LOL wtf was that?
I started this because it’s insanely hyped. It has a 4.68 rating on Goodreads, it’s appearing in every fantasy BookTube channel ever, it’s shooting to the top of best-seller lists so I see the cover every time I open my Kindle. And the premise sounds good right? Dragon-riding war school, that sounds so cool. But I genuinely do not know where the hype came from.
It’s not that the book is extremely bad, exactly. It was very addictive. It got me binge-reading 500 pages in one day. It’s a welcomed break amid the 4 more slow-moving classic/litfic books I’m reading.
But this is literally just the most typical high fantasy romance book ever. Violet Sorrengail is the underdog candidate who’s supposed to be super weak but is also extremely smart (we’ll get into this later), allowing readers to relate to her but also feel empowered. She slowly discovers her potential and makes a found family. There’s chronic illness representation, but there are so many fantasy books with more diverse characters. Xaden is the “enemy” (they were lusting after each other at first glance) love interest who’s the typical brooding, can’t-deal-with-emotions, super powerful/dangerous boy with a dark past. These are the most used main character tropes ever.
Even the plot twist is so predictable and typical. It’s a high fantasy series where the characters are forced into a school that kills many people. You know from the first page the government isn’t that great because Violet’s mom, the general, is an asshole who sends her daughter to die for her own reputation. Of course the series is going to continue with Violet leading a rebellion. Of course the venin and the wyvern exist. Why else would they be brought up so many times? What else would Violet’s dad’s note mean? I even guessed the part about Brennan still being alive. This plot has been done so many times. (The white text hides a spoiler for the book. Highlight to read)
But ok, not every book has to be original (although I would argue one as hyped as Fourth Wing should have some level of originality). People might not like change. Tropes like enemies to lovers and found family and girl gaining power are popular for a reason. This might just be a book where you have to turn off the critical part of your brain and enjoy a familiar fantasy story. And I tried so hard to do just that. But there are still so many problems. Let’s list them out.
1. The characters are all one-dimensional and poorly characterized. I’ll explain one by one.
Violet – this girl is supposed to be super smart, the most cunning person in the year. How? Because I really don’t see it. She can remember historical facts, but so can everyone in my history class. She poisons some people, but Xaden figures it out immediately. How can he not? Every one of her opponents gets sick every week. Surely she’s not that lucky. The people in this war college are supposed to be the best in the country. If no one else besides Xaden can figure out Violet’s poisoning people, no wonder they keep getting attacked. They’re all idiots. Getting through the Gauntlet using a technicality was pretty badass, but it also wasn’t particularly impressive. We keep getting told Violet is extremely smart without the trait being shown, it just gets really cringe after a while.
I also have some issues with the characterizations of Violet’s chronic illness. But I don’t have EDS, so I don’t want to comment on how someone who does have EDS portrays the syndrome. I have read a lot of reviews that say this book has a very toxic, ableist mindset toward disability, so those would be some interesting points to consider. What I do want to comment on is the inconsistency in the portrayal of Violet’s fighting skills. Because while she’s supposed to be bad at fighting, she’s also apparently a genius at throwing knives. When did she learn this skill? We’re never told. She’s also able to fight three men and severely injure all of them. Keep in mind that she only trained to fight for 6 months before this college while they’ve presumably been learning for their entire lives. How did she get so much better than them? The events just do not add up.
Xaden – this man’s most defining characteristic is supposed to be ruthlessness. He’s described by everyone as a ruthless dirty player who will do anything to get what he wants. This is also never shown in the book. He never does anything ruthless except be a bit more direct and honest in telling everyone they’re going to die at this school. While I was reading this, I keep comparing Violet and Xaden to Jude and Cardan from The Cruel Prince. Unlike Violet and Xaden, Jude’s cunningness and ruthlessness are actually shown in her murdering people and poisoning herself. Cardan actually does cruel things to Jude and other people. While I don’t particularly enjoy a bully romance, at least Jude and Cardan’s characterizations are shown and make sense. I can’t say as much for Violet and Xaden.
