Iron Flame Live Reactions: Chapter 1
Nov. 17th, 2023 02:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaIt begins.
We're going to try for slightly prettier formatting this time. Bear with me.
The book opens with the following:
The following text has been faithfully transcribed from Navarrian into the modern language by Jesinia Neilwart, Curator of the Scribe Quadrant at Basgiath War College. All events are true, and names have been preserved to honor the courage of those fallen.
May their souls be commended to Malek.
Interesting. It suggests that the books are in fact...Violet's journals? Her autobiography? A first person novel can't really be anything else.
Chapter 1
The chapter opens with Violet sitting across the table from Brennan, her now alive brother. You know he's alive because Violet repeats "Brennan is alive" with varying levels of emphasis four times over the course of a single paragraph. And yes, one of them is "Brennen. Is. Alive." in case you were wondering.
It's not a terrible way of reinforcing Violet's shock at her brother being alive. And to be fair, while it was obvious to me, the reader, that he would turn out to be alive because I understand that Yarros is extremely heavyhanded, there was no reason for Violet to believe that.
She and Brennen reminsce a bit. It seems Brennan is the mother-hen type. Then they're interrupted by Bodhi, one of the rebel kids, who addresses Brennen as "Lieutenent Colonel Aisereigh" and gives him a letter that's come from the war college. Violet is shocked and immediately starts pelting him with questions about the revolution.
“I had to change my last name for obvious reasons.” He glances at me and unfolds the missive, breaking a blue wax seal. “And you’d be amazed at how fast you get promoted when everyone above you continues to die,” he says, then reads the letter and curses, shoving it into his pocket. “I have to go meet with the Assembly now, but finish your biscuits and I’ll meet you in the hall in half an hour and take you to your dragons.” All traces of the dimple, of the laughing older brother are gone, and in their place is a man I barely recognize, an officer I don’t know. Brennan may as well be a stranger.
This is actually quite a solid way of delivering us this revelation. I would have cut the last sentence and the back half of the first one, but so far, so good.
Violet doesn't wait around. She immediately leaves the room they're in and starts wandering around what turns out to be a huge fortress built into the mountain. Very curious to hear how the revolutionaries have managed to keep this a secret from the government. I really hope it's not just 'well Xaden owns the land and they thought it was destroyed so they're not watching.' Setting aside how idiotic it is that Xaden is allowed to own anything, the government should be watching for signs of revolutionary activity, right?
Side note: the prejudice against the rebel kids has always been wildly inconsistent in this book, with them being discriminated against, hated, and conscripted...but also allowed to have high ranking positions of power and own land and negotiate with the government for what seem like absurdly good terms. Unless Yarros mentioned in the last book that dragons always bond with the rebellion kids, there's no reason to give them the chance to become riders at all. They should all be cannon fodder.
Violet walks through the main hall until she hears her brother's voice, and we find out that this is Xaden's family's house.
This place is astounding. Half palace, half home, but entirely a fortress. The thick stone walls are what saved it from its supposed demise six years ago. From what I’ve read, Riorson House has never been breached by any army, even during the three sieges that I know of. Stone doesn’t burn. That’s what Xaden told me. The city—now reduced to a town—has been silently, covertly rebuilding for years right under General Melgren’s nose. The relics, magical marks the children of the executed rebellion officers carry, somehow mask them from Melgren’s signet when they’re in groups of three or more. He can’t see the outcome of any battle they’re present for, so he’s never been able to “see” them organizing to fight here.
Again, the sheer fact that the relics mask their presence should bar them from being in the Riders. They're a huge liability! The government has no objection to killing 75% of their dragon riding class every goddamn year, so what's the reasoning for not executing every single person with a relic, or just putting them in prison somewhere, or spreading them out in infantry units so they can be watched and killed?
Bodhi and Imogen are standing in an open doorway outside the room Brennan is in, and Imogen signals for Violet to join them. Brennan is seemingly arguing with five people in uniforms, presumably the Assembly he mentioned earlier. My guess here is that we're about to find out Brennan is the young man trying to convince older, more conservative authority to do...whatever.
The scene pauses so that Violet can again have the revelation that her brother is alive! And he's different! Yarros, we are in the same goddamn scene. You don't have to keep repeating yourself.
Oh, Xaden is here. Violet immediately starts internally monologuing about his hotness. Will Violet ever mention even one of Xaden's personality traits? We just don't know. Like, look at this.
