YMMV / The Empyrean

• Broken Base: The depiction of Violet's disability. Rebecca Yarros has confirmed she wrote Violet to have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which she herself has (specifically the hypermobile variant), as she considered it important to positively represent disability in her work. Some readers were appreciative of this, as it's not common for fantasy protagonists to have disabilities and they liked Violet's determination to succeed despite her condition and people's ableism. However, other readers - including some who have EDS or similar physical disabilities - have debated whether it's really good representation, due to Violet's tendency to brute-force her way through her physical limitations (including "pushing through the pain") and refusal to accept assistance and accommodations for her condition (which isn't terribly realistic and can actually be harmful in real life) or barely appearing to be affected by her condition at times, as opposed to Violet learning to work around / within her condition and finding good support. One could argue that Violet's attitude (pushing herself to the point of injury and refusing aid so she won't be seen as "weak") is due to her culture and upbringing, but some have countered it's never quite portrayed as a character flaw or something negative in the first book.
• Captain Obvious Reveal:
  • The majority of readers found it so obvious that Dylan, a fellow new recruit Violet meets while crossing the parapet, would die that it ended up being downright amusing; Dylan is introduced as a friendly young man who is optimistic about becoming a rider and plans on marrying his girlfriend back home as soon as he graduates, including showing Violet the ring he intends to propose with. Many readers pointed out his introduction was basically the equivalent of a character announcing their impending retirement or showing a photo of their loved ones. Sure enough, Dylan becomes the first named character to die (outside of the backstory) just four pages after he's introduced.
  • Most readers really weren't all that shocked by the revelation in Fourth Wing that Navarre's government is actually deeply corrupt and hiding the true nature of the war, while the rebels are in fact the good guys, given that right off the bat Navarre is established as a brutal dystopia: the government is perfectly fine sending hundreds of young people to their likely deaths just so a few will end up as dragon-riding soldiers, forcibly conscripting the innocent children of rebels into their army to either die or fight against their own kin, and see no issue with the physically disabled Violet being forced into the aforementioned deadly training academy by her mother, despite her clear disadvantage and her skills being better served elsewhere, not to mention strictly controlling information on the kingdom's history. It's also emphasised that the dragons would never willingly do anything to endanger the Vale, so if any of them are working with the rebels they must know they have benevolent intentions.
  • The moment there's an entire lecture dedicated to Tairn, the super-rare and powerful black dragon that no one has bonded with in years, it was eye-rollingly obvious to many readers that he would eventually bond with the protagonist Violet. It's not so obvious that she also bonds with a second dragon, Andarna, in the process, though.
• Cliché Storm: Fourth Wing contains a lot of "romantasy" cliches, including the protagonist being a feisty underdog targeted by everyone for her 'weakness' who turns out to be the most powerful person in the setting, a love triangle involving the heroine's seemingly wholesome childhood friend and a mysterious bad boy she's drawn to despite their mutual hostility with their roles being switched by the end, the corrupt government hiding the true nature of the conflict with the country's neighbours, the heroine's deceased-but-never-found-the-body relative being alive after all as part of a bigger scheme and ending with the heroine joining a rebellion. Some readers still enjoy the book regardless of cliches, but few would give it points for originality.
• Hype Backlash: After blowing up on social media and becoming a bestseller, a lot of fantasy readers checked out Fourth Wing to see what the fuss was about and were subsequently confused and disappointed, given that the fantasy elements are fairly generic and play second fiddle to the romance plot. It's noted that the marketing may have played a role in this; it doesn't give much indication Fourth Wing is a "romantasy" in a similar vein as A Court of Thorns and Roses, despite the story being more appealing to that audience and people who enjoyed the book usually mentioning the romance as the main draw.
• Older Than They Think: Readers have noted that a lot of the stuff regarding the dragons, their abilities, their colour rankings and their bonds with their human riders is highly similar to Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series (right down to riders being unwillingly attracted to each other if their dragons mate, of all things); the first Dragonriders of Pern novel was published in 1968, a good 55 years before Fourth Wing came out.
• Padding: You could make a drinking game out of all the times Violet mentions how hot she finds Xaden in Fourth Wing, which starts the moment she meets him early on and doesn't let up throughout the rest of the novel, to the point it starts to feel repetitive and unnecessary (especially when Violet brings it up in inappropriate, life-and-death moments).
• Romantic Plot Tumor: While Yarros' other work is very firmly in the contemporary romance genre, the cover and marketing for Fourth Wing focused much more on the fantasy plot about a dragon-gryphon war and a brutal dragon riding academy. Unsurprisingly, this left a lot of readers who were unfamiliar with the author disappointed when the novel focused much more on the Violet-Dain-Xaden love triangle. The war isn't really relevant for most of the book and larger fantasy worldbuilding is left vague or pushed aside for a romantic plot that, even for readers who did enjoy it, still felt somewhat rushed. In general, most readers agree it would be nice for the fantasy elements to get more focus and for the setting to be explored in greater depth, hoping that the sequels improve on this.
• So Okay, It's Average: A recurring theme in reviews and readers' comments is that the first book, Fourth Wing, is no masterpiece of fantasy literature and it's pretty derivative of other works, but it's also a fun, easy read if you just want a straight-forward escapist romance book with dragons and magic thrown in.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The first book has a ton of side characters attending the war college alongside Violet who end up getting killed off, which is supposed to emphasise how dangerous the college is. However, a problem some readers encounter is that few of these characters are given much depth and their relationships with Violet are underdeveloped (to the point several of them only get a handful of lines and/or only show up on-page about twice). Consequently, some readers don't have much of a reaction to their deaths (and they're often quickly forgotten by Violet and the other main characters too), because they basically amount to Red Shirts the reader may not even remember existing prior to their death scene. Readers have noted that if some of these characters were fleshed out more, it would've been more impactful when they get killed off (with the demise of Liam often being cited as a much better-handled character death, given the time was taken to give him a more clearly-defined personality and closer bond with the main characters).
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: A lot of people have mistook the series as being Young Adult, despite it not being marketed as such. While several plot elements do sound highly reminiscent of popular YA books (plucky underdog protagonist, a corrupt government that forces young people into a deadly competition, a rebellion the protagonist joins, a Betty and Veronica love triangle etc), the actual content of the first book makes it clear it's not aimed at preteens / teenagers, given that the majority of the main cast are in their 20s, the frequent use of strong profanity and explicit sex scenes. Some bookstores sell the books with "Parental Advisory" labels to warn potential buyers the series isn't intended for young readers due to the prevalence of this misconception.

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