# Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

### Fourth Wing

**Rebecca Yarros** · The Empyrean, book 1 of 5 (ongoing) · [https://houseofareader.com/books/fourth-wing](https://houseofareader.com/books/fourth-wing)

A scribe's daughter with a body that dislocates on principle is forced into a war college where cadets die on the first bridge and the dragons choose who lives. The rival trying to kill her turns out to have been the one keeping her alive.

- Spice: 3/5 — Hot. Three explicit scenes in five hundred pages, detailed but not frequent. The tension is doing most of the work.
- Romance prominence: 4/5
- Plot: 4/5
- Worldbuilding: 4/5
- Darkness: 3/5
- Writing craft: 3/5
- Burn: slow
- Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, academy, touch-her-and-die, slow-burn, he-falls-first
- Creatures: dragons, humans
- Setting: Basgiath War College, in a kingdom under permanent siege
- POV: first person
- Ending: happy ever after, ends on a cliffhanger
- Audience: adult
- Content warnings: graphic violence, death, chronic illness, war
- Best for: Readers who want competition and banter carrying as much weight as the romance.
- Last verified: 2026-08-28

## Sources

- https://openlibrary.org/search?q=Fourth+Wing+Rebecca+Yarros

## What to read next

- [Iron Flame](https://houseofareader.com/books/iron-flame) by Rebecca Yarros — spice 4/5. Fourth Wing readers who wanted the spice turned up and the stakes widened.
- [Zodiac Academy: The Awakening](https://houseofareader.com/books/zodiac-academy) by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti — spice 4/5. Fourth Wing readers who want the academy structure and a series they can finish.
- [The Serpent and the Wings of Night](https://houseofareader.com/books/the-serpent-and-the-wings-of-night) by Carissa Broadbent — spice 4/5. Fourth Wing readers who want the tournament structure with sharper prose behind it.
- [Powerless](https://houseofareader.com/books/powerless) by Lauren Roberts — spice 2/5. Fourth Wing readers who want the trials and the banter without the explicit scenes.

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Ratings are editorial judgements applied against a published scale at
https://houseofareader.com/lessons/spice, not aggregated reader scores. Editorial policy:
https://houseofareader.com/lessons/how-we-choose. No affiliate links, no sponsored placements.