So I finished, fourth wing last night and I’m totally disappointed, it’s the worst book I’ve read this year and one of the worst I’ve read in recent times, I read so many positive reviews about it that I expected a totally incredible story, nothing in the book works, the writing almost amateur( Wattapp says Hello!) character without personality, repetitive plot( I got sick of reading Violeta saying so much: I’m smaller and Brittle than everyone else) the feeling I had was that Rebecca Yarros intended to write a YA, but then because she wanted to write adult scenes (laughable by the way) changed the age of the characters to over twenty, without changing anything in the plot, all their attitudes and everything they do is as if they were 15 year old teenagers, nothing is original, the academy part sounds like a bad copy of Sabaa Tahir’s The Ember in the Ashes (it’s actually a great example of a well-written fantasy series), the dragons are a duller version of How to Train Your Dragon, the romance part is so childish and shameful, and the plot twist at the end was obvious from the beginning I know that most people loved the book and I respect that, but I would like to know if anyone else has a similar opinion.
Have you got some better recommendations? While I enjoyed FW and IF for what they are (simple reads), I’d quite like to explore the genre and find books I like for the right reasons
Recs in the new adult genre, or fantasy? Honestly, I don’t really know what I’m talking about when I say “new adult” haha, it’s a very trendy phrase right now and doesn’t actually have a clear meaning. But I’ll give some (mostly) fantasy recs!
I do like all of Sarah J. Maas’s series (which is why I thought I’d like FW, sigh). Throne of Glass is my favorite, then Crescent City, then ACOTAR, which I do like but I think is the worst quality of the 3 by far.
The Six of Crows duology got me back into fantasy in a big way. I was obsessed with these. They aren’t spicy but there are several incredible romantic subplots.
The Broken Earth trilogy is absolutely brilliant. Not romantic at all, and is quite emotionally brutal, but it’s a master class in world building.
If you want some silly romance that’s just easy to read and fun, I honestly really enjoyed the Bridgerton series.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I’m relatively new to fantasy myself. I have a bunch on my list that I’m excited about, such as The Serpent & the Wings of Night, One Dark Window, Once Upon a Broken Heart, etc.
Good luck and happy reading!!
Thank you so much! I’ve read all of these, but not the last ones you mentioned. I’ll give those a read after I finish the Temraire series next. :D
I would also chime in and offer up the Air Awakens series by Elise Kova. I felt like it was very Romantasy but without the criticisms that we’re seeing on Fourth Wing here - info dumping, telling instead of showing, etc.
I’ll check it out!