Seren ⟡'s Reviews > Fourth Wing

I was torn between rating this a one-star and leaving it at that or writing a long, scathing review because my body is filled with dislike towards this shitshow. I don't want to waste my precious time over this but I don't want to sit with these feelings either lest I break my fingers because I punched the wall too hard.

So let me start by giving some advice to authors (yes, I'm qualified for this): please don't write stories unless you're bringing something- anything- new to the table. You don't have to bring a completely new concept, plot, writing style, character archetype, etc all at once. Just bring one single thing that hasn't been done before, or if it has been then don't fucking copy-paste it as it is. Change it up.

I mean, it's like y'all haven't read a decent amount of fantasy books before jumping in to write your own. I would have very much enjoyed this story as a 12-year-old who was just starting to delve into this genre, which is not this book's target demographic.

The characters have zero depth to them. I didn't feel a single thing when people were being killed left and right (almost comedically) because everyone is so fucking bland, it hurts.

Writers need to stop using the whole 'Female lead has a male childhood friend who suddenly turns out to be an asshole so the Male lead whom she has known for a week saves her from him' shtick. It's horrible and overused.

Violet is up there in the top 10 most insufferable MCs of all time (with the number of horrible romance books being published nowadays, this is quite a feat). She's introduced as being physically fragile but somehow defeats 3 armed guys who attack her all at once. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

She gets everything served on a silver platter and still has the audacity to complain about her "watchdog" who's there to protect her worthless existence.

Also, the male lead killed Violet's older brother. I don't know about you, but I would not be attracted to, or even want to look at, someone who killed anyone precious to me.

There's only one thing that goes on in Violet's mind and it's Xaden's dick - I'm not kidding. She is constantly thinking about how it would feel to touch him. It gets creepy real quick. She doesn't give it a rest. Not when people are killed right in front of her, not in life-or-death situations, and not when Xaden himself is humiliating her. I mean, is she a cat in heat???

.....

Oh wait ok, she is:

"My teeth sink into my bottom lip and I debate rubbing against him like a cat in heat while demanding he appease this unimaginable ache."


Sorry buddy, I'm too asexual for this. I was here for the dragons, not your internal horny monologue. In fact, your constant sexual arousal is a little worrisome, maybe go consult a doc or something.


TL;DR
I made it up to the ~60% mark only because of the dragons. They were cool, everyone else in the story sucks and can die.