Fourth Wing
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ✨ (3½ stars)
Fourth Wing (Empyrean, Book 1) by Rebecca Yarros
Another step towards the death of YA Fantasy. ☠️🐉
First off, this book is overrated. Good, but overrated. Very, very, very, very overrated. 📈
So, why 3½ stars if it's that overrated? Like I said, it's good. But the levels of hype this book is getting is out-of-this-world insane.
By far, the most immersion breaking characteristic of this book is its use of modern language 🗣️. Coming from a primarily New Adult romance author writing fantasy for the first time, this may have just been a hard habit to break. But if it was a purposely made artistic choice, then it was a bad one. Had the book been written in a more fantasy-esk vernacular, it probably would've solved a lot of its issues.
A good chunk of the middle of the book is tedious to say the least. For a long while, not a lot happens, and it sometimes feels like the plot doesn't know where it's going. That being said, for what seemed like 90% of the book, it almost had no plot. In regard to the Empyrean series as a whole, the true plot doesn't reveal itself until pretty much the final chapter. And I think that's where the problem with Fourth Wing lies for me: on its own, it's entertaining with a myriad of flaws, but needs the rest of the series to truly be great. Perhaps once the sequel, Iron Flame, comes out, or even the entire series is completed (unknown how long it will be at this point), I'll be able to look back at the first book with a renewed appreciation.
Throughout the book there's constant talk of how dangerous Basgiath War College is, and that only a percentage of the class is going to survive. However, the execution of this fails to convey that danger. It's as if the author didn't know how to emphasize it, so every so often you're reminded by someone you didn't know and didn't care about dying again 💀 and again 💀 and again 💀. But while the bodies pile up, they don't mean anything because we didn't know anything about them beyond their names (and sometimes we don't even get that). It often feels like the school is just throwing away lives trying to kill their students simply because that's the way it is. But with how many "off-screen" deaths there are while the rest of the school just carries on, it's to the point where it almost seems like a logistical issue within the world building. How can they have so many soldiers die on a normal basis while still in training and still be able to function as an army?
As a reader, finding out a group of people that I didn't even know existed just died doesn't change anything. The illusion of danger combined with no emotional attachment simply doesn't hit. Perhaps a chapter dedicated to establishing comradery, such as the classmates getting to know each other during lunch or in the dorms. Then when they die, focus on the brutality and manner in which they died, and the emotional and psychological toll those deaths have.
All-in-all, yes, it's good, but it's also nothing new. This is just giving you more of what you've already read and what most are known to like, just with a new coat of paint. And whether or not someone praises it or criticizes it is going to depend on whether or not they're okay with that.
Something I always try to avoid in my reviews is comparisons. I don't like reviews that compare a product to other products, instead of judging it on its own merits and considering that it’s not trying to be like those other products. But Fourth Wing’s success and hype is undoubtedly a direct result of how very reminiscent it is of other infamous YA series like ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, Shadow and Bone, and Red Queen. That being said, yes, this book is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and the like. So, why would this book be the death of YA Fantasy? Because this always happens: a book is massively hyped, then turns out to be mediocre. But the real reason is while Fourth Wing is categorized, marketed, and overall considered to be YA, it is very adult. From the language 🤬, to the violence ⚔️, to the sex ❤️, this, along with the previously mentioned established YA series, are prime examples of how YA is becoming increasingly adult. And an annoying hallmark of YA, that this book is also yet another to prove true, is a book being categorized as YA by the simple fact that its characters are teenagers, regardless of content or subject matter. (On that note, many retailers have actually moved Sarah J. Maas' ACOTAR series to the regular Fantasy category.) As this and many of the other trends continue, I can't help but wonder: will actual YA Fantasy cease to exist? 🚫📚
