Fourth
Wing, by Rebecca Yarros.
My nails are totally wrecked, and it’s all HER fault, that Rebecca Yarros! Her Fantasy novel fairly crackles with suspense, menace, romance (naturally!) and dragons, lots of them. Dragons are my favourite fantasy creatures, and Ms Yarros has created some truly majestic beasts, as befitting their vital importance to the welfare and protection of their riders, chosen by each dragon from students at Basgiath War College, who all hope to become Dragon Riders, protecting their country from enemies, both territorial and magical.
Violet Sorrengail is 20 years old and expecting to go to
the same college as a Scribe, a recorder of all history and battles fought now
and in the future; her mother is a
powerful general in the military and her sister Mira is a Dragon Rider; her brother Brennan was a Healer but lost his
life to Insurrectionists. Because of her small stature and frailty, Violet is
happy to have a sedentary but peaceful life as a recorder of her country’s
achievements – and failures.
Until mother suddenly changes her mind: Violet is to audition as a first-year dragon
rider, an audition so cruel and beyond her abilities that Violet knows now
beyond a shadow of a doubt that she’s definitely not her mother’s favourite
child. Well, OK, she’ll give it her
all: she’ll show Mother Dear that she
went to her death courageously, and the appearance of her sister Mira to give
her last-minute private advice and secret notes from her late brother spurs her
on to miraculous success: at the end of
the day she’s still here – not dead yet!
Sadly, her success also releases a dog-eat-dog
survival-of-the-fittest attitude from the other first-years. They see her as a weak link, someone to be
disposed of so that choosy dragons will pick them instead – why, she’s too
small to even climb on a dragon’s back, much less fight and kill from that
position: better get rid of her by fair
means or the other kind. No
self-respecting dragon would choose her anyway:
she’s goneburger.
But she’s not: as
we all know, love and hate are both sides of one coin; Xaden Riorson, leader of Fourth Wing,
Violet’s first-year group and son of a notorious Insurrectionist (Xaden was
forced to watch his father’s execution) has overcome his initial loathing and
is now firmly in her corner – because their dragons are mated! In fact, Violet has TWO dragons who chose
her, not one, so that when the showdown comes at the end of Book One, she has
twice the power against their enemies.
Well done, Ms Yarros; you didn’t
let me go until the very last sentence, and that will lead me straight into
Book Two. And I want a dragon for
Christmas! FIVE
STARS.
No comments:
Post a Comment