Fourth Wing: Ch 28
This is it, y’all. This is the chapter I’ve been waiting for. This is the chapter that made me so mad I had to temporarily stop reading.
Fourth Wing: Chs 25 - 27
Today we cover the fabled Squad Battle. Everyone engages in an obstacle course run, a sparring tournament, and a secret third thing.
Fourth Wing: Chs 23 - 24
Violet and Rhiannon discuss the make-out in the way that best friends have always discussed embarrassing make-outs. Much wailing, teasing, and gossip. Rhiannon reveals that she got her special magic, which is to summon/teleport things. Any rider can use the lesser magic to telekinetic things, but teleporting is special. Apparently it’s rare and uber special, just like every other power a main character has. Go figure.
Fourth Wing: Chs 21 - 22
Violet now has to go about her day with Liam playing bodyguard, including when she goes to do her library chores. Fortunately, he’s pretty chill to get along with. Unfortunately, he’s very dedicated to being a bodyguard.
Fourth Wing: Chs 19 - 20
So the little gold dragon has managed to stop time to save Violet from getting stabbed.
Fourth Wing: Chs 17 - 18
Violet and the new riders move to new barracks where everyone gets a private room. The next morning lots of people are coming out of each other’s rooms after banging and being goofy about being caught. Because, yeah, that’s what plenty of 20 year-olds do after an intense situation.
Rhiannon was previously caught doing the walk of pride with another woman cadet, this morning it’s a man coming out of her room, and Violet just gives her shit about picking Sawyer. This and other little moments make the world seem bi-normative in the way our world is hetero-normative, and I dig it. (Pan? Anything-goes-normative? Idk, there’s just no judgment and it’s not a plot point in any way, yay!)
Fourth Wing: Chs 14 - 16
Violet faces off against Jack, Tynan, and Oren with the knowledge that Xaden can’t do anything to interfere. Well, he can, but doing so would be against the rules. She’s hindered by a sprained strained slightly tweaked ankle and a baby dragon who utterly lacks all sense of self-preservation.
So naturally she pretty much curb stomps the boys.
Fourth Wing: Chs 11 - 13
Violet continues to have trouble with the obstacle course right up until the do-or-die day. Is it a literal do-or-die? Hell if I know because this book isn’t clear. People don’t even act like there’s any pressure, it’s more like 100% of these people are so dedicating to being a dragon rider that they’re willing to engage in extremely risky training for the chance. Not one single person has said ‘I want out’ and Violet’s out is secret so we have zero clue as to what would happen in that scenario, which is just boggling to me.
Fourth Wing: Chs 9 - 10
And now we get to wonder if Xander will kill Violet on the sparring mat. Because there’s totally going to be a chance that might happen. I mean, we all know how dangerous the man is. We’ve been told over and over again, right?
Fourth Wing: Chs 6 - 8
Dain carries Violet out of the gym and all the way to the infirmary, while Violet scolds him for ‘letting everyone know he cares about her.’
Yeah, I think the boat’s already sailed on that point. Also, while fraternizing with your chain of command should present a problem and it’s right to worry about that, it just…never does. No problems ever come of it. Kind of makes all the hubbub feel pointless in retrospect.
Fourth Wing: Chs 3 - 5
If Jack wants to kill me, he needs to get in line. Besides, I have a feeling Xaden Riorson is going to beat him to it.
Might I remind you, Xaden has literally stood there, looked kinda upset, and then made a snide remark. Literally the entire extent of their interaction so far. Meanwhile Jack has literally tried to kill her already.
The rain stops again literally right after she’s done crossing, which seems weird to me because it’s a book. It doesn’t cost you more to keep it raining. Why make it so obvious that it was just for the sake of Violet’s drama?
Fourth Wing: Chs 1 - 2
New year, new me, new book! Well, same me, unfortunately.
Fourth Wing has had a huge hype train since it came out, which confounds me. Having read the entire book now, I can see why it has fans, but not why it has hype. The story is a mediocrely executed adventure/romance with some fun parts and bland enough to have a wide appeal in this genre. But…nothing about it is new. Usually when something gets this level of fandom it’s because, regardless of the quality of the writing, it has something that the readers haven’t encountered before. Something from an existing subgenre that just broke containment somehow. ‘Compete or die’ stories are already popular. ‘Hot bad boys who are secretly good’ are already popular. ‘Dragons’ are already popular, and this particular style of fantasy dragon has been dominant since Anne McCaffery’s books. So why did this book sweep through TikTok? Utterly baffling. Oh well, let’s begin.
Oops
I know what you're thinking. "Oh my, she really put up a poll like that to tease us and then just bounced? Again?" Well, I didn't mean to.
See, my dad thinks I'm more academic than I really am and sometimes I try to live up to his expectations by reading a brick of a book about how aliens can't do math or somesuch.
Don't worry. I am ready to start writing again. Expect posts to start on Monday.
The Diviners: Chs 22-23
The Diviners: Chs 19-21