Fourth Wing

The book is the first installment in The Empyrean series. It is the first book published by Red Tower Books, an imprint of Entangled Publishing.[2] Its sequel, Iron Flame, is set to be released in November 2023.[3]

The novel's protagonist Violet displays many symptoms and parallel experiences to those with Ehlers–Danlos syndromes, including joint pain and hypermobility as well as the greying of her hair.[4] The condition is not specifically named in the novel, but Yarros has confirmed that Violet canonically has the syndrome.[1]

Set in Basgiath War College, the novel follows twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail in her first year in Rider Quadrant. She must bond with a dragon and train to be a warrior on the front lines of her kingdom's ongoing war.

The book had a mostly positive critical reception. Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, praising its worldbuilding, characters and "sexy dark academia aesthetic".[5] Alana Joli Abbott, in a review for Paste, praised its use of familiar tropes and compared it favorably to fantasy series like Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.[2]

Fourth Wing reached No. 1 on Amazon’s bestseller list.[1] The book also developed a fandom on BookTok.[3][6]

Kimberly Terasaki of The Mary Sue wrote about a phenomenon within the fandom of portraying Xaden, a primary love interest of the protagonist, as white in fan art despite the fact that he is described as a dark skinned person of color in the book. Yarros also commented on the phenomenon and asserted that the character is not intended to be white.[7]

The sequel Iron Flame is scheduled to release November 7, 2023.[6][8]