Fourth Wing. Its Awful.

I couldn't even bring myself to write a general overview on Fourth Wing because I didn't want to waste my breath. If you're familiar with the Romance/Fantasy genre, or if you've read anything by Sara J. Maas, you've most likely at least heard of Fourth Wing.

Fourth Wing was a perfect example of everything I hate with this genre, and I can't find a single character in the book I think was written well. 

Can we start with Violet?

I have nothing against a character that is frail and weak. In fact, if written correctly it could even add to character development, add proper conflict to the story, and just go against the standard narrative of "I'm big and strong and smart and overpowered". It also contributed to representation of those with disabilities, as Violet herself has a medical disability that caused her to have a frail body, and I thought Violet's physical ailments were actually a really interesting part of her character. It was a valid conflict in the beginning of the book. She's supposed to survive a murder college, yet she can barely carry a pack on her back without breaking or spraining something. I was really happy to read this-- it was a new and creative conflict that I had yet seen in a fantasy character, and I was excited to see how it would play into her struggles at the college. Surprise surprise, that once it was no longer convenient to the story (meaning after the first few physical conflicts she encounters) it was totally thrown off onto the back burner. No, off the stove. The authors convenient excuse for her sudden change in physicality? She starts working out. Random workouts with a side character that are hardly mentioned, and we're just told: "Yeah don't worry, it's happening. I'm just never going to write about it and expect you to believe that after all these crazy pointless time skips she suddenly gets stupid strong and all her previous problems go out the window." I'll talk about said time skips at a later time when I move on from the characters to the actual writing of the story. (Spoiler: It reads like a Harry Potter Draco Malfoy x Reader fanfic on Wattpad). 

Violet is a supposed genius. 

"Yes." Brilliant. Fucking. Woman."

"There's no way this brilliant woman doesn't know that temple."

"...our eyes lock "You're the smartest woman I know. Don't forget that. Your brain is your best weapon. Outsmart them, Violet. Do you hear me?"

That last quote was from the very first chapter of the book, where we are all as readers getting to know the characters. This set up made it seem as if Violet was Tony Stark, or Sherlock Holmes level genius. I was expecting a cold, calculating bookworm. Someone who was too intelligent to let emotions cloud her mind and allow her to make sound, just, intelligent choices. I guess I was wrong. Violet's "best weapon" is absolutely obliterated within the very same chapter.

Mira, Violet's older sister and only remaining sibling, warns her not to make friends. Since Violet is a Sorrengail (wow, nice play on words there. Soar-in-Gale) she is a target. Her mother is a general that is single handedly responsible for the death of many that tried to rebel or fight back against the Kingdom. If my explanations sound kind of vague here, it's because not a lot of world building was actually done in this book. I'll get into that later as well. 

But because of Violet's blood relation to her mother, a lot of people whose family lead the rebellion hate her guts. Momma Sorrengail killed rebellion leaders, the children of those leaders get branded as rebels, those branded rebels are forced to attend murder college in hopes they all die while there. Violet is now going to be attending a school meant to weed out and kill the weak, and did I mention you're allowed to kill your classmates? Very Hunger Games-y. 

So yes, Violet is in a lot of danger. 

A military dragon rider murder college. Violet has a physical disability like I mentioned before that would likely get her killed before any of her mother's haters would, so Mira, Violet's older sister, is understandably worried. She knows first handedly that the Sorrengail name is akin to fixing a target on their backs, so she warns Violet not to make any friends. Outwit them all, focus on survival, don't get distracted or you will be killed. Don't make friends, because they will turn on you the moment it's convenient. So what does Violet do literally the moment she starts to make her way to the parapet, the entrance trial to the college? She makes a friend. A bestie bff. 