He looks good, even with bruises marring the tawny-brown skin under his eyes from lack of sleep. The high slopes of his cheeks, the dark eyes that usually soften whenever they meet mine, the scar that bisects his brow and ends beneath his eye, the swirling, shimmering relic that ends at his jaw, and the carved lines of the mouth I know as well as my own all add up to make him physically fucking perfect to me, and that’s just his face. His body? Somehow even better, and the way he uses it when he has me in his arms—
Nope. I shake my head and cut off my thoughts right there. Xaden may be gorgeous, and powerful, and terrifyingly lethal—which shouldn’t be the turn-on it is—but I can’t trust him to tell me the truth about…well, anything. Which really hurts, considering how pathetically in love with him I am.
I just...Violet, you understand that a revolution against the government has to be a secret, right? Xaden can't just spill everything to you, risking the lives of everyone he loves and who all depend on him, just because you had sex a few times. And we know this because the one thing Xaden DID tell Violet nearly got them all killed in a venin attack at the end of the last book.
But Violet's really smart, guys, don't worry.
Bodhi fills Violet in on the meeting and the context. The Assembly consists of seven, but they're never all in place at one time, so five is a quorum and four can carry a motion. Meetings are open to everyone, Imogen assures Violet, but they decline to explain to her why they're all standing in the hallway and not in the room.
The Assembly and Brennan and Xaden are arguing about what course of action they should take. Some are in favor of recruiting, some want to lay low, negotiations with a Viscount Tecarus about materials to forge weapons are ongoing but failing. Violet thinks that Tecarus isn't a noble family in her country's records and they don't have viscounts. I suspect that this is a foreign noble and the revolution is seeking aid from other countries. Like the USA did with France during the Revolutionary War.
Xaden apparently tanked the negotiations by insulting Viscount Tecarus last summer, and Xaden says that they would have never gotten the supplies -- Tecurs only collects, he doesn't trade.
It seems that this meeting is supposed to be about whether Violet and co. are staying in Aretia or returning to the war college, but they've gotten off topic and are arguing about how to supply their own troops with the materials to fight the venin. Because if they can't get supplies, they'll lose the war against them within a year. Apparently getting the supplies from Basgiath's luminary would mean Navarre couldn't make new wards, causing a lot of civilians to die.
This is so far better worldbuilding than anything in Fourth Wing. This dialogue is a little impenetrable, but I prefer that to being spoonfed. We're being left to figure out what terminology means from context, and we're getting a picture of the politics of the revolution without it being explained directly to Violet.
Violet realizes that they're standing out of sight because the meeting is about them.
We get a quick recap of the climax of the last book -- War Games went wrong, venin attack, revelations, etc -- and then Violet remembers that Soleil and Liam are dead, and the squad is diminished. It is worth noting her description of Liam:
Liam. Blond hair and sky-blue eyes fill my memory, and pain erupts behind my ribs. His boisterous laugh. His quick smile. His loyalty and kindness. It’s all gone. He’s gone.
All because he promised Xaden he’d guard me.
Xaden defends Violet, saying that she is worth more than he is, but the Assembly members don't trust Violet because of her mother and want her imprisoned. Violet is mad because they're talking about her, not to her, and starts getting ready to fight her way out.
Violet, I'm begging you, activate your single brain cell. Your mom helped burn this place to the fucking ground. Your indignation is stupid and unfounded and your plan to stab your way out is even worse.
Violet strides into the room and starts trying to be a badass, demanding they talk to her and then claiming that she's already proven she can be trusted. One of the Assembly readers absolves Violet of getting memory read by Dain. Not sure that I agree, but heaven forbid Violet go a chapter without someone fawning over her.
The meeting ends, and Violet starts to go with Xaden to the valley where her dragons are, but Xaden encourages her to stay with Brennan. Chapter End.
Hmm, not bad, honestly. The meeting feels a little convoluted, but in a much more interesting way than in the previous book.
Another side note: uh, is Violet not mad at Tairn for secret-keeping? Because he's Xaden's dragon's mate. He knew everything, too. Like, I hope Violet is going to have the revelation later in the book that she's being insanely unreasonable, because this conflict is boring as fuck. And it stands out because in this scene Violet's sole thoughts about Xaden are 'He's hot' and 'He still likes me'. Meanwhile, Xaden defends Violet, declares he trusts her absolutely in front of a bunch of people, promises her he won't leave without her, and takes pride in her when she stands up for herself.
This is such a weirdly one-sided romance.
We're going to try for slightly prettier formatting this time. Bear with me.
The book opens with the following:
The following text has been faithfully transcribed from Navarrian into the modern language by Jesinia Neilwart, Curator of the Scribe Quadrant at Basgiath War College. All events are true, and names have been preserved to honor the courage of those fallen.
May their souls be commended to Malek.
