Fourth Wing was my first romantasy read and I wasn’t expecting much from it. How could I? I had people recommend it to me and the very next moment dismiss it as smut. Imagine my surprise, then, at Rebecca Yarros’ restraint, delaying the novel’s first sex scene until two thirds of the way through.
If you’ve read Harry Potter the set up is going to be familiar—young, but not that young, people in a magic school. It’s more cutthroat and dangerous, so it also earns comparisons to The Hunger Games. Yarros brings solid worldbuilding to her setting, as well as a magic system that mines interest from its rules and limitations while not being overly complex. Plus, it has dragons. Who doesn’t like dragons in their fantasy?
The plot is… well, is that what you’re really here for? There’s enough, at least, to keep you turning the pages when the romance isn’t front and center. I did appreciate how much time Violet, the protagonist, spent as an underdog. She’s the brains in a place where brawn is the core competency but she finds ways to overcome challenges that feel earned and true to her character. That kept me guessing when and where her failures would be while bringing me along as she developed. About 80% through the novel, I realized there wasn’t a true antagonist (odd) and guessed (correctly) that a surprise conflict would crop up to provide its (literary) climax. It felt like I was seeing the author’s hand at work—not the only time, either—but I get that her focus was elsewhere. There was, however, a twist near the end I missed putting together despite noticing its telegraphs.
About that focus I mentioned. Yarros picks the enemies-to-lovers trope to be the romance’s linchpin and it becomes obvious very early that’s the path readers are traveling. Violet and Xaden’s eventual, explicit trysts felt more like an inevitability rather than the result of a gradual build up of chemistry. They say things you expect of characters in a romance novel but a lot of it felt flat to me. I’ve described this flavor of romance as horny as opposed to sexy. I prefer the latter but, given the setting can be summarized as very lethal magic college for young adults, it fits.
I get why Fourth Wing has sold millions of copies. Calling it smut is too reductive but if you’re not open to reading descriptive sex in a novel then you’re not going to be able to get past that here. It’s got enough going for it outside of those three or four scenes, though. Will I continue the series? I doubt it. As a heterosexual male, I’m not the target audience and I could feel that. Would I recommend it? Sure, but it depends who’s asking.