Author Allen M Werner

Why am I reading this? That’s what I kept asking myself once I got ten percent into the book and managed, like Violet, to survive the ridiculous parapet scene with one good shoe and one not so good shoe. Trust me, this happens and it makes no sense unless you want it to make sense. In fact, near the very end, this one good shoe, one bad shoe situation is remembered and viewed as a marker of her selflessness. Gag.  But hey, how else are candidates going to make friends on day one at a war college?

I couldn’t help but think of the “chompers” scene in the film Galaxy Quest. Why are these chompers here? They make no sense being here.

As a reader of epic fantasy, high fantasy and dark fantasy, I want to suspend my disbelief in order to enjoy well crafted stories.

The world of the Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros did not suspend my disbelief and is not a well crafted novel despite all the hype. And there is a lot of hype.

Why did I read it? I guess I finally succumbed to the hype train and decided to check it out for myself. I wanted to see if there was something amazing about this book. The Empyrean Series books are everywhere and there’s supposed to be a tv series in the works as well. So, I took a deep breath and took the plunge not knowing what to expect. I’m sorry I did.

I don’t often read romantic fantasy but I have read a few good ones. Fourth Wing is average at best. It’s not terrible but it’s not particularly good either. I’ve read worse.

And the idea that Fourth Wing is a romantic fantasy eludes me. I guess I just don’t see a bunch of horny twenty-somethings objectifying each other in an implausible war academy setting where dying at school is a normal and acceptable occurrence as romantic.

The author wants us to believe that unity among students is a goal, and dragon riders and “wings” functioning as teams is paramount – but every time we turn around, there’s a dark mantra that nullifies it all. The weakest links are a threat to our survival, and thus the ones we perceive to be the weakest must be disposed of – even during training. Breaking people’s necks while wrestling on a training mat with knives is apparently ok. No one gets in trouble for killing.

In a world at war where new troops are at a premium, justifying deaths of dozens of potential soldiers seems ridiculous. Even Roman gladiator schools didn’t allow gladiators to kill one another.

But this seems to be the sort of YA fantasy that flies nowadays and I couldn’t help but think of books like The Hunger Games while reading this.

Violet Sorrengail isn’t really meek, but she is a small, frail, untrained bookworm who wanted to enter the peaceful Scribes College like her deceased father – but her mother, her brother (who is dead) and her older sister, are dragon riders and General Mom now expects Violet to be a dragon rider too. Just like that.

Violet’s militant sister, Mia, urges their mother not to do this and she thinks Violet will die.

Everyone who is anyone makes it clear that Violet will not survive this. She is not even tall enough to mount a dragon. No parental love or concern going on here.

As readers, we spend a lot of time inside Violet’s head, and she’s a roller coaster of instability and contradictions, constantly second guessing herself only to pull up her boot straps at the last minute and say ‘I will not die today,’ and this magical declaration causes the plot armor to kick in because the plot armor is as secure to Violet as the secret dragon armor she wears. (Yes, she has dragon scales secreted in her clothing and these scales get her out of more than a few scrapes. A benefit no one else has. She’s also not above mildly poisoning other people to win, but whatever.)

While other candidates are either killed outright or survive, Violet lives while getting wounded constantly. She is injured every time she does anything physical and still sneaks by. Burned hands. Busted ribs. Badly twisted ankles. Nearly choked to death. Ta Da. The weak short bookworm kid keeps soldiering through it all while other stronger, more agile and physically gifted candidates die off.

I thought the whole point of this place existing was to weed out the weak? Violet is about as weak as a character can be, and injured all the time. They are weeding out many potential candidates permanently.

And there is supposed to be a love triangle. There is no triangle and there is no love unless infatuation and lust are love..

Violet loves and trusts Dain because he’s safe and familiar. He’s an old friend she grew up with. That’s it. That’s the relationship. They’ve never been intimate. Dain, who is her superior here, is overprotective of Violet like a mother hen (not like her actual mother). Dain’s character makes no sense most of the time. They are in a war college and he is an unprofessional leader who is constantly trying to find ways to protect Violet, knowing he can’t, or trying to secret her out of the Riders school to the Scribes college. Violet and Dain even kiss once, but alas, Violet feels no fire when they do. End of triangle.

Xaden Riorson is supposed to be the other love interest but this is where the Hunger Games plot enters.

The six provinces of Navarre have to send candidates for military service. Sound familiar? Some of those at the academy are volunteers. Some are conscripts. Others are sent there as punishment because of what their parents did. They are children of rebels. Children whose parents were executed. Boy, this sounds like a good idea. Smh.

And some of these rebel’s children have risen in rank without apparently losing their hatred for those who killed their parents. And they aren’t afraid to make their hate known. Who can’t see this as a problem?

