5 Reasons Why 'The Fourth Wing' is so Addictive
AUGUST 19TH, 2026
The Fourth Wing is one of those books that I had to finish when I first picked it up. I’m embarrassed to admit that I ended up buying physical, digital and audio copies of it, just so I could finish it quickly to find out what happens!
So, when I was thinking about a good blog post, I decided to analyse The Fourth Wing to see what made this book so page-turning or audio-listening addictive! https://rebeccayarros.com/fourthwing
The Fourth Wing has all our favourite tropes, like dragons, death trials and an enemies-to-lovers romance. It’s like a pleasing mixture of Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Red Rising by Pierce Brown and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. But for me, it’s because of Violet Sorrengail, the romance and the authentic military details.
1. Violet has a physical impairment
Violet has a physical disability with fragile joints that dislocate easily, making physical tasks difficult. Despite the physical nature of the brutal military academy, she uses her brain to outwit her opponents. This begins the moment she joins the academy, when the entrance exam is so dangerous that many new recruits die. Violet uses strategy to work out how to survive. She never gives up, in part because of her disability, where she has to try extra hard to do things other people take for granted.
Everyone around her underestimates her, which she uses to her advantage. There is a twist later in the book, where her disability works to her advantage with the dragons, but I won’t explain more in case you haven’t read the book!
2. The military writing feels real
Author Rebecca Yarros grew up in army bases and was from a military family. Her husband is also in the military. This gives the Basgiath War College depth in her descriptions of military life and the challenges the recruits face: strict rules, friends dying around them in training, and leadership making questionable decisions under the guise of the greater good. The stakes have a reality underpinning them that can’t be faked.
3. Yarros’s personal experience gives an authenticity to Violet’s disability
Yarros has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and chronic pain. This makes her portrayal of Violet’s exhaustion and chronic pain feel authentic. She writes about how Violet is frustrated at how people underestimate and overlook her, something we can all relate to. Violet has resilience and mental strength that inspires me. She uses her powers of observation and intelligence to work out easier ways to do things and to outwit her opponents.
4. A romance that changes the plot
Violet’s romance with Xaden is an enemies-to-lovers relationship with secrets and trust issues. Violet’s mother helped to execute his dad, who was a rebel leader. Violet is constantly second-guessing Xaden’s motives. Is he with her for strategic gain or because he actually likes her?
5. Violet can’t trust the commanders
Violet realises the leadership is corrupt, so she has to constantly question whether she should follow orders. This is particularly fraught as Violet is the daughter of a General. Violet can’t be seen to not obey orders, and she has to work out ways around what she has been told to do, and the real reasons behind those orders. Yarros understands how command systems protect themselves. Her writing shows us how corrupting power can be and how difficult it is to stop the abuse of this power.
So, The Fourth Wing’s addictive prose is due to Yarros’s authenticity. Whether it’s in describing military life or living with a disability, her world feels real. She doesn’t give us a perfect heroine, but a heroine we can relate to and that inspires us. No wonder I bought all three versions!
- Chris
Fiction Rebellion Heroine