Iron Flame Live Reactions: Chapter 2
Nov. 19th, 2023 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaThis chapter opens with a quote from Colonel Kaori's Field Guide to Dragonkind, explaining that the valley above Xaden's family home is the original hatching grounds of the powerful dragon line from which Big T descends.
We then move to Brennan and Violet, who we left off with in Chapter 1.
Already I have a gripe with this pacing. The book opened with Brennan and Violet eating together, and then immediately they get interrupted for the Assembly and Xaden, and now we're back with them again. Which means Yarros now has to hammer home to us again that Brennan and Violet are different, because that's how linear time works. Like, why break it up into two scenes? I almost feel like it would be more effective to skip that first meeting and have Violet first get a chance to talk to Brennan after she overhears him at the meeting. Or actually spend a whole chapter with Brennan first, and then have him take her to the meeting himself.
Violet has shifted to being mad about Brennan lying from being relieved he's not dead. Now, this would be okay, if not for two factors. One, Yarros did a terrible job of building up Brennan and Violet's relationship in the last book. Two, Violet is so annoying that I can't even be on her side here, even though she's not wrong and it's understandable she feels betrayed by Brennan.
We find out a little about Brennan here. The rider that supposedly died trying to save him (Big T's former rider, a plot point that really feels like Yarros could have used way more effectively in the last book) did manage to keep him alive. Brennan's dragon survived, too, and there are other dragons in Aretia who helped shelter surviving civilians and now the rebellion.
Curious how they're hiding a bunch of dragons from the military. Seems like it'd be hard to conceal them.
This is such an annoying passage to me. VIolet, you literally just sat through a meeting where you clearly heard that your brother works for an organized rebellion trying to overthrow the fucking government. It should be patently obvious to you why he's here and what he's trying to do. Yarros's dialogue is plagued with this kind of...imprecision, I'd call it. It's fine for Violet to have tons of questions about Brennan, but she shouldn't sound like she's just forgotten the entire preceding scene!
Brennan tells Violet his dragon is in the valley with Xaden and the other dragons, including hers.
Why shouldn't he avoid you after you blew up at him? You're mad at him!
Brennan finally tells Violet what should be obvious: he's here because he can't agree with what's happening behind the scenes in Navarre, what with the military pretending the venin don't exist while they are free to slaughter everything outside Naverre's wards. Again, I have yet to hear why this is a secret at all, and what the purpose of the sham war against griffins even is. But Violet is still mad, because she feels like Brennan abandoned her and Mira, especially since after he left, her dad died.
There's a map on the wall in the room where they're talking, with battle sites marked and color-coded, revealing the true extent of the war. This seems like kind of valuable to be just left out for, say, the daughter of a notorious general to see.
Brennan and Violet recap some of the info about wyverns and venin from the last book, and Violet corrects Brennan, explaining that the wyvern are made, not hatched, which is from her dad's folktales and also demosntrated by her previous fight with them. Brennan explains that he didn't know this and has no idea where the wyvern come from.
To quote Violet:
Brennan explains that based on how fast the wyverns are moving, he thinks Navarre has six months before they're attacked directly. He is apparently a brilliant strategist. Uh-huh. We'll see.
The box that the enemy was trying to get in the last book was apparently a lure, made by Navarre. Violet ponders what reason there is to make lures, other than to kill her and co. in the last book. Well, Violet, maybe there are other people they want killed.
As Brennan and Violet discuss how unbelievable it is that the military keeps this all secret, they offer some reasons.
“I do. Their survival depends on it as much as ours depends on stopping them. The energy in the hatching grounds at Basgiath could keep them fed for decades. And yet Melgren thinks the wards are so infallible that he won’t alert the population. Or he’s afraid that telling the public will make them realize we aren’t entirely the good guys. Not anymore. Fen’s rebellion taught leadership it’s a lot easier to control happy civilians than disgruntled—or worse, terrified— ones.”
