Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
The Gist
I went into Fourth Wing expecting fire-breathing dragons, high-stakes battles, and a fierce heroine. What I got was a hormonal fever dream with wings. Call me cynical, but if I wanted this much panting and brooding, I’d rewatch a teen drama from 2009.
The Details
The protagonist is supposed to be training for survival in a deadly war college. Yet somehow, she spends more time obsessing over jawlines than strategy. Every guy gets described like he walked off a romance cover. Every moment alone with one becomes a slow-burn cliché. The world is literally falling apart, but she’s laser-focused on whether her crush likes her back. Priorities, right?
To be fair, the book does have dragons. They’re there—occasionally. Mostly, though, they feel like props for spicy scenes and dramatic exits. Any potential for real world-building gets buried beneath endless internal monologues about chiseled abs and heated glances. I kept waiting for the plot to pick up, but it never flew higher than a smolder.
Romance in fantasy? Love it. Steamy moments? Great when earned. But here, everything feels rushed and shallow. The emotional stakes never hit because the story doesn’t take the time to build real connections. It’s all heat, no depth. The protagonist could’ve grown or made hard choices, but nope—she’s too busy getting flustered by anyone with cheekbones.
Also, why is every male character either brooding and damaged or aggressively mysterious? It’s like someone ran “hot guy” through a fantasy name generator and slapped them all into a love triangle. Or quadrangle. I lost count.
To be clear, I’m not against fun, flirty fantasy. But I was hoping for dragons that mattered, a heroine I could root for, and a story that didn’t read like someone’s Wattpad draft with a bigger budget. Instead, I got 500 pages of “I shouldn’t want him… but his shirt is clinging to his muscles…”
The Verdict
Bottom line: If you like your fantasy filled with longing stares and steamy tension—and don’t mind if the actual plot sits in the corner quietly—you’ll probably love Fourth Wing. But if you’re looking for depth, stakes, or a protagonist whose thoughts extend beyond her next kiss, you may want to look elsewhere.
