Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, Bk. 1)
Format
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About
Psst! A few lucky copies have stunning sprayed edges—maybe yours will be one of them! No guarantees, no special requests—just a little bookish luck.
A #1 New York Times bestseller • TV series in development at MGM Amazon Studios with Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society • Amazon Best Books of the Year, #4 • Apple Best Books of the Year 2023 • Barnes & Noble Best Fantasy Book of 2023 • NPR “Books We Love” 2023 • Audible Best Books of 2023 • Hudson Book of the Year • Google Play Best Books of 2023 • Indigo Best Books of 2023 • Waterstones Book of the Year finalist • Goodreads Choice Award Winner • Newsweek Staffers’ Favorite Books of 2023 • Paste Magazine’s Best Books of 2023 • TikTok Book Awards UK and Ireland Book of the Year (International) 2024
Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general, also known as her tough-as-talons mother, has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter, like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda, because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.
Topics and Key Themes
Narrative Tropes
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
- Academic Rivals
- Touch Her and Die
Key Themes
- Survival in a system built against you — Violet fights a war college designed to kill the weak before dragons even choose.
- Power hidden beneath fragility — a brittle body conceals magic that reshapes the battlefield and the power hierarchy.
- Institutional betrayal — the closer Violet looks at Navarre's leadership, the more the kingdom's truth unravels.
- Dangerous alliances at dragon-bonding — loyalty shifts constantly when every classmate is both rival and potential ally.
- Secrets that outlive the war — the wards are failing and the people meant to protect Navarre are the ones lying about it.
Who is this book for?
Spice Level: 4 out of 5 4 / 5: Very Spicy
Turning up the heat! Multiple steamy scenes with clear, descriptive detail and strong chemistry. Romance and spice share the spotlight here.
About the Author
Rebecca Yarros is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than fifteen novels, with multiple starred Publishers Weekly reviews and a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. A second-generation army brat, Rebecca loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for more than twenty years. She’s the mother of six children, and she and her family live in Colorado with their stubborn English bulldogs, two feisty chinchillas, and a cat named Artemis, who rules them all.
Having fostered, then adopted their youngest daughter, Rebecca is passionate about helping children in the foster system through her nonprofit, One October, which she cofounded with her husband in 2019. To learn more about their mission, visit oneoctober.org.
To catch up on Rebecca’s latest releases and upcoming novels, visit RebeccaYarros.com.