penwalla

ch. 5
ok first up we have a classroom scene. this scene isn't bad--i think it does a decent job of demonstrating what violet's capabilities are supposed to be. the book is pounding us over the head with his physicality being inadequate, so we need these scenes to effectively demonstrate her brainpower.
all the cadets are bitchy as hell to each other. sigh
ofc the next scene is of everyone being awed at how genius violet is. look, this is silly. even if violet was training to be a scribe, presumably the rider skillset and mindset should be different.
ok now they're in combat class. first all, this should not be no holds barred. they SHOULD be pulling their punches. it's stupid to brutalize your soldiers in the first DAY of training. again, these are valuable resources since it seems the dragons pick their own riders. someone who gets seriously injured is out. and the military is picking up their medical care, etc while they heal. this should be a controlled space where instructors assess everyone's skills, with defined rules like "no headshots", etc.
does yarros realize a punch to the face can be fatal
ok so jack, our comically evil cadet, snaps a neck during sparring. which...how is this guy still here? he's an unrestrained homicidal maniac! how can he be trusted to serve in an elite military squadron???
the culture of rampant violence and murder is at odds with the purpose of military training. you cannot instill loyalty and disciple into these people if they have permission to kill each other for no reason
ok now violet is up for combat. question: is yarros going to explain the significant of her silver hair? otherwise it is stupid as fuck for someone with pink hair to be calling her a "silver haired freak"
remind me again why the children of traitors, who bear an obvious grudge, are just allowed to train to be riders. like ok, they have innate magic that you want to use, you need to have way tighter controls or be really incentivizing them to fall in line.
also pink haired traitor girl is named Imogen. LOL
violet loses this fight handily. kudos to yarros for letting her fail.
ch. 6.
violet's shoulder is dislocated and her arm is broken. hey so this should be a career ending injury. dain is begging them not to heal her so she can go to the scribes but like. violet's already said she has weak ligaments. her doctors of five years should be able to just say "medically unfit to be a rider" and put her somewhere else
again, this story would make way more sense if violet was the one who wanted to be a rider and her mom was using her influence to help her because she wouldn't qualify otherwise. the riders are surplus compared to dragons, to the point very good candidates are left unbonded. why do they want to waste time and money on training violet at all? she should be able to just refuse!
they have magic that mends bones but not general anesthesia? knock her out for this bit
chapter ends with violet getting her brother's journal. we learn that its traditional to burn all a dead person's belongings, but mira saved this. this bit of worldbuilding is actually inserted naturally and is meaningful, so kudos to yarros for that.
however this journal is clearly going to be a cheat code for violet so booooo
ch. 7
this chapter opens with violet taking her arm out of the sling and climbing. so, fun fact: one shoulder dislocation increases your risk for recurrence, which is why we immobilize afterward. violet, who has a known connective tissue disorder, and has had repeat medical treatment--see earlier in the book when she is expertly immobilizing her wonky patella--must know this.
ok this is actually a few weeks later? my bad. i'll give it to her, that's less stupid.
she's gathering poisonous berries. i guess that's her strat?
man that's...hmm. i mean it might work, but it'll look real suspicious, and it's also...pointless? like poisoning people isn't going to make violet better at dragon riding. if she is training for a job that will involve high physical skill and strength, endurance, and combat, cheating her way through training will not help her later on. she'll just die in service.
again, there is no reason for violet to not leverage her own disability to try to get herself out of becoming a rider. her mom is powerful but she's not an unopposed dictator.
as violet is berry picking, xylon and imogen wander under her tree. now she's hiding and fearing for her life. calling it now: she and xylon are going to have a moment here
ok so this is actually an illegal meeting of rebellion relics. meetings of more than 3 are illegal and punishable by death. ok, again, conscripting all the relics this way is STUPID. by all accounts the relics have an advantage, right? so they're likely to survive training. they can be assigned positions of power even if they're openly STILL TRAITORS. how is this a functional military you dumbasses.
how is violet the protagonist of this novel i want to read the imogen POV. way more interesting if we're in the POV of a conscripted rebel's child
these rebels are very reasonable. so far no fake nuance here.
yep i was right, this is the first xylon/violet scene
knife at her throat. hot
love the clunky shadow-wielder exposition dropped into this tense scene. yarros please
this is an ok scene. like the tension isn't bad. i think it's decent romance set up--we got to see xylon in his native environment, he's not evil, then he doesn't kill violet. so there's enough tension to make it interesting but not so much that we're getting christian grey vibes. their banter is entertaining.