Fourth Wing Series in Order: 5 Fantasy Books to Obsess Over!

If you are like me, and read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, you will want to be prepared to read the entire Fourth Wing series in order- the day the books come out.

I have always been a huge fantasy reader and I was not sure if this book would live up to all the hype or fall flat. Let me just say that I was not disappointed in the least. Fourth Wing not only has epic world-building but the characters are imperfectly perfect. Each character offers surprises along the way.

Fourth Wing is the first book in the Empyrean Series which will have 5 books. You will not be shocked when I tell you this book was everything I could have hoped for and more.

In this post, you will find everything that I found helpful when reading this book. Not only will I give you a review of all the books but, I have a Fourth Wing Summary and Synopsis and an Iron Flame Summary synopsis as well. I hope that these help you keep track of the major events and characters, after all, we will now have to wait a year before the next book is released.

*Fourth Wing Books in Order contains affiliate links. Purchases made through links result in a small commission to us at no cost to you. Some books have been gifted. All opinions are our own.

Fourth Wing Series Books In Order

Series Order // Fourth Wing Synopsis // Fourth Wing Spoilers // Fourth Wing Sprayed Edges // Iron Flame Synopsis // Iron Flame Spoilers // Fourth Wing series brief summary // Frequently Asked Questions

Fourth Wing Series Books in Order

1. Fourth Wing (May 2, 2023)
2. Iron Flame (November 7, 2023)
3. To Be Announced
4. To Be Announced
5. To Be Announced

Synopsis of Fourth Wing

Violet Sorrengail has spent her life preparing to go into the scribe quadrant and spend her life studying books and history like her father. When he dies, her mother, the commanding general of the Navarre army, rips Violet from the life she knew and prepares her to become part of Navarre’s elite as a dragon rider like her sister and brother before her

Mira Sorengail is a well-respected dragon rider in the Navarre army and her brother Brennan died as a dragon rider in a fight 6 years ago. Mira, gifts Violet dragon-scaled armor and advises her to wear it at all times once she reaches Basgiath War College

Candidates have been training their whole lives for the opportunity in which 15% die on the parapet before they can even become a cadet and Violet is not only small but has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (this is implied and never explicitly stated). 

As Violet waits for her turn on the parapet, she meets Rhiannon Matthias and Jack Barlow. She lends Rhiannon a boot to help her cross the parapet without slipping and the two become good friends. Jack, on the other hand, takes an immediate dislike to Violet which will lead to continued confrontations between the two that gradually increase in ferocity and intent to kill. 

This is also where she meets Xaden for the first time. Xaden Riorson is a Wingleader who has every reason to want Violet dead. Her mother killed his father because he was the leader of the rebellion and was the person who killed her brother. Riannon and Violet are put in Second Squad, Flame Section, Fourth Wing. 

Once they become cadets, they have to survive training, the Gauntlet, Presentation/ Threshing, and the other cadets to become dragon riders who will defend the front lines of Navarre from attacks. Dragons will not pick weak riders. Dain Aetos is a childhood friend whose father works under Violet’s Mother, has been helping Violet in any way that he can, and is a potential love interest.

In order to survive the academy, Violet, with her extensive knowledge from her time as a scribe, begins poisoning her opponents before their matches. She makes it through all the challenges as well as the gauntlet.

The first years walk into the fields to find a dragon that chooses to bond with them. Violet sees a small golden dragon by itself and overhears Jack and two other students talking about killing it. Violet heads over to the small dragon to try and make it leave but it will not. Xaden arrives and sees the events unfolding but cannot do anything to help. Violet tries to fight the three boys when a large black dragon arrives. He bruns one of the boys and Jack runs away.

The black dragon is Tairn and he decides to bond with Violet in a stunning turn of events that has never happened before, the small golden dragon named Andarna bonds with Violet as well. She is warned that other unbonded cadets will try to kill her in order to bond with Tairn.

Later a group of 6 students attempt to murder her in her sleep. She is able to escape the attack when Andarna stops time. Soon after, Violet learns that Tairn and Xaden’s dragon Sgaeyl are bonded mates which means they cannot stay apart for a long time and Xaden and Violet now have a connection as well. 

We also learn that Andarna is just a hatchling, a Feathertail, and they are usually kept from binding because humans can use their powers and potentially damage or kill them. This is a closely guarded secret of the dragons and makes me wonder how they are going to keep it a secret once Andarna begins to grow!

Violet continues her lessons and studying fighting techniques but her flying is not going well because she cannot stay on Tairn’s back. Eventually, they devise a saddle for her so that he can concentrate on flying and fighting rather than ensuring she does not fall off. 

