Fourth Wing (Special Edition) (The Empyrean, 1) Hardcover – November 7, 2023

“You turned oranges into a weapon, Violence?” – Xaden RiorsonHigh fantasy, dragons, and an enemies-to-lovers romance in a world wrought with war? YES PLEASE! Okay, let’s start at the beginning, the part before I even start reading the book. Fourth Wing is everywhere: Bookstagram, BookTok, everyone and their mother AND brother have read Fourth Wing. I was interested. I had been putting it off for fear that it would disappoint. Well…when I started reading, I was thinking “Yeah, a nice new young adult fantasy with dragons. I hope it’s as good as Eragon!” Yes, I know I know…I found out very quickly that this is an adult fantasy and definitely NOT young adult. I could tell by the type font and layout, as if the sexuaI innuendos weren’t enough right from the get-go! And man…were some of them so cringy. What force on this planet made me even think it was young adult?!Some of the innuendos and just the bickering, bantering type of dialogue was so cringy and awful that I had to read parts aloud to my husband for a serious laugh. It was like twelve-year-olds who have heard about s3x but haven’t experienced it trying to talk about it. It was awful. Cringy. So terrible that I was affronted that I was still enjoying the book! One of the lines I remember most was something like “I want to climb him like a tree.” Okay. I get what she means…but if you picture that particular simile…what DOES that even mean? There were better choices out there than…a tree…🤦‍♀️Cringe aspect incoming: While I love a good enemies-to-lovers trope, in fact one of my favorites, the way this was set up made the characters feel flatter than paper. We have our main character, Violet, whose small size is constantly emphasized for a good portion of the novel. Yes, thank you for telling us for the FORTIETH TIME that she is small and petite. Point taken. Cool. She is also warned early on about the traitor son, Xaden Riorson, who from the moment he sees her, emphasizes his need to kill her. Except…every time he has the chance, there’s some dumb excuse as to why he didn’t. And then all of a sudden, he’s saving her from death MUTIPLE times, and then they are kissing. ⚔️ This is all well and good, or would be, IF there was more to the enemies aspect. There should have been more time taken to explore Xaden’s own hatred of Violet, and vice-versa. Xaden also has this little nickname for her: Violence. This is okay…sometimes. But number one, she isn’t violent. She will harm her opponent for survival purposes, but doesn’t want to kill anyone. Number two, Xaden uses the nickname even at the worst of times, like in the midst of battle where the air of the scenario should be more serious. Sometimes “Violence” is over-used and takes away from what is happening in a dire moment.Fourth Wing (Special Edition) (The Empyrean, 1)At least it gets better. After about halfway through the book (roughly page 250), the cringe isn’t there anymore. It’s like the author became a better writer AS she was writing. The (human) characters finally started getting some dimension to them, and the cringe-worthy dialogue (with one exception about measuring size, though it’s placement wasn’t too terrible) was no longer present. We finally get a little bit of Xaden’s hatred-turned-passion toward Violet, but still not enough to see why he would want to kill Violet personally, as opposed to attempting to kill her mother, the main responsible party for his misery, instead. I know there will be more books to explore this later, but to make the true enemies-to-lovers identity, and for it to feel genuine, there should have been a bit more from the start.What truly makes this book shine is the dragons. Absolutely everything about the dragons. The series is named after their mysterious governing council (or what it is perceived as, though may be something else entirely), the Empyrean. The dragons are intriguing characters who all deserve more page time, especially Andarna and Sgaeyl, as well as the secondary character’s dragons, which we don’t get to see a whole lot of. With the dragons having their own governing system and being respected as the highest of beings is great, they certainly deserved more. The dragons also channel magic into their riders, and each rider manifests their own unique power based on their inner self. The magic system is enjoyable and works well for this world.There are two parts about the book that absolutely make it phenomenal: Threshing, and the last 50 pages of the novel.Threshing is the day when riders get to go out into the field and try to bond with a dragon. The dragon must pick the rider, of course, and not the other way around. No spoilers, but this section comes somewhere between pages 120-180ish and is the part of the novel that truly had me hooked. I couldn’t put it down!The last 50 pages of the novel are the exciting battle one waits for in this kind of book. Once again, no spoilers, but with references throughout and the multiple reveals during this stretch of reading make for an action-packed cliffhanger ending making the reader itch for more. I don’t even know where this story will go from here. I know whatever happens, I’ll be along for the ride and I know I’ll have my wildest imaginings blown out of the water.Final consensus: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐💎Why? Overall, the entertainment value of this novel has great sway in my final rating. Despite complaining about cringy aspects, they offered great laugh-out-loud moments. Despite the flat characters at first, they definitely fill out a bit more later, and the thing is, one can’t hate on that. It’s only the beginning of the story (my understanding at the time of this blog post is that it is planned as a five book series). The dragons truly make this book phenomenal, and everything about the last 50 pages really brought this novel to become something more, to put forward the promise to an exciting war story with its fair share of romance…and loss. Yes…I even teared up a bit at one part. No matter what anyone tells you about the book, its entertainment value makes for a FIVE STAR DIAMOND of a novel… i.e. a MUST READ for all fantasy lovers and seekers of a top-tier book with dragons.