Interesting. It suggests that the books are in fact...Violet's journals? Her autobiography? A first person novel can't really be anything else.
The chapter opens with Violet sitting across the table from Brennan, her now alive brother. You know he's alive because Violet repeats "Brennan is alive" with varying levels of emphasis four times over the course of a single paragraph. And yes, one of them is "Brennen. Is. Alive." in case you were wondering.
It's not a terrible way of reinforcing Violet's shock at her brother being alive. And to be fair, while it was obvious to me, the reader, that he would turn out to be alive because I understand that Yarros is extremely heavyhanded, there was no reason for Violet to believe that.
She and Brennen reminsce a bit. It seems Brennan is the mother-hen type. Then they're interrupted by Bodhi, one of the rebel kids, who addresses Brennen as "Lieutenent Colonel Aisereigh" and gives him a letter that's come from the war college. Violet is shocked and immediately starts pelting him with questions about the revolution.
“I had to change my last name for obvious reasons.” He glances at me and unfolds the missive, breaking a blue wax seal. “And you’d be amazed at how fast you get promoted when everyone above you continues to die,” he says, then reads the letter and curses, shoving it into his pocket. “I have to go meet with the Assembly now, but finish your biscuits and I’ll meet you in the hall in half an hour and take you to your dragons.” All traces of the dimple, of the laughing older brother are gone, and in their place is a man I barely recognize, an officer I don’t know. Brennan may as well be a stranger.
This is actually quite a solid way of delivering us this revelation. I would have cut the last sentence and the back half of the first one, but so far, so good.
Violet doesn't wait around. She immediately leaves the room they're in and starts wandering around what turns out to be a huge fortress built into the mountain. Very curious to hear how the revolutionaries have managed to keep this a secret from the government. I really hope it's not just 'well Xaden owns the land and they thought it was destroyed so they're not watching.' Setting aside how idiotic it is that Xaden is allowed to own anything, the government should be watching for signs of revolutionary activity, right?
Side note: the prejudice against the rebel kids has always been wildly inconsistent in this book, with them being discriminated against, hated, and conscripted...but also allowed to have high ranking positions of power and own land and negotiate with the government for what seem like absurdly good terms. Unless Yarros mentioned in the last book that dragons always bond with the rebellion kids, there's no reason to give them the chance to become riders at all. They should all be cannon fodder.
Violet walks through the main hall until she hears her brother's voice, and we find out that this is Xaden's family's house.
This place is astounding. Half palace, half home, but entirely a fortress. The thick stone walls are what saved it from its supposed demise six years ago. From what I’ve read, Riorson House has never been breached by any army, even during the three sieges that I know of. Stone doesn’t burn. That’s what Xaden told me. The city—now reduced to a town—has been silently, covertly rebuilding for years right under General Melgren’s nose. The relics, magical marks the children of the executed rebellion officers carry, somehow mask them from Melgren’s signet when they’re in groups of three or more. He can’t see the outcome of any battle they’re present for, so he’s never been able to “see” them organizing to fight here.
Again, the sheer fact that the relics mask their presence should bar them from being in the Riders. They're a huge liability! The government has no objection to killing 75% of their dragon riding class every goddamn year, so what's the reasoning for not executing every single person with a relic, or just putting them in prison somewhere, or spreading them out in infantry units so they can be watched and killed?
Bodhi and Imogen are standing in an open doorway outside the room Brennan is in, and Imogen signals for Violet to join them. Brennan is seemingly arguing with five people in uniforms, presumably the Assembly he mentioned earlier. My guess here is that we're about to find out Brennan is the young man trying to convince older, more conservative authority to do...whatever.
The scene pauses so that Violet can again have the revelation that her brother is alive! And he's different! Yarros, we are in the same goddamn scene. You don't have to keep repeating yourself.
Oh, Xaden is here. Violet immediately starts internally monologuing about his hotness. Will Violet ever mention even one of Xaden's personality traits? We just don't know. Like, look at this.
He looks good, even with bruises marring the tawny-brown skin under his eyes from lack of sleep. The high slopes of his cheeks, the dark eyes that usually soften whenever they meet mine, the scar that bisects his brow and ends beneath his eye, the swirling, shimmering relic that ends at his jaw, and the carved lines of the mouth I know as well as my own all add up to make him physically fucking perfect to me, and that’s just his face. His body? Somehow even better, and the way he uses it when he has me in his arms—
Nope. I shake my head and cut off my thoughts right there. Xaden may be gorgeous, and powerful, and terrifyingly lethal—which shouldn’t be the turn-on it is—but I can’t trust him to tell me the truth about…well, anything. Which really hurts, considering how pathetically in love with him I am.