When Violet finally obtains her signet, it is an extremely powerful one in which she can make lightning. She has to learn to control it and has a lot of difficulty. 

The final test of the year is something called the War Games which is supposed to be a simulation. Violet is supposed to go with Dawn but at the last minute, she goes with Xaden to Athebyne. She learns that he and the rest of the marked ones have been giving weapons to the gryphon fliers in order to protect themselves from venin- powerful magical creatures that Violet thought to be a myth. She had only read about them in her father’s book of fables that she finally got back from Mira. 

They receive a note from Colonel Aetos and realize that this War Games is not a game, rather they have been sent there to die. And the plan works. In a huge battle, Soleil dies and Liam’s dragon dies protecting Violet. He dies shortly after because “A dragon without its rider is a tragedy. A rider without their dragon is dead.” Violet also collapses a mountain on Jack Barlowe and he dies.

Andarna, despite being bedded to stay behind, uses her powers to stop time and help save Violet and Tairn and she is able to give Violet enough time to use her lightning to kill the vernin. Once the venin is dead, its Wyvern dies as well. Before the venin dies, he poisons Violet with his blade.

The world-building in this epic fantasy is amazing but not complicated for anyone who may be hesitant to read a fantasy book like this. This first book in the 4th Wing Series gives me some Hunger Games vibes as all the cadets fight to the finish. The romance in this series is reminiscent of A Court of Thorns and Roses Series (book two to be specific). And Besgaith War College definitely gives some Dark Academia feels. And I have not even mentioned the dragons.

This is a brief Fourth Wing summary because I did not want to spoil any part of this book. If you are looking for spoilers, see below or jump to spoilers here:

Fourth Wing Sprayed Edges

NOTE: If you are looking for the limited edition Fourth Wing with Sprayed edges, they are currently very difficult to find. The edges of the first edition, the first-run print of the book from May 2, 2023, have black edges with gold dragons painted on. They are selling for upwards of $200. While there are rumors that plenty will be available in used bookstores in a few months, it is impossible to tell.

There are other sprayed edges of the book available like the one above. This is an officially licensed limited-run copy.

If you are a sleuth and are willing to look a little further (Like Australia or New Zealand), the Fourth Wing sprayed edges editions were just released there and my copy should be arriving any day.

Fourth Wing Spoilers

Below are major spoilers for the book. If you do not want to know or have not read it, jump back to the top and continue with the Iron Flame summary.

Dain has been using his abilities to read people’s minds every time he touches Violet, without her permission. He was gaining important information and passing it along to his dad. When he touched Violet’s face, he saw the city of Athebyne which is why Colonel Aeros sent them there for the war games.

This violation of her trust directly led to the deaths of both Liam and Soleil.

When Violet wakes up after the attack, she is in Aretia supposedly destroyed by Tyrrish rebels six ago in the rebellion. Clearly, the functioning city was not actually destroyed. She is looking at her bother, Brennan who is actually alive and has been living in Aretia the entire time.

Synopsis of Iron Flame

This summary of Iron Flame will NOT be spoiler-free. I have tried to keep the spoilers together but, If you have not read the book or do not want spoilers, you should avoid reading this synopsis of Iron Flame. Also, I will say that I tried my best to make this Iron Flame summary as accurate and concise as possible. I found it difficult to pick which details to include and which to leave out because there is so much information in this 623-page whopper. 

Iron Flame, the second book in the Empyrean series begins where Fourth Wing left off. Violet wakes up after her nearly fatal poisoned stabbing in Aeretia.  Violet is still spinning with the knowledge that venin and wyvern are real and her brother Brennan faked his death 6 years ago. He has been alive and well the whole time and living in Aretia which was supposedly scorched in the Tyrrish rebellion 6 years ago.

Violet realizes that they must go back to Basgaith and she devises a plan to fly back and try to save themselves. She is torn by the fact that she cannot tell the truth about what happened to Rihannon, Sawyer, and Ridoc but knows that she has to withhold the information from them for their own safety.

When they get Basgaith, during graduation, Colonel Aetos had already told everybody that they were dead, and was reading their name from the death roll. 

Because of their late arrival and the fact that everyone thought they were dead, Xaden got his assignment in the south in Samara, an 8-hour flight from Basgaith. He and Violet are each given leave once every two weeks which causes great anguish for them and Tairn and Sgaeyl,

They now have six days to prepare for the new incoming class. Dain is the new squad leader and Rhiannon is the wingleader. 

In the new incoming class are King Tauri’s son, Aaric Graycastle who changed his name for anonymity, and Sloane Mairi, Liam’s younger sister. Before he died, Liam made Violet promise she would watch over Sloane when she became a cadet.

