Thoughts on Fourth Wing and Romantasy

Fantasy Romance Versus the Gatekeepers

Anne Marble
5 min readDec 11, 2023

If you want to cause turmoil among fantasy fans, mention Fourth Wing — or romantasy. Some fantasy fans hate romantasy with the flame of a thousand dragons.

A table in a bookstore showing a display of “Fourth Wing” and “Iron Flame” hardbacks. A printed sign placed in the center of the display reads “EARN YOUR DRAGON” in huge letters on an illustrated background with golden colors and flames.
“Fourth Wing” and “Iron Flame” in a Bookstore. (Source: Photo by the Author.)

I avoided Fourth Wing when it first came out. It was a hardback with an adult hardback price, but it sort of looked like a young adult fantasy. It was published through Entangled Publishing, which is popular for publishing “tropey” books, like “enemies-to-lovers.”

Sure, the book looked cool, with incredible sprayed edges. But I’d been let down by romantic SFF before. So I passed it up, despite the great review on All About Romance. Within weeks, all the hardcovers of that first printing were gone!

Whoops! Had I missed out on something? Months later, the furor about the upcoming release of the sequel, Iron Flame, caught up with me. So I plunged in.

Now, I’m flying through the pages of Fourth Wing. I understand why so many readers (even some who aren’t into romance) like it. For some, it’s the tropes. For others, it’s the dragons.

Yet I understand why some don’t like Fourth Wing. The book has flaws — as highlighted in this opposing review of Fourth Wing on All About Romance. I agreed with the review’s points even as I had fun anyway.

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Anne Marble
Anne Marble

Written by Anne Marble

I’m a writer and a copy editor with experience in editing science and engineering articles. Click Lists to find my most popular articles. And hidden gems.