The Empyrean #1
Release Date: 02/05/2023
Age: Adult
Genre: Fantasy / Romance
ISBN: 9780349436999
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Number of pages: 512
A thrilling fantasy filled with romance and dragons where Violet must battle to stay alive and learn how to become a dragon rider amidst the danger and fiery intrigue of Basgiath War College.
Welcome to the brutal and elite world of Basgiath War College, where everyone has an agenda, and every night could be your last…
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.
Alliances will be forged. Lives will be lost. Traitors will become allies… or even lovers. But sleep with one eye open because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.
I cannot fully articulate how much I loved this book. I didn’t sleep, I didn’t eat, and when I finished I had the overwhelming urge to just start it all over again to dampen the pain of waiting for the next book. (I did, in fact, start it again). It’s the kind of book that has your staring into space after you finish, unable to accept that it’s not real. It immediately made it into my favourite list; it is also highly possible it will be the best book I read this year.
Fourth Wing is a breathless, romantic, action packed ride (pun indented), filled with some of my favourite elements: a deadly academy filled with trials, dragons (!), and a simmering romance. Yarros has created a rip-roaring novel filled with lovable characters and teeth-biting action that everyone needs to read!
Not only was the story compelling, but Yarros dealt expertly with the pain that the main protagonist, Violet, deals with – taking it and making it a strength rather than a weakness.
I truly could go on and on about how much I love this book, and there is no way I can summarise the gauntlet of emotions it took me through. So all I can say is if you love fantasy filled with dragon riders, an academy setting, and a swoon worthy romance then you have to read this book! Honestly, if you only read one book this year, I’d make it this one. Especially if you love Sarah J. Maas, Lynette Noni, or Mary E. Pearson.
(In summary Rebecca Yarros has successfully gripped my heart, and after that ending I NEED the next book. I’m no longer a functioning person, but I’m ok with that.)
Just … I really recommend it!
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