“And yet they manage to keep the truth hidden,” I whisper. Sometime in our past, one generation of Navarrians wiped the history books, erasing the existence of venin from common education and knowledge, all because we aren’t willing to risk our own safety by providing the one material that can kill dark wielders—the same alloy that powers the farthest reaches of our wards.
I'm sorry, none of this rings true to me.
The military holds absolute power in Navarre. What wouldn't they have to gain by telling the population that there's a horrible enemy outside the country's borders, but through the power of wards and riders, they can keep them away? The actual truth is a more compelling reason to garner complete public support for the military than the lie about griffin fliers.
The rebel kids are apparently using the forge at Basgiath in secret to produce weapons for the rebellion.
Okay, now we're getting some halfway decent worldbuilding. The wards that Navarre has are made using a lost art -- isn't wards Mira's signet? -- and the wards in Navarre are all linked to a wardstone in Basgiath. Navarre's wards are centered around the Vale where dragons hatch their eggs and don't extend over the region where the rebellion happened. And Aretia has a "dormant wardstone". Wards are also dragon powered.
This is a very important conversation, and it's not nearly as clumsy as it could be, so I'm glad it's here. Nothing about wards made any sense in Fourth Wing, and I suspect Yarros made all this up while writing Iron Flame.
Violet immediately realizes that if there's any info about this, it'll be in the Archives, where the evil, history-rewriting, censorious scribes store the forbidden information. Brennan tells her not to think about it, that only weapons can win this war. Yes, clearly he is a brilliant strategist. A magical shield that repels the enemy is much less effective then your dagger.
The revolution is looking for a mythical weapon that killed all the venin off six hundred years ago. It's called a luminary. Seems like the kind of thing that might be kept in the Archives.
I'm just saying.
Oh for fuck's sake.
Immediately after this, Violet finally has the revelation that her brain being open to Dain makes her a huge liability, and she tells him to tell her nothing so she doesn't get him or anyone else killed.
Next scene. We're in the valley, with Brennan and Marbh (his dragon), as well as Big T. Violet finally sees Andarna, who is now black and twice the size she was, because only baby dragons are golden. Her growth was accelerated due to the strain of stopping time so long, and she's gone straight into being a teenager.
Big T assures Violet that Andarna will be fine, and probably more annoying to others because dragon teenagers have anger issues, but she needs to get to the Vale to "enter the Dreamless Sleep and finish the growth process."
'Growth process' is so fucking unwieldy. Just say 'finished growing.'
Big T explains that dragon tails are "a matter of choice and need" and apparently not hereditary. This isn't even bad worldbuilding, that's legitimately cool and I want to know more, but the sheer secrecy of the dragons once again makes me question what they get out of cooperating with the Navarre military. If dragons power the wards, why aren't they in charge?
Xaden's here with the rest of the cadets in tow. Violet wants to leave to avoid further bloodshed, but Brennan points out that she'll definitely be executed by their mother if she goes back. There's some argument about whether General Sorrengall would in fact kill her own daughter. This makes me think we're going to have some kind of Violet's mom redemption arc. Ew.
They all take a vote, they're going back, Xaden's going to train Violet to shield herself against Dain. Forced proximity? Nice.
Andarna wakes up and is immediately grumpy. She can't fly because of the sudden growth making her discombobulated. Xaden announces they need to be home in 48 hours for his plan to work, because in 48 hours...it's graduation.
Chapter End.
Some thoughts so far.
Yarros's writing is better in this book, but it's still just...boring? I don't like it. It's repetitive and it spoonfeeds you everything.
The plot is here a lot earlier than it was in Fourth Wing. Which is good because this is an insanely long book and I don't have the patience for fucking around. If I had to make some predictions, I'd say Violet is going to infiltrate the scribe quadrant to get information, we're going to find out whether Violet's mom is evil, and the intimacy of shielding practice is going to get Violet and Xaden back together. And adolescent Andarna is going to be really annoying.
We then move to Brennan and Violet, who we left off with in Chapter 1.
