Description

A number one New York Times bestseller, Fourth Wing is the stunning first novel in Rebecca Yarros’ highly praised Empyrean series. Currently being adapted into a television series at MGM Amazon Studios with Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society, the book has achieved widespread acclaim. It was selected as Amazon’s #4 Best Book of the Year, featured among Apple Best Books of 2023, named Barnes & Noble’s Best Fantasy Book of 2023, and received accolades from NPR, Audible, Hudson, Google Play, Indigo, Waterstones (finalist), and Newsweek Staffers’ Favorite Books of the Year. The book also captured the Goodreads Choice Award, appeared on Paste Magazine’s Best Books of 2023, and won the TikTok Book Awards UK and Ireland Book of the Year (International) for 2024.

Praised as an exhilarating, passionate, and highly captivating fantasy, Booklist awarded Fourth Wing a starred review, noting Yarros’ impressive storytelling that seamlessly combines romance and adventure. Jennifer L. Armentrout, author of numerous #1 New York Times bestsellers, describes it as unlike any fantasy readers have experienced before, packed with heart-pounding intensity.

Fourth Wing introduces readers to a brutal and highly selective war college for dragon riders. Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was always meant for the Scribe Quadrant, destined for a quiet life surrounded by historical texts. But when her mother—Navarre’s commanding general, an intimidating woman famously stern and ruthless—forces her into the fiercely competitive rider training, Violet soon finds herself fighting for survival.

Physically smaller and fragile in a world where strength determines success, Violet faces seemingly impossible odds. Dragons don’t form bonds with the fragile; they destroy them. Moreover, the competition is deadly, with far fewer dragons available than hopeful cadets. Many fellow cadets would gladly kill Violet to improve their own odds; others want her dead simply because of who her mother is, including the school’s most notorious and deadly wingleader, Xaden Riorson.

Violet will have to draw upon every ounce of her cunning if she wants to see another sunrise. But with each passing day, external threats are increasing, the kingdom’s protections are weakening, and casualties are rising. Even more troubling is Violet’s growing suspicion that the college’s leadership is hiding a dark and dangerous secret.

In Basgiath War College, everyone—friend, enemy, lover—has their own hidden agenda. When you enter its doors, you only have two possible outcomes: graduate as a rider or die trying.

The Empyrean series is best read in order:

Book 1: Fourth Wing
Book 2: Iron Flame
Book 3: Onyx Storm