This book was everything I needed right now.

This was a funny little read because I'll be honest and admit I just wanted to join the hype while it's still hot and fresh. I had no idea what to expect other than "it has dragons". Did it do a good job? Well, I don't know if I'd say it was particularly outstanding. Some things felt a bit underdeveloped, predictable, and at times juvenile. Did I enjoy every single minute of it? Capital A Absolutely.

It reminds me of how I felt reading ACOTAR and Iron Widow. There are definitely flaws to be noticed, but you get so sucked into the fun and drama that you never really FEEL those flaws.

If you're on the fence about reading this, I'd definitely give it a shot. You'll know within a few chapters whether or not it's the kind of thing you'll enjoy. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Empyrean series. I borrowed this on ebook from the library.

Thoughts: This started just a tad slow but really picked up pace and impressed me as the story went on. This is an action-packed fantasy romance filled with dragons and secrets. This is the second Yarros book I have read; I also read "In the Likely Event" which I really loved despite it being outside my normal reading genre.

Violet was meant to be a Scribe, then 6 months before her admittance to the Scribe Quadrant her mother (the commanding general) announced that she would enter the challenge to become a dragon rider instead. Violet is not tough and is constantly struggling with her physical health, in addition to that many other dragon rider trainees have a reason to want her dead because of her mother's actions. However, Violet is smart, and she has the support of her lifelong best friend.

I liked the beginning of this, but after the dragons get more involved in the story I started to love it! This has a blend of Harry Potter and Hunger Game vibes in the beginning. There are a whole bunch of students in a school trying to learn about combat and dragons, however, they are also pitted against each other and competing to attract a dragon to become its rider.

As the story continued I got some very "Dragonriders of Pern" by Anne McCaffrey vibes (excellent series that I would recommend and read about 25 years ago). I will try to describe this part without spoilers. Some of the dragons are mated to each other which has intriguing implications for their riders. The dragons can survive a rider dying but the riders cannot survive a dragon dying.

I initially thought that this was going to be a love triangle, which I really hate. However, the relationships here are a lot more complex than that. Violet is immediately sheltered by her best friend, who has matured a lot since she last saw him. Violet quickly realizes that this worry and sheltering is keeping her from growing as a person. On the other hand, she is drawn to the dark and dangerous Xaden, who is the surviving son of a traitor and wants to kill Violet. Xaden challenges her at every step, and Violet realizes she is growing into a much more competent person because of his challenges and training. It's an intriguing look at two very different types of relationships.

Some of the love scenes in here are pretty spicy and they were all well done. Everything is entwined with urgent action scenes as well. The Basgiath War College is supposed to be for training, but sometimes the War Games end up more real than not. Of course, nothing is quite as it seems, and the more Violet learns the more she realizes has been hidden from her and everyone else.

I feel like I am going on a bit long, but there was a lot of food for thought here. I really enjoyed the dragons, the characters, unraveling the mysteries, the action, and the romance. This was incredibly hard to put down and very engaging. I read this way faster than I thought I would and let way too many things in my life go because I needed to finish it! I loved how this ended; it ends on a cliffhanger but it felt like a positive cliffhanger.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really, really loved this and I totally understand the hype. There are amazing characters (including dragons!), fantastic world-building, heart-pounding action, steamy romance, and a writing style that practically reads itself. I would highly recommend this to those who enjoy action packed military fantasy blended with romance. I plan on picking Iron Flame up very soon! ( )

Hold onto your seat, because Fourth Wing is sure to have you flying high.

Normally I am a patient person, but waiting for Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros had me checking my library app repeatedly. Now, that I have read it, I am checking every day for the second book in the series, Iron Flame, and am not being the least bit patient. I need it NOW.

At first I thought, “This is a great book and Book II would be the one to blow me away.” Due to the length of Fourth Wing, 650 pages, Rebecca had me overwhelmed with emotions. The characters jumped off the pages and the dragons had me flying high. I didn’t want to stop reading. Even though I am a fast reader, it took me a couple of days to read it.

I know they are working on a TV series, and I feel I will end up disappointed, because they’ll probably try and force me to buy an app to watch it. We shall see. I thing the Empryean series will be like Twilight and Lucifer. A series I will binge watch over and over again.

Romance, friendship, and battles…all will be tested.

If you are thinking of buying Fourth Wing, you might as well buy the whole series. Once you get attached to the characters, they won’t quit talking atcha.