Side characters – all of them are one-dimensional. Rhiannon is the token Black bi best friend who Violet dumps all her emotional baggage on. Ridoc has no trait except being sarcastic and making jokes all the time (the jokes aren’t even good). The “villainous” characters have no nuance. Jack and Oren and Tynan are all psychopaths who enjoy bullying people and causing violence. They’re never given a backstory nor any degree of depth. Dain is also given no personality trait besides “he likes to follow orders.” He’s literally Violet’s oldest friend and her second love interest, yet he’s given no background story or any personality beyond that one attribute. How did Violet deal with his overprotectiveness for so many years? We’ll never know. He’s only there so readers will simp after Xaden more.
2. The characters are so into PDA it’s so embarrassing. Xaden has Violet fondling him in front of everyone they know to “train her.” Dain and Xaden just yell at each other and say the most personal shit in front of the people they’re supposed to command. Xaden literally just starts making out with Violet in front of everyone. Are they not embarrassed? Because I am.
3. Some of the conversations that take place are so poorly written and cringe. Like this part:
Rage mottles his cheeks in the mage light, and he swings his feet over the end of his table and charges toward me. “You!”
“I what?” I slip off the end of my table and leave my hands loose by the sheaths at my thighs.
Professor Kaori’s eyebrows jump as he glances between us. “You?” he murmurs.
“Me,” I answer, keeping my focus on Jack.
A page later, this next part takes place:
Jack stares at me in disbelief. “You?”
“Me.” The throbbing in my ankle is down to a manageable, dull ache, even standing on it.
The most bizarre conversation I’ve ever read.
There are many more parts like this. Characters that are super malicious suddenly realize they’re wrong and go “I’m- so sorry” then immediately move back to one-dimensional villainy. The writing and conversations and descriptions are so stilted so often I put down the book every five pages to scream into my pillow. So many parts are so cringe-worthy, including the ending twist that so many people love.
4. The sex scenes. Oh my God. As sex scenes go, these aren’t the worst of them. In fact, they’re not bad at all, I just find them really funny. Remember that scene in Twilight on Edward and Bella’s wedding night? They were having sex but Edward’s vampire strength was so strong the bed broke down and the wall behind the bed crumpled. Violet and Xaden’s sex scenes are all like that, except more dramatic. There’s lightning flashing outside. The door shattered. The curtains were set on fire. The chairs were all destroyed. The armoire got demolished. The windows were broken. Apparently, the bed was the only thing that didn’t break. Maybe it’s a Twilight reference. Most dramatic sex scene I’ve read in a long while. When Rhysand and Feyre from A Court of Thorns and Roses have sex, the mountains shake. When Xaden and Violet have sex, the forest gets burned down. Now that I think about it, Xaden and Rhysand are really similar too: the painful past and self-sacrificing personality and dark brooding-ness and the smirks and the “respects women”. Dain is literally Tamlin. So, I guess this proves again how overdone these character tropes are. This whole thing is just so funny to me.
5. The world-building info dump is so ridiculous. I understand that fantasy books typically have some sort of info dump. They can be quite useful. But Fourth Wing literally has the main character doing this while on the verge of dying because she’s a “history scholar” who “calms down through reciting facts.” She would just be listing the characteristics of different kinds of dragons while climbing a vertical ramp. It’s just so funny. It also means I really can’t take the stakes seriously when I’m just laughing at the info dump. I honestly liked the high stakes in the book (even though they are unrealistic in places) because they keep the plot very fast-paced. This is really just a minor issue, but still, so funny.
6. Xaden’s nickname for Violet is Violence. Firstly, that’s a stupid nickname and sounds ridiculous. Secondly, Violet isn’t violent at all. She just throws some knives and poisons some people. She didn’t even kill anyone until 75% of the book, at a war school where people are constantly murdering each other. Couldn’t Rebecca Yarros nickname her “Vi” or something like that? I can’t take the romance and sexual tension seriously when the guy is calling the girl “Violence.”
I was honestly having such a good time when I started the book. The stakes made it engaging, and I was interested in seeing more of the characters. The more it got towards the end, the more the overdone tropes, the cringeworthy dialogue and characterizations, the terrible nonsensical worldbuilding, the way everyone treats each other like shit, the way Xaden and Violet’s dragons keep calling her smart when she’s an unreasonable idiot, and the horribly expectable plot twist start to grate on me. I wasn’t even having a good time. I was just really frustrated, and I wanted to be done with the whole thing so badly.
I never want to think about this book ever again. I don’t know how something so bland and awkward ever became so hyped.
Author: Angela Zhang