Xaden Riorson is in his third year and already a ranking leader. Xaden and his nearest associates at the war college automatically revile Violet because Violet’s mother is a General and responsible for the deaths of their family members. In retaliation, they want to kill Violet and everyone knows it, even the teachers and wing commanders – but hey, it’s just part of being here.

There is a Codex that outlines where and when murders can occur without consequences. So let the training begin.

Seriously?

And because we are in Violet’s head, we are privy to her adolescent objectifying fascination with the guy who wants her dead. It’s shallow and lustful and has nothing to do with love. The lust wholly ignores the very real threat to her safety.

And to make matters even stranger, Xaden’s father was the one who killed Violet’s brother. Head spinning yet? Mine was.

If you don’t want any spoilers, I’d advise you not to read any further. You’ve been warned.

Some of the candidates who survive eventually bond with a dragon. Not all. Even if you survive this far, it doesn’t mean a dragon will choose you.

Violet bonds with Tairn, the biggest baddest black dragon of them all. Yup, Violet is selected by the meanest hombre. The black dragon, Tairn, as it turns out, is in a relationship with Xaden’s dragon, Sgaeyl. Oh Oh. 

Because of Tairn and Sgaeyl’s intimate relationship, their riders are now bound to one another for survival’s sake. Surprise.

Xaden and Violet have to get along. Xaden can’t kill her now, even though he has had several chances to kill her but chose not to (plot armor), sort of proving he never really was a “bad boy”.

Tairn tells Violet that he chose her to be his rider because she was the smartest candidate and she defended a small gold dragon from assassins. Really?

First off, having just run a long distance on a really bad ankle, and having less fighting skills than almost all the other candidates, Violet suddenly manages to fend off several assassins nearly by herself like she’s a ninja. This part had me shaking my head visibly.

And up to this point, everyone from teachers, flight leaders and candidates have pounded in our heads that the dragons are only interested in bonding with the strongest and most skilled humans. Not the smartest. And truth be told, Violet hasn’t done anything to show us she is the smartest candidate. We are merely assuming she is intelligent because of her former appeal to become a scribe.

And to make the tale even more fantastical, Violet bonds with a second dragon, the small gold dragon she helped save from the assassins.

Yes, Violet now has two dragons while other worthy candidates have none.

And no one in the history of forever has ever bonded with two dragons before. I’m shocked.

But the bonding between Violet and her two dragons is still not strong so if Violet were to be murdered, it would evidently be ok and the dragons would have to bond with someone else.

Yes, that means despite surviving this long, and bonding with a dragon, and becoming a rider, Violet can still be murdered at this school by jealous candidates who didn’t get a dragon and want a dragon.

The only difference now is, the gorgeous bad boy Xaden, the one Violet can’t stop objectifying and fantasizing about, is now protecting her because their dragons are bonded.

And really, I think one of the worst parts of this whole thing is Xaden. He never actually does anything to define himself as a bad guy or evil. He has some sort of shadow powers and threatens to harm Violet many times but never follows through on his threats even when he clearly could. Xaden is really not any worse than anyone else in the story. He’s just the handsome son of a former rebel who wants revenge for his family and his people which doesn’t define him as a bad guy.

And surprise, (another spoiler alert), Xaden has secretly been helping the enemy because there is a worse enemy afoot, one that General Mom hasn’t told Violet about. In fact, the General and leaders of Navarre haven’t told anyone about the true external threat.

Yes, the kingdom is waging war on an enemy that is actually fighting to protect them from a worst threat.

Other than the dragons, and some signet strengths humans receive through the powers of their dragons, and the talk of wards existing to protect their lands, the fantasy and the magic is not really explored or defined. It’s just sort of out there

That is until the end and a big fight scene with plenty of magic, magic users and wyverns. This scene was actually pretty good although confusing at times.

I think the foundation of the dragons and riders with the rebel children protecting the realm from an external enemy could have made for a good book. It didn’t need the implausible academy or the horny teenage twenty-somethings who occasionally curse. 

But the Hunger Games style fantasy series continue to be developed. Authors must bring unwilling young people together with militant wannabe soldiery types in academies where magic, daring, sex appeal and death are always on the menu.

And although the book is not YA, the author leans heavy on YA tropes and language. At times, without any grounding through language and demeanor, it felt like fantasy chick-lit. Lots of bad things occur but it is not dark or gritty or emotional. It has a casual flippant-ness to death that is frustrating to read.

I guess there are a lot of people out there who enjoy stories like this, who equate objectifying others as romantic but I felt like I wasted too many hours of my life reading this book. I have no plans to read the sequels. I wish I hadn’t trusted the hype. I finished the book and like I said, I have read worse. Three stars is my way of being generous.

Allen M Werner is the author of the epic dark fantasy series
THE CRYSTAL CRUX
and the recently released Greek mythology novella
ARES IN CHAINS