Fourth Wing is amazing and sure to be one of my favorites of the year.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com ( )

"Fourth Wing" falls short of what I would consider an average yet enjoyable read. This is largely due to the inconsistent quality of the writing, the over-reliance on worn-out tropes, and some questionable authorial choices throughout the book. While I appreciated certain aspects of the world-building, particularly as the story expanded, and the dragons brought much-needed depth to the narrative when they appeared, these elements weren't enough to elevate the overall experience. I can understand why some readers might enjoy the book, as it carries a similar vibe to "Divergent," which elicited a similar reaction from me. I’ll likely pick up the sequel from the library at some point, but I’m in no rush. ( )

I am rounding my 2.5 down for 2, but I need y'all to know that I would have rounded up to 3 or even 3.5 if Violet didn't talk about how hot Xaden is at least once every chapter. I get it. He’s hot — beautiful, even. I am begging you, talk about anything else.
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However, I can understand why so many people enjoy this book. I'm fully aware by now that me not enjoying super popular books is a "me issue". I have felt this way about several other very well-loved series.
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Things I liked:
•I liked Xaden a lot in the earlier parts of the book.
•The absolute best part was Tairn. How do you go wrong with a massive dragon with the personality of a curmudgeon-y old man? Answer: you don't. Dragons make everything better and I'm especially obsessed with stories where they can talk. Andarna was lovely too of course.
Things I was "meh" about:
• The romance felt really... weird. We never got any scenes where Xaden and Violet were really bonding as their own people. I am a reader who thrives off of slow burn romances, so I guess I was just hoping for a lot more build up so the eventual love confession really FEELS like it means something. The interactions we saw with Xaden and Violet always just felt very flat to me. I never felt excited for them or about them. They were just there. I think I would have been happier to ignore other issues I had with the book if the romance was incredible, but it just wasn't.
• Dain's entire character personality of harassing Violet about her choices every time he appears on page got so old so fast. I get that the point of him being there was to give her the opportunity to grow into a more independent person and I appreciate that, but by the halfway point I was so exhausted by him that I would need to set the book down for a break after reading a scene with him in it.
Things I didn't like:
• I did not like Violet at all. She acted and spoke like she was a teenager, and she is meant to be an adult in her early 20s. Her immediate obsession with Xaden was difficult to stomach. I mention this later, but I think if we had multiple POVs so I wasn't with her the entire time, I wouldn't feel this strongly about her.
• I was also really excited to see a character with chronic illness/pain in a story like this, so I felt like it was disappointing that she was essentially able to overcome most of it by building strength and training. A LOT of people who struggle with chronic illness or chronic pain do not have the option to just work out and be able to do what everyone else can. I thought it would have been really cool to see her take her disadvantages and find other ways to help the Dragon Quadrant or find other ways to be a rider (like using the saddle!) and just found ways to accept herself the way she is and show that there are other ways to be powerful without physical strength.
• I did not like the "world building". I feel like all I had were questions about what was happening and I never got real answers. We are dropped into this world where there is a FOUR HUNDRED (400!!!) year long war happening. How do you have the weaponry/the people/ANYTHING to continue a war for that long? I was frustrated that there was never any background into what officially started the war. We touch on the rebellion/the apostasy but only a little and that's all the history we get. The rules for surviving in the Dragon Quadrant were hard to keep straight a lot of the time as well. I kind of wished a copy of the codex was included in the book.
• It also feels hard to believe that none of the Navarrian families are upset about how the Dragon Quadrant is ran? The amount of death that comes to young Navarrians? And then to have the audacity to mention that their numbers are low. Like no kidding??? Maybe if you weren't letting them die left and right you would have a surplus of soldiers. It just seems like such a poor, and stupid choice, from a government stand point and from a regular citizen who has to watch it happen every year. It would have been an interesting layer if there were whispers of civilian uprisings surrounding the war college protocols.
• It would have also been so fun to learn how the Empyrean/dragon politics worked. Other POVs would have made the entire story more fun (Xaden, Tairn, even giving Mira a POV to see how things were in the war zones would have been cool) and they would have given us more access to information to fill in the gray areas of the world building.
• The absolute over-use of the word "hot".
• The fact that Violet said she wanted to climb Xaden like a tree not just once (I would have forgiven once), but two times. ( )