A year ago, I wrote about my journey as a reader to loving flawed characters and appreciating how their flaws shape the story. And since then, I’ve been more aware of how a story can challenge the reader regarding their belief about the real world or literary expectations for specific genres and character types. I recently had a wonderful experience being challenged by Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. 

How corrupt governments are viewed by the protagonist

The first chapter already had me raising my eyebrows. It didn’t make any sense to me why the government would set up tests and challenges that could kill a citizen who is willingly trying to be part of the military. Right away my question was, “Why don’t they have some sort of magical something to catch the people who fall from the parapet so that they can pick a different career since they aren’t cut out to be a dragon rider?” And it made even less sense that those who made it into the rider’s quadrant were not only allowed but encouraged to kill their classmates. Once again, why isn’t something set up to protect their lives, but they can still fail and be sent back to civilian life? This violent and deadly setup was my first major clue that the government was corrupt.

The next early clue is the fact that children of separatists (a rebellion/secession that happened before the story started) are forced to walk the parapet and to [hopefully] die in the rider’s quadrant, though many make it through, like Xaden, Imogen, Garrick, and Liam. 

But where I got stuck was Violet’s (the main character) acceptance that this is how it is. She doesn’t question it. She doesn’t want to be part of it herself, but she doesn’t view it as bad or evil, just not for her. And it took her a long time to start to question what was going on. It was very frustrating for me because there was a very clear Hunger Games vibe with many of the training, tests, and games that the riders do to strengthen themselves for war. And because of that, I erroneously expected Violet to be more like Katniss in knowing right off the bat that her government is awful.

But Violet doesn’t come from an oppressed part of the kingdom. She’s moved around as a “military brat” with her mom rising in fame and power as a war general. So, of course she’ll have a different view of things. It’s not how she starts, it’s how she ends. And in the end, Violet accepts the truth.  

Whose job is it to flirt in fiction?

Violet and Xaden are both dealing with enemies-to-lovers and forbidden love tensions that make them fight their attraction toward one another for the first three-quarters of the book. Before they give in to their feelings, the reader gets 300 pages of Violet’s inner thoughts about how beautiful, muscley, and hot Xaden is. And at first, it was a little cringe for me. 

Tangent time: I was in high school when Twilight came out, and I fell hard for that series. My dance coach decided to read the first book because all of us teenage girls were constantly talking about it. Her response: “I got really bored of Bella constantly moaning about how ‘he’s so hot, I can’t stop thinking about him.’” It made me laugh then, and it still makes me laugh now. 

Anyway, that’s how I felt being in Violet’s thoughts about Xaden when it appeared he didn’t feel it back, yet. (Keyword: appeared) 

So, Violet and Xaden eventually give in to their attraction and they have two kisses before they finally do the deed. After that, Xaden doesn’t quite say “this was a mistake” (thank Gods), but he does say they’re not going to be in an official relationship. Violet decides she has more self-respect than to be his dirty little secret, so she decides they won’t have anymore physical relations if they aren’t going to also have an emotional relationship. Xaden respects her boundaries, though he’s confident he can break through them again. During their “dry spell”, Violet continuously reminds Xaden how great they could be together and how she’s certain he does feel something for her. 

During these moments I felt second-hand embarrassment for Violet. She was coming off as clingy and crazy.

But then I had a realization and metaphorically slapped myself in the face. If Violet was a male character, all of her thoughts about Xaden being beautiful and her attempts to convince Xaden to give them a try would be viewed as cute and expected for a romance. I realized I was still stuck in the society I had grown up in: the boy chases the girl, the girl does not chase the boy. 

And I got to thinking about my own relationship. I offered my number to my husband first. I asked him on a date first. 

So in our 21st Century of trying to retain equal rights: girls can chase the relationship if they’re comfortable doing that. And Xaden loves Violet’s confidence. 😉    

Cliff Hangers 

Rebecca Yarros ends almost every single chapter on various levels of a cliffhanger. Which writers have been strongly encouraged to do. You want the reader to NOT pause at the end of the chapter. But I’m not the kind of reader that needs every chapter to end that way. When the story is amazing, I don’t need a cliff hanger to convince me to keep reading. And Fourth Wing is more than good enough on its own. I’m happy when a chapter ends with temporary breaths of relief, resignation, or something more calming. In addition to that, several cliff hangers didn’t lead into the next chapter. The scene would skip several hours, days, and sometimes weeks. So It was a little frustrating when that happened. In my opinion, a cliffhanger should only happen if the next chapter starts where the previous chapter left off.

At the same time, I think I understand why Rebecca Yarros wrote Fourth Wing this way. This book takes place over the course of an entire calendar year, and we have to go through action packed military college scenes mixed with spicy romance. There was a lot to cover, and the book is already incredibly long, so some things did need to be skipped over and left up to the reader’s imagination or summarized through telling. 

Overall, Fourth Wing was a wild ride that I enjoyed immensely. In fact, I’m so hooked on Violet’s journey, that I moved the sequel, Iron Flame, to the top of my tbr list. I’m 300 pages in and can’t wait to write my analysis for that one.

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