Content Warning: Spoilers for the novel “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros.

After months of seeing it on Booktok and my friends’ Instas and overhearing people talk about it in class like they were part of a cool secret club, I read the Dragon book.

“Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros is about 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail, who trained to be a scribe but is forced into Dragon College by her mean mommy, General Sorrengail. Dragon College is very dangerous, and people die all the time. People who survive get a dragon BFF and superpowers. Dragon College is extra dangerous for Violet because she has the fantasy version of Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes, but she’s a tough bitch, so she makes it through. 

At Dragon College, Violet meets the hate-to-love interest, Xaden Riorson, and they have family drama (uprisings, murdered family, and revenge stuff). But they’re also both hot, so the boning is inevitable. 

Other stuff happens, like political intrigue, bad guys who turn out to be not-so-bad, and some interesting conversation about the terrible consequences of restricting information and rewriting history. I jived with it, and I think I would have enjoyed this book more if that had been the plot’s focus, rather than “Dragon School is Dangerous and Xaden is Sexy.” 

What I did like about this book was the disability representation, although I understand why it confused some readers. I’m far from an expert on Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes, but people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes are still mobile and capable of physical feats. Some readers may have enjoyed this book a lot more if they understood that disability can include a wide range of abilities and challenges and that what one person can do, another may struggle with. Violet’s story was a positive reminder that you can surpass quite a few obstacles with creativity and determination. But not all of them. 

I also appreciated the inclusion of characters like Jesinia, the deaf scribe, and Violet’s friend from her previous life as an academic. It would have been interesting if that character was also enrolled in Dragon College, and we could have seen what kinds of challenges she would have to overcome (it didn’t seem like Dragon College was particularly ADA-compliant).

However, what I didn’t love about most of these characters was that I could not tell them apart outside of their superpowers. I knew who Dain Aetos was, mostly because people on Instagram complained about him, but also because he was rigid and uncompromising in a way that eventually made him an antagonist, so that was fun. 

The rest of the characters felt much more one-note. Rhiannon was a bland BFF. I cannot tell you a thing about Ridoc – maybe he was the one with ice powers? Liam’s characteristic was that he did what Xaden wanted and was nice. There are other characters, but I don’t remember any of them. They were more plot devices than characters.

There’s a part in the book near the end where the people in Fourth Wing (which is a part of Dragon College, and is this book’s version of Gryffindor or Dauntless) share their powers and make an “Ocean’s Eleven“-style plan to rob General Sorrengail’s office. I felt like I was reading “X-Men with Dragons,” and I was ready for the book to end.

If you loved “Fourth Wing,” and you’re reading this, and all you can think of is how I deserve to be drawn and quartered, please pause for a moment. I’m only sharing my thoughts on this book, and I’m very much aware that I’m not in the majority here. I wish I’d liked this book, and I think I understand why it was so popular. If you have not read this book, and phrases like “X-Men with Dragons” and “Inevitable Boning” pique your interest, then you might love “Fourth Wing.” 

“Fourth Wing” is reminiscent of a lot of YA novels from the early 2000s and 2010s, specifically “Legend” and “Divergent.” While I completely understand the draw of those books, that means that “Fourth Wing” also contained many of the same detractors. 

Violet Sorrengail feels like a heroine from a YA Dystopian novel. She’s smarter than everyone else, kind and compassionate in a system that rewards brutality, and ethical, strategic, and creative. Despite her training as a scribe (which gives her an advantage regarding the more academic portions of her life at Dragon College), she has incredible, ninja-like accuracy with throwing daggers. Her brittle bones and joint pain may slow her down but rarely do these problems prevent her from accomplishing impressive physical feats. She has two dragons, which should be impossible, but not for her because she’s just that incredible. 

If you related to Violet, reading about her Dragon adventures may have been deeply emotionally fulfilling. Or at least exciting in a vicarious way. But as I am not a conventionally attractive, athletic, brilliant 20-year-old who can wield lightning and stop time, her journey did not resonate with me. If her story had abruptly ended with her getting eaten by a Dragon, then yeah, I would have related to that more. 

In addition to my inability to click with Violet’s character, I also struggled to look past the juvenile tone of the writing. Violet’s inner dialogue is anachronistic and often inappropriate, especially considering the brutality of her surroundings. So much of her inner dialogue (like when she thought about “climbing Xaden like a tree” or said, “_______ annoys the sh*t out of me”) was out of place and it would took me out of the story. The dialogue may have been better suited for a contemporary romance, which Rebecca Yarros has written.

There was one last moment that stuck out to me. Due to the heavy foreshadowing, I was unsurprised that Brennan, Violet’s “late” brother, was revealed alive at the book’s end. What surprised me was my reaction upon reading his words, “Welcome to the revolution, Violet.”

No lie; as soon as Brennan said that, my brain immediately began playing “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons. 

I hadn’t heard that song in years, but suddenly, it was 2013 again, and I am watching “The Host” with my friends and pretending I don’t like it, when the truth is, I think I might love it. As I continue to write all this and reminisce about the YA novels from a decade ago, I get why this book is so popular.  

I do not intend to read “Iron Flame,” which disappoints me. I wish I’d liked this book. I’m not cool or interesting because I didn’t enjoy “Fourth Wing.” If anything, I feel even more out of place. When I hear my friends excitedly discussing the series, now, instead of mild curiosity, I’m sitting in my little bubble of sadness, understanding why they like it but unable to arouse those feelings within myself. 

My friends hypothesized that I would like this book more if it had been about a dragon and a human falling in love. And sure, I won’t argue with that. In my defense, 90% of literature would be vastly improved if it included dragon-on-human romance. 

But no, that’s not why I didn’t like it. The truth is, it just wasn’t my thing. Maybe if it had featured doomed lovers in Ancient Greece or sexy space aliens, I’d be writing a different review. But for now, my final verdict is that “Fourth Wing” is okay. If you want to convince me to love it, go ahead and tell me why in the comments.