Meanwhile, Andarna must now go into the dreamless sleep, a time in which Feathertails sleep in order to become adolescent dragons. The new commander, Varrish, demands to see Andarna and when she does not come, he punishes Violet to near burnout using her signet.

Throughout, Violet is hesitant to tell her friends because she cannot tell them about Andarna’s dreamless sleep. She is pulling away from her friends as well as Xaden because she is upset with him for keeping secrets (ironic if you ask me). Meanwhile, Nolan is acting very strange, hardly coming out of the infirmary and when he does, he looks pale and exhausted. 

Varrish then uses the excuse of the RDS class to capture Violet and nearly torture her to death. He wants answers about Xaden, where they really were after the war games, and wants to know about Andarna. Dain is called in to read Violet’s mind and she shows him the torture she just endured. Just when she thinks, Dain will sentence her to death, he saves her just as Xaden comes. Violet and Xaden kill Varrish and the story is non-stop from this point on!!!

Violet finally tells everyone the truth about what has been going on and the secrets that have been kept from all of them about the venin and wyvern. Violet, Xaden, 3 scribes (including Jesinia), and 100 cadets leave the school with their dragons to fly to Aretia, Riorson House. They also take 4 professors (Devera, Kaori, Carr, and Emettrio) with them. 

Soon, Mira arrives at Riorson house as well with 40 more riders because General Lilith Sorrengail finally told her the truth. They resume school with the cadets to try to prepare them for the massive fight that is luring in the future. 

It is also around this time that Violet learns why Xaden did not kill her during her first year. In exchange for the marked ones having a chance in the quadrant, he owed a favor to be named later to General Sorrengail. That favor was to keep Violet alive if she made it across the parapet.

Violet and Xaden need to collect a luminary from Viscount Tecarus in order to get the forge up and running. He is a collector and wants Violet but makes her demonstrate her power. He releases a venin from a state of suspended animation that Violet defeats. Tecarus agrees to give them the luminary in exchange for training the flyers. They agree and must cross over the mountain on foot because the gryphons cannot fly at that altitude. 

The Fliers include Maren and Catriona Cordella (Tecarus’s niece and was once engaged to Xaden).  The squads and drifts begin training and learning together in order to create a cohesive unit. 

Meanwhile, Violet has been trying to raise the wards over Aretia using Warrick’s journal that they stole from the library at Basgaith. She thinks that it worked until there is an attack and the wyvern they thought were dead turned out to only be stunned. She knows she did something wrong and must figure out what it is.

Melgren asks to meet with Violet and Xaden. He admits that he saw the outcome of a fight against the venin and they lost. He said if they don’t help, then, they will lose the battle. Violet figures out that he was not giving them all the information, and that the bottle will actually be at Basgaith in order to lower the wards and lose protection over the most important grounds for the dragons. 

Violet asks Brennan to help her and he refuses. So, Xaden, Violet, fliers, and riders alike begin the long flight back to Basgaith to try and protect it. Of course, Violet is correct. Soon massive waves of venin and Wyvern arrive and when the fight begins, her squad is taken with protecting the ward stone but Jack Barlowe gets there first with his dragon Baide.

Major Spoilers for Iron Flame

Below are the major spoilers for Iron Flame and the rest of the Iron Flame Synopsis. If you do not want to know, skip ahead or go back now….You were warned

Jack Barlow then sacrifices his dragon, Baide to extinguish the wardstone with her blood. While we are expecting Jack to die, he reveals that he will not dies because he is venin “We might not be at full strength, capable of wielding greater magic under your protections, but make no mistake: we are already among you, and now we are free.”

They realize that the signet-blocking serum was created in order to keep Jack in check. Nolan and others knew what he was from the moment he was saved after the mountain collapsed on him. 

Xaden Revelas to Violet that he is inntinnsic- a forbidden power that is a death sentence if anyone finds out.

Violet realizes that in order the raise the ward stone properly, she needs to fire from seven dragons, not six. She realizes Andarna is the seventh den of dragons (Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Brown, and Andarna) and she had been trying to tell Violet all along. She said that she was the head of her own den in Fourth Wing. Andarna waited 650 years for Violet to come along so she could hatch. 

In order to imbue the wardstone, Lilith Sorrengail has Sloane siphon her and Aimsir’s power into the stone so that Violet can save everyone.

Xaden revelas that he is venin. Violet realizes that the dreams she had been having about the sage were not actually about her. Rather, it was dreaming about what would happen to Xaden. 

Empyrean Series Brief Summary

Book #1 of 5 (Fourth Wing Series in Order)

Book #2 of 5 (Fourth Wing Series in Order)

Frequently Asked Questions About Fourth Wing Series Order

Are you planning on reading the Fourth Wing books in order?