I think the average genius would consider the warnings of those that went through the exact same thing they were about to go through and use that information and advice to their advantage. You could argue that having friends or alliances would be a beneficial strategic play on Violet's part, but Violet never really seems to see that as an option and just feels bad that this random person she met doesn't have the right kind of boot to make it across. Maybe Violet's just a nice person! Yes yes, but the entire point of my argument here is that the author is constantly trying to portray Violet as some Sherlock Holmes level survival genius who can outwit anyone in battle, not some happy go lucky nice girl who makes friends in strange places. All throughout the book, it's a cacophony of side characters echoing Violet's genius, her wit and amazing memory. To me, based on the only knowledge Violet seems to know that makes her peers see her as a genius, Violet is just some nerdy bookworm who loved trivia. The kind of person that would recite random bug facts to the class. Which, let me clarify, there's nothing wrong with. I spent my youth reciting random facts about cats because I was obsessed with the Warrior Cat series. My only problem with this is that the author is constantly trying to portray Violet as an individual with such an impressive intellect, that she could turn the tides of war with nothing more than her wit. Yet, she can't see Dain's betrayal and his use of his power on her. She can't find a way to climb an obstacle course, it took her DAYS to think about climbing the ropes RIGHT NEXT to her. The only advantage her wit had ever given her in battle was when she would poison her opponents during sparring. Cool idea, but as Xaden had very easily pointed out, it only works under very specific conditions. She's not going to be able to figure out some random Gryphon rider's allergies and throw fruit at them when she's on the front lines. She couldn't even realize that her brother, who's corpse was never mentioned, was still alive. There was all this big fuss about how he died, some healer tried to bring him back to life (wink wink) but it didn't work (wink wink) and they never mention anything else about him other than he was just overall a great dude.  Their custom talks about burning all of a deceased persons belongings to offer them to the god of death, and if you hold onto anything instead of offering it up, there's grave consequences. Yet she's been holding onto his notebook for the entire year, with no consequence. Did... she not see all the pieces clicking together? Oh right, yeah okay, sorry I forgot she's just the biggest genius the college has ever seen.

Oh.

Did I say college? Yes. Yes I did, which often comes as a surprise to me considering she acts and talks like a sophomore in high school. This isn't a fantasy book.

This is a book about a girl named Violet who goes to school and has never ending internal monologue about how horny she is all the time. 

Thats it, that's the book.

For Violet being some sort of genius, she really can't think logically past her emotions. Xaden, the love interest of this story that reads as some 2020 TikTok e-boy, is out to kill her. His father was basically the equivalent to Violet's mother. Both leaders in the military, on opposing sides, and Xaden's father is murdered by Violet's mother. So, he has some grudges and wishes to kill Violet. This is known from the get-go, as even Mira warns her to stay away from him before she even gets to the school. Yet as soon as she lays eyes on him, she's eating him up and throwing all caution to the wind. Never mind that he wants to KILL HER. Shes drooling all over the idea of him, from the very moment she lays eyes on him. It's weird. 

Fourth Wing is supposed to be a "New Adult" fiction, which to me, just feels like a new label made up to excuse a watered-down plot (usually seen used for younger audiences in YA books) while still allowing p---agraphic material. 

I'm a fan of "spice" when it's a flavorful additive to the whole meal, not the entire entree. 

Books like Fourth Wing, to me, is equivalent to eating a crockpot full of chili powder and turmeric. Like I have been starving for months for a good hot meal, and I've been served a plate full of red chili flakes and cardamom and told that its chicken curry. Don't get me wrong, I love spicy food! I'd just prefer if there was an actual meal included with the spices, thanks. 

So we've covered Violet's poor writing, how her disabilities kind of disappear throughout the book. We've talked about her false intelligence, and we've discussed her childish lusting over dark and dangerous. 

The only other character I feel like I can really talk about is Xaden, because in all honesty, none of the other characters even matter to the plot. How could they? The plot is just about how often these two characters can touch and grind up on each other while sparring in front of the entire class before they get into each other's pants. 

In all honesty Xaden is one of the only characters I think has any intelligence to him. Like mentioned before, Xaden expresses that Violet won't be able to poison every opponent she faces, and throughout the book he makes several other somewhat intelligent callouts that make sense, and he seems rather down to earth. So we know that author is capable of writing characters like this, just... not for Violet. 

My biggest gripe for Xaden's character is how he's written like an animal. 

There's a scene where a bit of tension is growing between these two characters, and Xaden promptly tells Violet to leave, or else he doesn't think he'll be able to stop himself. Xaden is admitting to Violet, that if she doesn't want to have sex with him, she needs to leave because he won't be able to control himself whether she wants it or not. 

HELLO!?

I get the appeal of a man liking their partner so much that they are besides themselves with desire, but THIS is a bit too r-pey for me. Don't you just love it when men are written as animals with no self-control? This shouldn't be romanticized, what should be romanticized is a man strong enough to hold onto their dignity and self-control, for the sake of respecting their partner, despite their overwhelming desires! Call me vanilla, call me boring, say I'm reading too far into this, but I don't think so. I've read several other books that have successfully created a dark, dangerous, brooding male character without themes of r-pe washed over with the common excuse of "well it's fictional it's not that serious." Words have power, people! Try some books by Brigid Kemmerer (Specifically Defy the Night) for some examples of broody tortured male characters that can still have some basic decorum around women. Or even Christopher Paolini's series The Inheritance Cycle to read about Murtagh. My first brooding bad boy in the fictional world that has my heart, who had his own book Murtagh published several years later after the original series was published. 

