penwalla

ch. 11
it's the day before the gauntlet and violet is sweating because she still hasn't figured out how to get up the chimney, which is some kind of pillar she has to climb. she's not tall enough.
she's debating whether to go to the scribe quadrant, but doesn't want to give up and wants to prove to herself that she belongs here. this is good character development in theory, but i still feel like i don't know why violet feels the need to prove herself. is it because of her disability? violet's struggles have been nonexistent during the book so far and i didn't get the impression, prior to joining the riders, that she was having a lot of problems? she does say she's been mended a lot, but she describes herself as being as fragile as glass, so...
i don't know. yarros isn't a very good writer. and there are pieces of a strong character arc here that just aren't presented or fit together in a compelling way.
it's been a minute since i complained about the modern language in this book, so for the record: it doesn't feel fresh or interesting, it just feels like yarros couldn't be bothered. this whole book has the feel of an author who isn't super familiar with the genre. i wouldn't be surprised to hear yarros isn't a big fantasy reader or that she only reads YA.
as the cadets are lining up for what might be the last day of their lives, yarros has to stop to insert some incredibly clunky exposition into violet's dialogue. ma'am no one cares about the minutiae of treaties right now! your protag is walking into danger!
dain is begging violet to change her mind as they walk to the obstacle course and violet refuses. she wants to be a rider, for herself. this feels very unearned, as i said above.
so violet makes it to the top of the obstacle course using her brains and physics to overcome her weak, tiny body. violet spends a lot of time complaining about her pain and worrying she won't be able to do things. the problem is that yarros never lets anything bad happen to her. when she gets injured, the book skips ahead to when she's healed. when she loses a fight, it's to her love interest who we know won't kill her because this book contains 0 original thoughts. i think depictions of chronic pain are necessary and good, but yarros keeps writing about violet's disability like it's going to hinder her and then...not doing it and from a narrative perspective it's a fail.
also, violet's plan is to just stab her dagger into the rock and then use it as leverage to throw herself upward? this would require a lot of strength and she canonically has easily dislocated shoulders??? what.
another rider complains that that was cheating, but violet easily wins by quoting the codex (the rider rulebook). everyone acts like this is an amazing feat of brainpower, but like. i doubt it. this is a fat obvious loophole.
ch. 12
it's dragon time! the cadets all have to walk through the valley where the dragons are. apparently the dragons just torch anyone they think is unsuitable, which...aren't they supposed to be sentient? Highly intelligent? the cadets are warned to space out because the dragons will torch a whole group to kill one weakling. again, this is a great reason to NOT KILL YOUR CADETS IN TRAINING.
they are supposed to make small talk with each other while they catwalk for the dragons' pleasure, in order to show off their personalities. lmao.
but also: okay, so a limited number of dragons bond every year, and there are decreasing numbers, and the military can't fix that. setting aside the idiocy of their hyperviolent training environment, why aren't they more carefully prepared? this should be scripted and planned so that everyone is displaying themselves to advantage well in advance.
violet and rhiannon are talking about rhiannon's nibling, since one of her siblings is having a baby. one of the douchey cadets busts into their conversation to talk about how hot mira (violet's older sister) is and how nice her ass is. i bet he's going to die in the next couple chapters.
this is an incredibly light, dialogue-heavy scene. it should be tense and suspenseful. they're surrounded by dragons who might kill them, and they can do nothing. the impression they make now will determine whether they bond or not. and they're not prepared very much, based on the chapters that have come before. yet violet and rhiannon make inane conversation for two pages, with no mention of the fear they should be feeling. violet mentions the dragons casually--"we passed a couple of reds"--with no awe or emotional response at all.
yarros is just really bad at tension. you never worry for a moment in this book. if a side character has more than a line, they're going to die, and you can then relax because nothing too bad will ever happen to violet.
as they walk, they pass a small golden dragon, the feathertail. feathertails are rare and never bond, and aren't supposed to be here this year. violet is transfixed. ten bucks says this is her dragon.
idiot cadet who was being a pervert earlier is now insulting the dragon. my guy, the dragons can all hear you and they light people on fire. what the fuck.
they debate whether it's a baby dragon, but decide it can't be because no one has ever seen a baby dragon. idiot cadet starts saying they should kill the baby dragon because it's weak.
when characters are this stupid all you can do is laugh. at least make your villains slightly threatening.
oh more terrible lore drops into conversation! Apparently there are evil dragons called wyverns with evil riders called venin. they're just a myth, of course. i look forward to seeing them appear later. oh, and people are roasting violet for being too smart in a way that's clearly just yarros wanting to remind us how smart violet is.
a cadet gets burned to death for being indecisive. violet gets sniffed by two dragons because she's wearing a dragon scale vest her sister gave her. this garment is described as both a vest and a corset, so i'm not actually sure what it looks like.
ch. 13
sidenote: it throws me way off that this books uses both our modern gregorian calendar (threshing is always october 1st) and our modern week (monday, tuesday, etc). like just invent a new one for your fantasy. come on.
threshing is when they dump all the cadets in the forest with the dragons and they get bonded. and also i guess cadets can still murder each other at this point. violet is worried because she doesn't feel connected to any dragons yet, and her sister already did at this point. we've been told twice that everyone has notecards of every available dragon memorized, but never actually organically seen violet studying them or worrying about this.
violet hasn't been picked after a couple hours and is worried she won't be. oh, i have another complaint. why do cadets who don't bond have to repeat the first year again? are they likelier to bond the second time? otherwise it makes no sense. they're more likely to pass the training than any of the new cadets, and the number of dragons is limited. it seems like some of them should be getting shuttled elsewhere, or that they should be doing something more productive than just repeating first year.
violet decides to climb a tree. again, she complains it hurts, but can do it.
as she's in the tree, she conveniently overhears (again) a conversation between three of the evil cadets, including the one who keeps saying he'll kill her. the one who snapped a neck during training on the first day. that guy. these three geniuses are planning to hunt down and kill the small golden feathertail for...reasons? because it's too small to carry a human and because feathertails refuse to fight.
this seems. monumentally stupid. but ok. violet decides to go warn the dragon so she doesn't have to fight three armed guys alone.
as she sneaks over she blows out her ankle. she tries to get the golden dragon to go away. it doesn't, so now it's violet versus three armed guys, who are willing to kill her and the dragon. she tries to convince them otherwise, though why she goes for "it goes against everything we believe in!" instead of "bro what dragon will bond you if you kill dragons" i don't know.
right as they start to charge her, xylon and his dragon appear. ooo. what will happen next
jk we know what will happen. xylon will effortlessly dispatch these guys, violet will be very rude to him while he does his asshole flirt schtick, and then violet will bond that golden dragon. i'm calling it all now.