Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)

by Rebecca Yarros

Decide, Violet. Are you going to die a scribe? Or live as a rider?”

Mom often says the minute you let emotion enter a fight, you’ve already lost. I’ve never prayed harder that my ice-in-her-veins mother was right.

“Here’s the thing, Sorrengail. Hope is a fickle, dangerous thing. It steals your focus and aims it toward the possibilities instead of keeping it where it belongs—on the probabilities.”

There is nothing more sacred than the Archives. Even temples can be rebuilt, but books cannot be rewritten.

“It’s hard to love a second home as much as the first.” I swallow. “It’s easy when the second home is the right one.”

“This isn’t primary school. This is war—and you heard me say it once before, but the ugly truth those not on the front lines choose to forget is there are always body bags in war.”