I saw the hype for this book everywhere and I saw MANY of my all time, auto buy authors RAVING about this story. So my expectations were set at an all time high.I was 1,000% not disappointed!! I legit read this book in 12 hours. In one day I started and finished this book, and while I consumed it, I knew I was going to be devastated when I finished. Well, here I am devastated but also extremely happy.Also? THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW. For once I didn't read an early copy so I can say whatever I want and I'm oh so going to lol.Violet. VIOLET! I need to be her friend. She is fantastic person. So super smart, I love that she wanted to be a scribe and be surrounded by books. And her ability to retain information is amazing! Makes her the dangerous student in her school. And her the brilliant plan she came up with for each of her sparring sessions made me jump up and down with joy.Xaden. I loved him the second he learned Violets name and threatened her life. The tension between them was instantaneous and it was always sizzling between them with every encounter. For them to have waited so long to cave in to their attraction was agonizing but so worth it. Though he's really put himself into a deep hole by the end of this book. I'm really really going to enjoy seeing him pull out all the bells and whistles to gain Violets trust again. I know it's going to be even more intense I bet.I honestly despise her mother. I cannot believe she is willing to risk another child, especially considering Violet had only been training for 6 months. All because of their name and image. I would have had a few choice words for her. And then later when Violet proved herself to her mother's standards? AND HER MOTHER IGNORED HER??? Hell no. No. No. No.Another person I hate? Dain. That spineless weasel, I can't stand him. I need to be Violets friend so I can punch him and break his nose, I swear. He's only out for himself. One minute he's lecturing Violet, telling her what to do, acting like she's not 20 years old, the next he's celebrating the exact thing he was scolding her about and acting like he was responsible for it. Just because he realized that he can be associated with her and her some fame from it or something. And his "the rules say...." oh just shove it, Dain.The amount of people after Violet in this bookis insane and that girl has so much luck on her side.Also? I loved how many people died in this book. Do not get attached to many of these characters because they drop like flies.The dragons. THE DRAGONS!!! I freaking love them. Every single second a dragon is on these pages I'm in love. Especially Tarin - he's hilarious and I love his and Violets banter!The revolution happening is going to get crazy in the upcoming books. I'm not the biggest fan of those but I'll suffer through it to continue loving these characters.Now, the biggest spoiler because I need to remember for book 2. So, you know, don't read of you don't want spoilers...I CAN'T BELIEVE BRENNAN IS STILL ALIVE!!!!!!! How did he fake his death with his mother?? Does she know? Is her mother in the dark? How mad is Violet going to be?? Her father died from his death basically and Violet loved her father. Also? This is not going to go well with Xaden keeping this from her and HE BETTER TELL HER EVERY FREAKING SECRET IN HIS LIFE!!!!! If he messed up what they have forever and she moves on to someone else I'll never forgive him.So suffice to say, this book has me obsessed and I'm about to own 4 copies - at least! The hype is worth it. I'm telling everyone to read it. And I can't wait for more!

Amazing book! Great for the collection!

I had a really great experience! Book arrived in perfect condition and I really appreciated how fast the shipping was. Overall really happy!