So Much Cringe, But High Entertainment Value
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2024 | Rating: 5/5 | Best Sellers in Kindle Store
you turned oranges into a weapon violence  xaden riorsonhigh fantasy dragons and an enemiestolovers romance in a world wrought with war yes please okay lets 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 wellwhen i started reading i was thinking yeah a nice new young adult fantasy with dragons i hope its as good as eragon yes i know i knowi 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 werent enough right from the getgo and manwere some of then 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 twelveyearolds who have heard about ex but havent 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 meansbut if you picture that particular similewhat does that even mean there were better choices out there thana tree🤦‍♀️cringe aspect incoming while i love a good enemiestolovers 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 exceptevery time he has the chance theres some dumb excuse as to why he didnt and then all of a sudden hes 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 enemy aspect there should have been more time taken to explore xadens own hatred of violet and viceversaat least it gets better after about halfway through the book roughly page 250 the cringe isnt there anymore its like the author became a better writer as she was writing the human characters finally started getting some dimension to them and the cringeworthy dialogue with one exception about measuring size though its placement wasnt too bad was no longer present we finally get a little bit of xadens hatredturnedpassion toward violet but still not enough to see why he would want to kill violet 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 enemiestolovers feel 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 characters dragons which we dont get to see a whole lot of with the dragons having their own governing system and being respected as the highest of beings 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 worldthere are two parts about the book that absolutely make it phenomenal threshing and the last 50 pages of the novelthreshing 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 scene comes somewhere between pages 120180ish and is the part of the novel that truly had me hooked i couldnt 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 actionpacked cliffhanger ending making the reader itch for more i dont even know where this story will go from here i know whatever happens ill be along for the ride and i know ill have my wildest imaginings blown out of the waterfinal consensus  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐💎why overall the entertainment value of this novel has great sway in my final rating despite complaining about cringey aspects they offered great laughoutloud moments despite the flat characters at first they definitely fill out a bit more later and the thing is one cant hate on that its 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 that 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 romanceand loss yesi 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 ie a must read for all fantasy lovers and seekers of a toptier book with dragons