Review

(Please be advised that this is an adult romantasy novel.)

Violet Sorrengail is small and frail. Her joints don’t work too well. And she’s been trained her whole life to enter the Scribe Quadrant. But her mother, General Sorrengail, has decided that she’ll enter the Rider Quadrant, like every other Sorrengail. If Violet can survive the walk across the high, treacherous parapet — and then if she can survive the violence and treachery of her fellow students at Basgiath War College. In particular, she has to survive, or at least escape the notice of Xaden Riorson, the handsome but ruthless student commander of the Fourth Wing, son of the rebel executed by her mother. Then there’s her childhood best friend (or maybe more…?) Dain, her new friend Rhiannon, a host of arrogant and terrifying dragons, who will either bond her or fry her — and the Kingdom of Navarre’s many, many secrets…

*

While this series has a lot of YA energy, it is in fact adult romantasy (new adult campus romantasy, really) and while it is a page-turning ton of fun, it’s (sadly) not appropriate for a school library.

I read (listened) to Fourth Wing and then Iron Flame and Onyx Storm in rapid succession. They’re long, but they’re good. I can see why Fourth Wing was such a sensation — it’s such a page turner, with excellent world building, action galore, sizzling romance and humorous touches. The main dragon character, Tairn, is fabulous — a terrifying but amusingly grumpy elitist. Iron Flame was also very entertaining, although the backstory-narrating at the beginning was a bit too obvious, and the repetition of ‘I can’t tell anyone my secrets!’ for the first half was getting a bit tedious. Onyx Storm was terrific. (But #1 was the best.)

I can recommend the audiobooks — Rebecca Soler is excellent as Violet. Teddy Hamilton was a bit annoying, but his part was tiny, so okay.

A cinematic adult romantasy with action, pace, romance and humour… like Harry Potter with sex and more dragons.

Age: 18+

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Detailed, adult romance-style sex scenes; much violence, some of it supernatural, including falling to death, poisoning, burned by dragon fire, stabbing, neck breaking, etc., etc.; students at Basgaith sleep around a lot, though we don’t get much detail on what exactly happens; they also often try to kill each other, though there are also heartwarming friendships formed; lots of f-words, among other swears. Main romance is mlw, with briefly mentioned mlw, mlm and wlw romances among minor characters. Students are ethnically diverse. Violet has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (not named, as does author; a minor character is deaf and uses sign language with other characters. Violet gains confidence and learns that her scribe skills & analytical brain are valuable weapons. Definitely NOT school library appropriate (although your students are probably buying their own copies).

*

Yarros, R. (2023). Fourth wing (R. Soler & T. Hamilton, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Recorded Books.

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