Why Fourth Wing (and the series) is Bad Fantasy

Yes, I'm comparing Rebecca Yarros to J.R.R. Tolkien. Sorry, booktok girls.
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[alliedavidson]

I DNF'ed Fourth Wing because killing talented recruits in the face of an incoming war is the stupidest of stupid. So they aren't up to snuff. Maybe they're good tacticians, maybe they're good front line people, maybe they're good at organization and can help with supply coordination to the front lines. YOU NEED BODIES DURING A WAR. That really was the book's death knell for me. And sure, Red Rising did that, but at least the characters were interesting and the plot well-written. And thanks for the recommend of Heavenbreaker. I just ordered it.

[elenawooo]

Someone said that some of booktok never had a watpad phase, and it shows. I cant help but think they were talking about these books.

[whitevixen]

I was shocked when i found out that Yarros is 43. I figured she was probably 17 or even early 20s due to the writing style.

[IrisDImtv]

I was really baffled by the plotholes in the first worlbuilding. Like "we're at war since 800 years ago" wow let's see the reasons, no change in society for so long? "They are at war with us since 800 years, but we are at war with them only the last 300"...so you ignored aggressions for half a millennia? "We have a trade agreement with them" WHAT? WITH THE NATION YOU'RE AT WAR WITH?!?

[defiantaichi]

Why is some fanfiction written like shakespeare, and then there is this published schlock

[erievans]

The second I heard about the *ends of her hair* going grey prematurely via a cute silver ombre I feel like I got a good idea of the quality of research and worldbuilding we were in for

[ijwzdji]

I started reading Fourth Wing and had to stop because it was actively making my writing worse. They say "read widely in your genre if you want to improve" but I cannot recommend FW for this.

[josephjarosch]

A problem I have with a lot of the recent 'Romantasy" books is that they have strong YA vibes inherited from the genre roots. So even though there is way more murder and fucking, everyone still talks and thinks like middle or high schoolers. It's unhinged.

[romanov]

I really dislike how in this book the MC has a disability but it rarely gets in her way in the actual story.

[mayasoley]

The only character I like in the books is Tairn, everyone else is severely unlikeable. Almost none of the characters have a distinct personality other than “be an overconfident hotheaded jerk and make witty passive aggressive one-liners.”

[SLJShortt]

These books are so popular because they provide a dopamine hit and nothing more. The studio just pulls out of making an ACOTAR tv show and it was a very smart decision because it probably would have crashed and burned. Twilight worked because it was more or less the first of its kind and was riding off the massive high of Harry Potter but all the other romance heavy books that were solely geared towards female readers failed miserably (Vampire Diaries was pretty successful but then the TV show changed almost everything from the books). They're now talking about making Fourth Wing into a TV and I'm about 99% sure that it won't happen.

These books aren't passion projects, no matter what the authors say in interviews and on social media etc. It's more like A.I. writing. The author finds a bunch of tropes that are popular i.e. "shadow magic", "friends to lovers" or "spice" and then writes something that fills in the gaps between those things. A few years from now, these books will be brushed aside and forgotten in favour of the newest thing that ticks all the right boxes. The tropes may change (maybe it'll be sci-fi or post-apocalyptic instead of fantasy) but they'll be more or less the same book with the same shallow characters, a tiny string of world building and some idiotic BS pretending to be a plot vaguely visible in the background.

[breakingthechains]

Another reviewer said, "Fourth Wing isn't fantasy. It's a romance set to a fantasy backdrop, " which I think serves the series well.

And also explains why I can't even read past chapter one. I prefer fantasy with romantic subplot, not romance in a fantasy setting.

[lexidezalia]

I’ve tried reading it 4 times and never got past Chapter 4.

[kaylacollins]

This review had me CRYING. I’m glad you acknowledged the dialogue in this because it was a real issue for me from start to finish. Even when the story was good, I was like I wish you’d not talk 😭

[WynterRyot]

She's just a book girlie. I'm dead. Subbed

[kaitlynbrown]

I only read Fourth Wing and my hot take is no one actually likes it they were just gaslit by internet into liking them

[isabelleward]

I DNF'd Fourth Wing at the dedication 💀 something tells me a book about fantasy war written by an american military wife is just going to piss me off.

[jimmyneutron]

I was at lunch with a coworker who excitedly told me the entire story of Fourth Wing, I then suggested Circe to make it stop. She proceeds to tell me Circe was to YA for her………..

[freedemonhugs]

glad to find a book reviewer who doesn’t play it up for the camera. thank you for being so personable and easy to listen to.

[sapphi]

You can find so many Indie Authors writing fantasy/dark fantasy with great plot, character development etc, and they have so little attention and reviews. For example: Pillar of Dreams: Book One: Dreams and Nightmares, or Please Let Me Save You. Even authors that are traditionally published and their books are great - Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder