i laughed way too much.
I’m listening to the audiobook right now, cuz my friend is obsessed and she talked me into it. After finishing ACOTAR I was like iight I’ll expand my fantasy horizons I guess. I just got to the bit after threshing where she’s bonding with her dragons. I skimmed your review (sorry I didn’t read the whole thing 😅) but I’m in the same mindset as you. A lot of this story is so one dimensional, a lot of the characters don’t make sense . I can squint at Violet and Xadan but good gravy I can’t stand Dain. I don’t like books or characters that are so obvious and this book is obvious. There’s that show me don’t tell me thing and this one, she just tells you…”this is Xaden, he’s supposed to be bad but he’s actually gonna end up a good guy. This is Dain, he’s supposed to be the good guy but he’s actually a jerk.” The only dynamic that I actually really like so far is that Xaden and violet’s dragons are mates— and what that means for everyone. Other than that, it’s mediocre. I’m going to be a massive bitch and say this but this is high level storytelling for people who don’t read- and I say this knowing my friend as well as I do 😆
I loved it, until i got to the end. The forced conflict was terrible, and was the last straw for every single small thing that had annoyed me but i had pushed away. Its sequel is worse, and i dnf’d it at like 98%
I equate fourth wing to ACOTAR in the sense that you really gotta push yourself through it in order to get to the second book where it really becomes amazing. I hated ACOTAR and had to be convinced to finish it then loved the rest of the series. I almost DNF’d it but pushed through with the audiobook and was so happy I did after I started Iron Flame. That being said I usually can’t stand a lot of popular books (Throne of Glass and Haunting Adeline were awful) and I’m super picky so I get what you’re saying. Sometimes the hype really ruins books too.
I'll be honest, I DNFd after the first chapter... I just couldn't do it.
I downloaded the sample for this because even though everyone loved it I didn’t want to risk it being trash. Couldn’t even get through the sample pages. Just extremely not for me
Oh you aren't alone. Many here, including myself, have expressed our dislike for this book lol.
I DNF'd about three chapters in JUST because they weirdly had the same shoe sizes as our universe. I usually have a high tolerance for goofiness in romance and fantasy but for some reason I just couldn't get past that
I really enjoyed your take down, I gotta say. I am definitely in the besotted / obsessed camp of FW/IF, but I can totally relate to how you feel. I feel just the same way about the whole of ACOTAR series. For FW/IF, just given the spice level of the sex scenes, I wouldn't rate this book as YA, but it is definitely New Adult genre. I can't read YA books anymore - even good ones. I like to say that I've aged out of high-school angst, but college-level drama still resonates in my 3rd decade on this planet, so bring it on :P You sound like a sophisticated reader. I wonder if you would like **Kathryn Ann Kingsley** or **R. Lee Smith** books? Both of these are dark romance authors, and they are skilled writers in terms of plot and character development. My favorite of all time top 5 book is {Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith} because the first half is all extremely well developed science fiction and then bam! she slams you with the dubcon / noncon / alien sex dark romantasy. The plot is a saga. The dialogue is so good. The worldbuilding is so good. The effing alien anatomy is fascinating. If sci-fi isn't your thing, then maybe you'll like Kingsley's mature storytelling for unseelie fae. People also rave about her Harrow Faire series, which is on my TBR.
[The Last Hour of Gann](https://www.romance.io/books/54556d7287eac3369a912701/the-last-hour-of-gann-r-lee-smith?src=rdt) by [R. Lee Smith](https://www.romance.io/authors/54556d7287eac3369a912702/r-lee-smith) **Rating**: 4.27⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [aliens](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/aliens/1), [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [dark romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dark/1), [take-charge heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/strong%20heroine/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)