New fantasy epic on Amazon has more dragons than Game of Thrones and, as a brutal replacement for Harry Potter, asks the question: finish school or die?

As a literature and fantasy fan, you can’t ignore a book that has been dominating the best lists for months: this Fantasy adventure Fourth Wing * by Rebecca Yarros about a school that uses deadly methods to train dragon riders. Amazon has now secured the rights to the series adaptation.

Acclaimed fantasy epic comes to Amazon: If the Hunger Games were set at Hogwarts…

Since its release on May 2, 2023, Fourth Wing has become one global bestseller phenomenon developed. The first book in “The Empyrean” saga has already sold several million copies worldwide in over 40 languages. The steep rise began on TikTok with billions of hashtags and, with 25 weeks on the renowned New York Times bestseller list, is now keeping the entire literary fantasy world in suspense.

As Deadline reported, Amazon MGM Studios, together with Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society, have now secured the rights to the acclaimed work, so that the Prime series Fourth Wing should soon give us more dragons than in Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon .

What is Fourth Wing about? The 20-year-old general’s daughter Violet Sorrengail has a fragile body and actually wanted to devote her life to studying books. However, her mother then sends her to the Basgiath War College, where, through a brutal selection process, only the strongest and most unscrupulous make it to dragon riders. Less than half of the cadets survive training. And as if the task of convincing a dragon in the war-torn country of her inner strength wasn’t enough, Violet also takes on squadron leader Xaden.

Fourth Wing is being filmed as a fantasy series: What makes the novel so extraordinary?

While the school setting of Fouth Wing is reminiscent of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, the fantasy of the hit novel is much more adult. The War College, where magic and combat tactics are taught, is more of a magic university. Merciless character deaths (like in The Hunger Games) and explicit eroticism are the order of the day here. Fourth Wing is brutal, sexy and magical.

Fantasy protagonist Violet, who has to overcome her physical ailments in order to prove herself as a dragon rider with her wits, turns the heads of two men and hits a nerve with many of them. Just like the English book slogan “Graduate or die”so “Graduate or die” (which is on the German novel cover with “Fly or die” was translated).

When is the fantasy series Fourth Wing coming to Amazon – and what about the sequel Iron Flame?

For many, the announcement of a film adaptation of Fourth Wing was only a matter of time after the enormous success of the novel. However, given the early development stage of the fantasy series on Amazon Prime, it will probably not until 2026 at the earliest appear. Finally, the elaborate visual effects include at least three dragons as main characters, although every secondary character in the Basgiath War College actually has a flying partner, which quickly increases the number of dragons into the double-digit range.

Just six months after Fourth Wind came onto the market, the highly anticipated one is now being released Fantasy sequel Iron Flame – on November 7, 2023 in English * and on December 1, 2023 in German *. If Fourth Wing is successful, Deadline said each book could get its own series.

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*The links to the Amazon offer are so-called affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we receive a commission.