Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

 

Violet Sorrengail grew up believing that she would serve the kingdom as a scribe as her father had.  But her mother is a General and head of the Rider Academy and she forces Violet into the applicants for riders.  The Academy is where riders are chosen by their dragons for life and learn to ride and fight.  Violet is small and has an illness that makes her bones easy to snap and her muscles to part and strain.  She doesn't expect that she'll survive but she has to.  Her brother Brennan was a rider and he died in battle, tearing their family apart.  Her sister Mira is also a rider and in constant danger.  Another loss is unbearable.

Violet passes the first test and discovers both good and bad news.  The good news is that her best friend is her squad leader.  The bad news is that her wingleader is Xaden Riorson, the most ruthless leader in the force and a sworn enemy of her family.  His parents had been the leaders of a rebellion and all the adults in the rebellion had been executed as their children watched.  The children were bound to the rider academy.  There are a hundred ways an enemy as a leader could make sure Violet doesn't survive and the intense looks he gives her makes her sure that he is counting them.

To everyone's shock, Violet is chosen by the most powerful dragon in the force and then chosen again by another dragon.  No rider has ever done this and it marks her as someone to watch.  Violet constantly trains and makes adaptions to survive.  Her best friend becomes less of one as he constantly tries to shelter her and keep her weak in order to survive.  She needs someone to push her and to her shock she finds it in Xaden.  They are now tied together for life because their dragons are mates.  Violet hates to admit it but she starts having feelings for Xaden and she thinks he has the same for her.  Can they have a love in such an environment?

This book took the fantasy world by storm.  Before this, she was known as a romance writer and that shows through in the love scenes.  But she also has a lifelong love of the military and that is also obvious.  This is the start of a great fantasy series that has already been optioned for a tv series.  Violet is a wonderful character to serve as a model for young women and Xaden is every woman's dream.  This book is recommended for fantasy and romance readers.