Fourth Wing(Independent reading post by Ruby Ballesteros)

    Currently I am reading a fantasy novel called Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. This novel follows the story of twenty year old Violet Sorrengail who lives in an alternate universe where dragons are real. There are different "quadrants," that a person goes into when they reach the age of 20, Violet has always been meant for the Scribe Quadrant, but her mother has other plans. Her mother expects her to join the riders quadrant, which means going through a deadly college, with no training and no confidence, she must survive and learn to  ride a  dragon. Will she survive the many deadly obstacles thrown her way, and die, or will she graduate and live?

    I have really been enjoying this book so far, and although I’m not quite halfway yet, it's already proven that it has quite the interesting plot. I like the alternate universe with the dragons. It feels almost… childish, but in a good way. I feel like the best way to describe this book would be entertaining, it's not necessarily a profound book or deep piece of literature, but it's very enjoyable to read. For example, there's a lot of action very early on in the book, like the many deadly obstacle courses that the students are forced to complete, but not everyone does. The other really interesting part of the book is the students are divided into “wings,” and the students that are from separate Wings can kill one another. “There’s a misconception that it’s kill or be killed in the Riders Quadrant. Riders, as a whole, aren’t out to assassinate other cadets[students]...unless there's a shortage of dragons that year or a cadet is a liability to their wing. Then things may get… interesting”( Yarros, 21). 

Despite this book being entertaining and enjoyable to read. I have mixed feelings about the main character. She has a good personality for the most part; she’s very determined, very focused and smart but she talks about her body a LOT. “I’m too short. Too frail. What curves I do have should be muscle, and my tratorus body makes me embarrassingly vulnerable”( Yarros, 3). This quote is only on the third page, and she doesn’t stop talking about how “small,” she is. Many other characters point it out as well, but it’s gotten to the point where it made me like the book significantly less. Of course there is nothing wrong about being small, but the media, including books, tells girls so often that they have to to be tiny in order to be worthy of attention or value, and it quite frankly makes me upset. I get that the point was that she is not meant to be a rider because she is small, but a person can be weak without being tiny, and the book would certainly be better if she didn’t remind us of the fact that she’s tiny on every page.  

Overall, I recommend this book to people who enjoy fantasy, romance and action. I think it's a very fun read and I never get bored reading this. I will say that if you are someone who doesn’t want to read about yet another girl who is “so small,” then don’t read it, because that kind of content can have more effect than you think. But the writing otherwise is pretty good, not hard to read, but not too easy. If you are able to look past what I think it's the novel’s only flaw, then you will have lots of fun reading this book.