Anyways.

I'm going to group the rest of the characters together because I have the same issues about all of them, because they're all the same. Flat, boring, and predictable. Perfect example for this would be Jack. He was supposed to be another dude just out to kill her, and had some sort of bone to pick with her for whatever reason. It's never really mentioned why he hates her so much and is out to kill her. Honestly, he's the only one who really IS out to kill Violet, which considering she's in this "horrible" murder college, was a bit surprising. But none the less, his motives were never made clear. He only shows up a few times with promises to kill her, scowling or making rude gestures at her, and then a few moments of combat throughout the book. Near the end of the book, Jack is trying to kill one of her "friends" (I use this word loosely because again, I read little to no development between these characters that would portray them as having a close friendship) who is also kind of her bodyguard sent to watch over her sent from Xaden.  Jack nearly kills the guy, and Violet has a super cool power awakening that instantly makes her insanely overpowered. Violet kills him, and she is struck with shock and horrible remorse over the fact she killed the guy that was going to kill her and her friend and had already killed many other students for literally no reason. 

Womp womp. 

Am I supposed to feel bad for Violet? Am I supposed to feel as if this was some big pivotal change in Violet's character, or feel bad over the fact that she killed someone in murder college?? Because I dont and I didn't. As soon as Violet went into shock and started monologuing about how she didn't want to be a killer (because she's different, guys she's not like the other students) I rolled my eyes and skimmed about a page and a half. This was the same reaction I felt for any other character deaths. Sigh. Eyeroll. Skim. How am I supposed to feel bad over the deaths of a character that are as boring as a rock? We got no emotional attachment to any of these characters, because the only times they're mentioned or written into the story is to act as a comparison to Violet's abilities or to praise her for being a genius. They're not their own characters, with flaws and complicated emotions and desires and dreams, ambitions or conflicts. They have no relevance to the plot of the story, so how is it supposed to feel like a loss... when there is none? Dain was probably the only side character that held some type of weight, and even then his role in the story was very obvious from the very moment he was introduced. His mechanic in the book is supposed to drive Violet to prove she's worthy of being here. So to me, it was hard to see Dain as anything but that, a mechanic. A plot device. Again the only reason he stands out a bit from the others is because the amount of time Violet spends with him and his history with her. His betrayal didn't even feel like betrayal because of how predictable it was. I knew as soon as Dain was depicted as a rule loving individual that he was going to betray her, and as soon as we learned what his powers were I knew how. 

My gripe with these characters is that they weren't created with a "soul". What I mean by that, is that they weren't created for us to connect to. Plain and simple. I can't feel for these characters, mourn them, cheer with them, cry for them, I can't connect to any of them because they weren't made to be connected with. They were created with the sole purpose of being a cog in the machine, pushing the book forward. Dain, plot device for betrayal. Jack, plot device for the main character to have an "arch nemesis". All the others were simply there to be used as a comparison for Violet's own progress or flaws, or to echo how smart she is. It's really hard to feel for a character written as nothing more than a tool. 

I have rambled long enough about the characters and why I don't like any of them, so know I'll go on to talk about what I did and didn't like about the writing. Yes, I said did like because there is one thing about the author's writing I enjoyed. 

Like I mentioned before the writing in this book is very childish. If you took out the smut, this would be a good book to find in a middle school library. I'm serious, The Warriors had better writing than this. 

The setting of this book is a military college that is meant to weed out the weak, which makes sense. Coming from a military background, I personally had a lot of giggles whenever I picked out an old military saying or practice that I myself had gone through, but not every reader is going to have that sort of connection to the story. The only other thing I liked about the writing was some of the humorous interactions between Violet and her primary dragon, Tairn, had. Their bickering would be amusing at times and earned some chuckles from me, especially whenever it was over Violet and Xaden's situationship. I'm not even going to call it a relationship. 

Yet despite some of the laughs I had, it's not going to be enough to make me re-read or try to enjoy the series. I bought the second book out of blind hope for it getting better, but I'm hesitant to actually read it. 

The writing is just juvenile. 

