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JayP

JayP

Writing about topics i obsess over.

FOURTH WING AND THE EMPYREAN SERIES:

3 min readJun 2, 2026
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Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Photo by Elin Melaas on Unsplash

The Books That Stole My Sleep, My Sanity, and My Entire Personality 🐉🔥

I need everyone to stop what they're doing for a moment.

Because if you haven't read Fourth Wing and the rest of The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros, I have a genuinely important question:

What are you doing?

No, seriously.

Every day I see people walking around, going to school, doing homework, living normal lives, and I can't help but wonder if they've experienced the absolute masterpiece that is this series. Because once you read it, there's a very clear "before Fourth Wing" and "after Fourth Wing" phase of life.

I picked up Fourth Wing because literally everyone was talking about it. My social media feed was full of dramatic reactions, people crying over fictional characters, dragon fan art, and captions that simply said things like, "Rebecca Yarros, count your days."

Naturally, I thought people were being dramatic.

I was wrong.

They were actually being restrained.

The thing that makes this series so special is how ridiculously easy it is to get into. Fantasy can sometimes feel intimidating. There are often seventeen kingdoms, forty-two characters, twelve magical systems, and a map that looks like it requires a geography degree to understand.

Not here.

Rebecca Yarros somehow created a world full of dragons, magic, danger, politics, friendships, rivalries, and romance while making it incredibly accessible. You don't have to be a fantasy expert. You don't need a notebook to keep track of who's who. You just start reading.

And then suddenly it's 2 a.m.

And then it's 3 a.m.

And then you're telling yourself, "Just one more chapter."

Which is a lie. A complete and utter lie.

There is no such thing as one more chapter when you're reading this series.

What I love most is how alive everything feels. The world isn't just something happening in the background. It pulls you in completely. The dragons are incredible. The stakes feel real. The friendships make you smile. The romance makes you kick your feet and stare at the wall afterward like you've just witnessed history.

And don't even get me started on the characters.

Actually, do get me started.

I could talk about them for six business days and still not be finished.

The reason so many people are obsessed with these books is because they make you feel everything. You're excited one minute, stressed the next, laughing five pages later, and then staring blankly into space wondering why Rebecca Yarros has chosen emotional violence as her preferred communication method.

The woman writes books the way dragons breathe fire.

Effortlessly.

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Every chapter feels intentional. Every conversation matters. Every twist leaves you sitting there thinking, "Well. That happened."

The best part is watching new readers discover the series. It's become a universal experience at this point. Someone starts Fourth Wing, disappears for three days, returns emotionally unstable, and immediately begins forcing their friends to read it.

It's basically a cycle.

A beautiful, dragon-filled cycle.

And then there's the rest of the series.

Without giving away a single spoiler, all I'm going to say is that each book somehow made me more attached, more invested, and significantly more unwell.

I laughed.

I screamed.

I gasped.

I stared at walls.

I reread paragraphs because surely Rebecca Yarros did not just do that.

By the time I finished the latest book, I felt like someone had taken my heart, folded it into an origami crane, launched it off a cliff, and expected me to continue functioning normally.

I have not recovered.

I don't plan to recover.

At this point, my personality is approximately 30% caffeine, 20% procrastination, and 50% The Empyrean series.

So if you've been debating whether to read Fourth Wing, consider this your sign.

Join the millions of readers who are already obsessed.

Meet the dragons.

Fall in love with the world.

Prepare to lose sleep.

Prepare to become emotionally attached to fictional characters.

Prepare to annoy your friends by bringing up this series in every conversation for the next six months.

Most importantly, prepare to understand why readers everywhere cannot stop talking about these books.

Because trust me.

Once you enter this world, there's no going back.

And honestly?

You won't want to.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and my remaining emotional stability.

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JayP
JayP

Written by JayP

Writing about topics i obsess over.