I just...Violet, you understand that a revolution against the government has to be a secret, right? Xaden can't just spill everything to you, risking the lives of everyone he loves and who all depend on him, just because you had sex a few times. And we know this because the one thing Xaden DID tell Violet nearly got them all killed in a venin attack at the end of the last book.
But Violet's really smart, guys, don't worry.
Bodhi fills Violet in on the meeting and the context. The Assembly consists of seven, but they're never all in place at one time, so five is a quorum and four can carry a motion. Meetings are open to everyone, Imogen assures Violet, but they decline to explain to her why they're all standing in the hallway and not in the room.
The Assembly and Brennan and Xaden are arguing about what course of action they should take. Some are in favor of recruiting, some want to lay low, negotiations with a Viscount Tecarus about materials to forge weapons are ongoing but failing. Violet thinks that Tecarus isn't a noble family in her country's records and they don't have viscounts. I suspect that this is a foreign noble and the revolution is seeking aid from other countries. Like the USA did with France during the Revolutionary War.
Xaden apparently tanked the negotiations by insulting Viscount Tecarus last summer, and Xaden says that they would have never gotten the supplies -- Tecurs only collects, he doesn't trade.
It seems that this meeting is supposed to be about whether Violet and co. are staying in Aretia or returning to the war college, but they've gotten off topic and are arguing about how to supply their own troops with the materials to fight the venin. Because if they can't get supplies, they'll lose the war against them within a year. Apparently getting the supplies from Basgiath's luminary would mean Navarre couldn't make new wards, causing a lot of civilians to die.
This is so far better worldbuilding than anything in Fourth Wing. This dialogue is a little impenetrable, but I prefer that to being spoonfed. We're being left to figure out what terminology means from context, and we're getting a picture of the politics of the revolution without it being explained directly to Violet.
Violet realizes that they're standing out of sight because the meeting is about them.
We get a quick recap of the climax of the last book -- War Games went wrong, venin attack, revelations, etc -- and then Violet remembers that Soleil and Liam are dead, and the squad is diminished. It is worth noting her description of Liam:
Liam. Blond hair and sky-blue eyes fill my memory, and pain erupts behind my ribs. His boisterous laugh. His quick smile. His loyalty and kindness. It’s all gone. He’s gone.
All because he promised Xaden he’d guard me.
The Assembly members continue to argue about whether the cadets, if any, are returning, and Xaden tells them that they're going to do what they want and the Assembly can't stop them. Then he gestures to Violet and Imogen and Bodhi, revealing their presence. So were they out of sight or not?
We get this tidbit:
“She cannot be trusted!” Anger might color her cheeks, but that’s fear in Suri’s eyes.
“Xaden has already taken responsibility for her.” Imogen sidesteps, moving slightly closer to me. “As brutal of a custom as it may be.”
My gaze whips to meet Xaden’s. What the hell is she talking about?
“Xaden has already taken responsibility for her.” Imogen sidesteps, moving slightly closer to me. “As brutal of a custom as it may be.”
My gaze whips to meet Xaden’s. What the hell is she talking about?
Xaden defends Violet, saying that she is worth more than he is, but the Assembly members don't trust Violet because of her mother and want her imprisoned. Violet is mad because they're talking about her, not to her, and starts getting ready to fight her way out.
Violet, I'm begging you, activate your single brain cell. Your mom helped burn this place to the fucking ground. Your indignation is stupid and unfounded and your plan to stab your way out is even worse.
Violet strides into the room and starts trying to be a badass, demanding they talk to her and then claiming that she's already proven she can be trusted. One of the Assembly readers absolves Violet of getting memory read by Dain. Not sure that I agree, but heaven forbid Violet go a chapter without someone fawning over her.
The meeting ends, and Violet starts to go with Xaden to the valley where her dragons are, but Xaden encourages her to stay with Brennan. Chapter End.
Hmm, not bad, honestly. The meeting feels a little convoluted, but in a much more interesting way than in the previous book.
Another side note: uh, is Violet not mad at Tairn for secret-keeping? Because he's Xaden's dragon's mate. He knew everything, too. Like, I hope Violet is going to have the revelation later in the book that she's being insanely unreasonable, because this conflict is boring as fuck. And it stands out because in this scene Violet's sole thoughts about Xaden are 'He's hot' and 'He still likes me'. Meanwhile, Xaden defends Violet, declares he trusts her absolutely in front of a bunch of people, promises her he won't leave without her, and takes pride in her when she stands up for herself.
This is such a weirdly one-sided romance.
