Fourth Wing

Rebecca Yarros · Romantasy · Book 1 of The Empyrean

This post smells like: Rain on a flight field, plus a little dragon smoke

What it is

A romantasy about a war college for dragon riders where most students do not survive the year. Violet was supposed to be a scribe. Now she is bonding with dragons and glaring at a broody guy with a scar. You know the drill.

What I loved

• The dragons have the best lines. Tairn is my spirit animal.
• It is pure page-turning fun. I said 'one more chapter' at 11pm and finished at 2am.
• Violet is physically fragile but stubborn and clever, and I appreciate a heroine who wins with her brain.

What bugged me

• Some of the dialogue reads like a group text from 2019.
• The romance gets very spicy (fair warning if you are reading on the train).
• The world-building rules feel a little made up as we go.

Verdict: Read it

Not literature, and it does not want to be. It is a dragon-shaped roller coaster and I rode it twice.