I get everyone starts somewhere, and I get that things like this take experience, and practice, and I feel bit cruel writing this so harshly. I think the main reason I'm being so harsh with my little ramble review here is because there is SUCH an overwhelming amount of praise for this book, I feel as if I have to counter it with my own opinions. This book was marketed and sold as if it would be the next big thing, the next fantasy adventure, the next romance of the decade, yet it fell flat. If you're primary a romance reader, and don't really touch fantasy at all, I can see why this book would win you a lot of points. But coming from someone who grew up on Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit (so many flaws with the movies here, I know, but Smoug's design and voice acting was badass you can't lie) and The Inheritance Cycle... reading this book with "dragons" and having it labeled as a fantasy book just felt like a smack in the face. Like I mentioned before, this isn't a fantasy book, this is a book about Violet and how horny she is, all the time.

I've read better BBC Sherlock Holmes fanfiction on Ao3 then this. 

The random time skips, cutting from some hot and steamy between Violet and Xaden just to skip several months and jump back into sexual tension between Violet and Xaden is... cheap. You're telling me, that in a military college setting full of obstacle courses and challenges, where everyone apparently wants Violet's head on a pike... you couldn't find anything interesting to write about to fill in that several month time jump and add to the plot? Maybe something that develops the side characters a bit more so we actually feel for them? Nothing??? No world building? When I first opened the book and saw the detailed map, I was stoked. I was just speaking to a friend about how I loved books with maps, because I could always go back and reference the writing and feel more connected to the world the characters lived in. Yet, with Fourth Wing, I never felt the need to check the map. I never had to. Putting a map of the world in this book felt like buying an expensive prayer rug while traveling overseas and using it as wall decor. Just disgraceful. The characters traveled once and whenever the lore of the world was mentioned, it was blurry and confusing, like it wasn't fully thought out. The dragons don't even feel like dragons, more like big horses with tails. They're supposed to be crazy powerful, full of ancient magic, wise beyond their years, etc etc etc. Yet the only description they get is a color and a tail shaped as a human weapon... Where is the individuality? The uniqueness that would make a dragon the arrogant, mighty beast that it is? Where is the beauty? They're just lumbering reptiles with a magic connection to their rider. Thats so disappointing. To see such complex creatures reduced down to the same level as the other side characters is tragic. Dragons in the fantasy world is something you just don't butcher like that, its near disrespectful :')

Again you could argue with me that it's just fiction, it's not that deep, they're not even real. 

Sure, but again, this book was marketed as a fantasy. Fantasy is a genre that so many find comforting, as they've used the genre to escape a lot of troubling times in their life, or to bring comfort during a time of need. Escaping to a world that teaches them lessons, makes them feel valued, and a plethora of other things. Like I mentioned before, words have power. Why do you think books can be banned from certain countries and states? Why do you think people write? They write to express. Things like ideas and passions, secrets and controversies, its why so many American students had to read those "old" and "boring" books in Highschool. Books like Fahrenheit 451, or To Kill a Mockingbird, all of these works proved that words have power, especially of the written variety. I think the fantasy genre is no different. There is so much love and admiration for fantasy works, that if you are going to spend so much time and money, slapping dragons all over the cover of your books, you should at least try to pay that love and admiration some respect. Just because it has dragons and the tiniest sliver of magic, doesn't make it a fantasy book in my opinion. Maybe if the magic and dragons were more developed and not a cash grab into a hungry audience, I would consider it a fantasy book. Fourth Wing is not fantasy to me, its poorly written smut, with very familiar tropes, themes, characters, and even story lines. This book didn't really create anything new; it just jumbled a bunch of things several people found enjoyable and slapped it all between one cover. It feels like a cash grab and a scam, promising fantasy worlds and complex characters and mature writing, (especially based on most of the reviews I read before reading) and it just failed to deliver. You can't just claim to write a fantasy and fail to do the worldbuilding justice. The magic is hardly mentioned, the lore feels cheap. All of it feels cheap and juvenile and I just can't believe the amount of glowing reviews it has. 

Have I rambled long enough?

Have I upset anybody yet?

Its definitely not my goal, but I wouldn't be surprised. I wonder if the community will look back on this book in a few years and the opinions will change, or if it'll just sort of fade away. I personally don't think Fourth Wing made a lot of impact in the reading world because, again, theres nothing new it offers. 

Fourth Wing was, in my opinion, nothing special. It had wonderful potential and could've been something great, but like many books I feel to need to blab about, it fell short of what it could've been. 

Anyone is free to agree or disagree, and if you have any points you feel I may have missed or overlooked, or you would like to recommend something for me to read and review, feel free to reach out through the contact page.

As always, happy reading Bookish Creatures!