This is everything that Fourth Wing should have been
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Read this or you’re dead to me
I’m serious. Fight me.
I love dragon books. The moment I see a dragon book, it’s getting added to my TBR. Dragon books with romance? Sign me up, bro.
Enter the Dark Sky series by Ella Walker Henderson. The cover of the first book, Wings of Night, was interesting enough and definitely stood out among the others. The reviews seemed promising, and I spent a bit sorting through the ARC reviews vs. readers who had read it organically. This is a good practice. Follow my example.
Needless to say, I was sucked in so quickly that I put off all responsibilities for the next few days. I flew through the first three books, then told everyone to leave me alone on the day that book four dropped. I plan to do the same with book five (Ella, if you’re reading this…you could always just give it to me early and I won’t tell anyone).
“Bold of you to compare it to one of the top romantasy books of all time when it has 0.04% the number of ratings”
Fifty Shades of Grey was the top-selling book in the world at one point. What’s your point? But fine. I’ll play along. Why is it like Fourth Wing and why is it better?
What is similar?
QUICK NOTE: The flying creatures in this book are the ancestors of dragons, and they are called “creatures”. Functionally, they’re similar. But they don’t breathe fire.
- Dark Sky is also a military setting where riders bond with their creatures through trials and tribulations. However, they aren’t incredibly brutal, the goal isn’t to “weed out the weak”, and people aren’t dying left and right. Ideally, everyone in the army is united and trained well. So the focus is more on raising everyone to be greater rather than just culling.
- There is an outside existential threat with different types of flying creatures, though the wool isn’t being pulled over everyone’s eyes. Even if the state secrets aren’t widely accessible, everyone has a clear idea of what they are fighting.
- Excellent side characters. The kind of side characters that must be protected at all costs. I did like Violet’s friends, so I was incredibly happy to find that the side characters here are even better, and expect more loveable characters than just her friends. The variety of side characters and their personalities is fun enough that you’ll absolutely find someone to like.
- Training with weapons (swords, daggers, bows and arrows, etc.), but it isn’t as much just training for that one thing as much as it is daily, persistent military training. The greatest part? Everyone always has something more to learn. And you really cheer for our FMC’s developing abilities because it feels like every triumph and skill is genuinely earned.
- A love interest who is in a higher position of power, though he is not her direct superior in any way. He’s the captain of another faction.
- Our FMC’s bonded creature is the baddest of them all.
- A bond between the FMC and MMC, though it isn’t a mating bond and is meant to be platonic in nature. You find out what this bond is and why it will actually create more complications than benefits. It’s pretty cool.
- There is magic. Kind of. You’ll see.
“Okay fine. Whatever. But why is it better? Astonish me. Please.”
- Similar to Fourth Wing, our characters are younger. However, that is where the similarities cease. You really don’t have a moment of “breaking news: 19-year-old acts like a 19-year-old“. Real talk? I don’t even really think about their ages. It’s less coming-of-age and closer to coming-into-your-own. The struggles are relatable to me as an adult. For instance:
- “How do I escape the ways that a narcissist has spent years controlling the way I think? How do I overcome those and escape the guilt that arises when I deviate from years of being shaped into who they wanted me to be?” This is an important struggle through the series, and the approach shows an understanding of how much a narcissist can haunt you, even when you know better and they are no longer in your life. Weaponizing guilt and imposing expectations on your words and actions. And as a personal note: this narcissist’s actions and words aren’t comically villainous. The things they say and do are actual things I’ve heard and experienced in my life haha fuck you Chris
- “I am being pushed into a role where a loss of my identity is possible. How would I find a balance? And is it worth sacrificing everything I want and everything I am for someone I love?”
- “At what point does my pursuit of greatness come at too high a cost? Should I heed the warnings of people who want to protect me, or adhere to the encouragement of those who want to push me harder than may be wise?”
- Blond MMC.
- “How do I escape the ways that a narcissist has spent years controlling the way I think? How do I overcome those and escape the guilt that arises when I deviate from years of being shaped into who they wanted me to be?” This is an important struggle through the series, and the approach shows an understanding of how much a narcissist can haunt you, even when you know better and they are no longer in your life. Weaponizing guilt and imposing expectations on your words and actions. And as a personal note: this narcissist’s actions and words aren’t comically villainous. The things they say and do are actual things I’ve heard and experienced in my life haha fuck you Chris
- The romance is so good, it will actually hurt.
- Any fool who says that Fourth Wing is a slow burn is an idiot and should be flogged. This series? We don’t even get a kiss until the end of book two. In fact, a lot of book one doesn’t revolve around romance as much. Our MMC (Xaden is a stupid name. Aris? Perfect) will draw some side-eye by design, and not because he’s acting like an idiot but we’re supposed to be okay with it. He is also forced to adjust a lot of who he is and think deeper rather than defaulting to his impulses and who he was forced to be. Book two is very interesting for this because we get moments of “hey, your actions have consequences”. Want to hear “I love you”? You’ll have to wait until book 4.
- Miscommunication? Forget it. These two communicate better than everyone you know. If one of them isn’t ready to talk about something or has something to process, it is always addressed at a time that makes sense. Any struggles they experience are entirely external, and they have to navigate and make decisions as necessary.
- For book with zero spice (not even descriptions of physical reactions outside of words like “want” and “desire”), it absolutely has me kicking my feet and giggling. ME. GIGGLING. Can you imagine? Ridiculous. He puts his arm around her or holds her hand and I completely lose it. My badass image is shattered.
- Any fool who says that Fourth Wing is a slow burn is an idiot and should be flogged. This series? We don’t even get a kiss until the end of book two. In fact, a lot of book one doesn’t revolve around romance as much. Our MMC (Xaden is a stupid name. Aris? Perfect) will draw some side-eye by design, and not because he’s acting like an idiot but we’re supposed to be okay with it. He is also forced to adjust a lot of who he is and think deeper rather than defaulting to his impulses and who he was forced to be. Book two is very interesting for this because we get moments of “hey, your actions have consequences”. Want to hear “I love you”? You’ll have to wait until book 4.
- Everything is purposeful and stupid tropes don’t weigh it down.
- No comical Jack Barlowe bully rival, including some random fiancée or someone who feels like she needs to “compete” against our FMC. There are a couple of moments when you think it might be headed in that direction, but it subverts your expectations and becomes something different very quickly.
- An absence of insta-lust. Our FMC notices him, he notices her, and you understand why that awareness is there. But there isn’t any like….”I hate him but DAMN I BET HE’S A GOOD LAY”.
- Almost no cursing, which I didn’t notice until I thought about it for a moment. The shocking part? It doesn’t bother me. I think that heavy cursing would have almost weighed the book down. I can’t believe I just said that, but here we are.
- No borderline comical past trauma that gets resolved within one book. The enduring traumas that our characters carry have very real effects and strongly impact their perceptions and decisions. There isn’t a single moment of “wow! I’m better now!” The struggles are ongoing and take strong, conscious effort to overcome. And yes, they do affect the plot.
- The “court intrigue” isn’t persistent beyond its importance to the plotline. Even then, issues in court aren’t “these people don’t like me”. The issues are “there are people with a lot of power and I’m just a little guy with no power”. Take that and mix it with some of the politics and power struggles of House of the Dragon and kind of the sponsor system that you see in The Hunger Games, and you have the vibes.
- Every plot point and scene is there to move us forward, strengthen characters, or provide information that we need. Guess what we avoid? DiScOuRsE. Conversations or moment when we need something explained to us and it feels completely out of context. Additionally? The worldbuilding is effective because the world is only as big as we need it to be for our purposes.
- The writing feels…productive? It reads fast and clean. Each word serves a purpose. We don’t wander off into internal monologuing or descriptions that I don’t actually care about. Repetitive phrasing isn’t a huge issues (though a lot of jaws clench and pop. Ope). It’s not Anna Karenina by any stretch of the imagination and the writing isn’t rich or inspired, but that’s completely fine because if I wanted to read Anna Karenina, then I would do that.
- No comical Jack Barlowe bully rival, including some random fiancée or someone who feels like she needs to “compete” against our FMC. There are a couple of moments when you think it might be headed in that direction, but it subverts your expectations and becomes something different very quickly.
Genuinely, I want you to give this series a try. At least try the first couple of books. Then I want you to come back here, look me in the face, and tell me that Fourth Wing is better so that I can kick your ass.