Already I have a gripe with this pacing. The book opened with Brennan and Violet eating together, and then immediately they get interrupted for the Assembly and Xaden, and now we're back with them again. Which means Yarros now has to hammer home to us again that Brennan and Violet are different, because that's how linear time works. Like, why break it up into two scenes? I almost feel like it would be more effective to skip that first meeting and have Violet first get a chance to talk to Brennan after she overhears him at the meeting. Or actually spend a whole chapter with Brennan first, and then have him take her to the meeting himself.
Violet has shifted to being mad about Brennan lying from being relieved he's not dead. Now, this would be okay, if not for two factors. One, Yarros did a terrible job of building up Brennan and Violet's relationship in the last book. Two, Violet is so annoying that I can't even be on her side here, even though she's not wrong and it's understandable she feels betrayed by Brennan.
We find out a little about Brennan here. The rider that supposedly died trying to save him (Big T's former rider, a plot point that really feels like Yarros could have used way more effectively in the last book) did manage to keep him alive. Brennan's dragon survived, too, and there are other dragons in Aretia who helped shelter surviving civilians and now the rebellion.
Curious how they're hiding a bunch of dragons from the military. Seems like it'd be hard to conceal them.
His smile falters, and he glances out the window. “How is Mira?”
“Speaking from experience, I’m sure she’d be a lot better if she knew you’re alive.” There’s no point mincing words if we only have a short time.
He flinches. “Guess I deserve that.”
And I guess that answers that question. Mira doesn’t know. But she should.
“How exactly are you alive, Brennan?” I shift my weight to one leg, crossing my arms. “Where is Marbh? What are you doing here? Why didn’t you come home?”
“Speaking from experience, I’m sure she’d be a lot better if she knew you’re alive.” There’s no point mincing words if we only have a short time.
He flinches. “Guess I deserve that.”
And I guess that answers that question. Mira doesn’t know. But she should.
“How exactly are you alive, Brennan?” I shift my weight to one leg, crossing my arms. “Where is Marbh? What are you doing here? Why didn’t you come home?”
This is such an annoying passage to me. VIolet, you literally just sat through a meeting where you clearly heard that your brother works for an organized rebellion trying to overthrow the fucking government. It should be patently obvious to you why he's here and what he's trying to do. Yarros's dialogue is plagued with this kind of...imprecision, I'd call it. It's fine for Violet to have tons of questions about Brennan, but she shouldn't sound like she's just forgotten the entire preceding scene!
Brennan tells Violet his dragon is in the valley with Xaden and the other dragons, including hers.
“That’s where Xaden has been? Guarding Andarna?” That makes me a little less pissed that he’s blatantly avoided me. “And why are you here, Brennan?”
Why shouldn't he avoid you after you blew up at him? You're mad at him!
Brennan finally tells Violet what should be obvious: he's here because he can't agree with what's happening behind the scenes in Navarre, what with the military pretending the venin don't exist while they are free to slaughter everything outside Naverre's wards. Again, I have yet to hear why this is a secret at all, and what the purpose of the sham war against griffins even is. But Violet is still mad, because she feels like Brennan abandoned her and Mira, especially since after he left, her dad died.
There's a map on the wall in the room where they're talking, with battle sites marked and color-coded, revealing the true extent of the war. This seems like kind of valuable to be just left out for, say, the daughter of a notorious general to see.
Brennan and Violet recap some of the info about wyverns and venin from the last book, and Violet corrects Brennan, explaining that the wyvern are made, not hatched, which is from her dad's folktales and also demosntrated by her previous fight with them. Brennan explains that he didn't know this and has no idea where the wyvern come from.
To quote Violet:
“How comforting,” I mutter.
Uh, why the fuck does Violet somehow have more info than the people actually fighting the wyvern? Should they not have noticed the same thing she noticed? Have none of them ever killed a wyvern? This just feels like Yarros trying to convince us that Violet is smart again.Brennan explains that based on how fast the wyverns are moving, he thinks Navarre has six months before they're attacked directly. He is apparently a brilliant strategist. Uh-huh. We'll see.
The box that the enemy was trying to get in the last book was apparently a lure, made by Navarre. Violet ponders what reason there is to make lures, other than to kill her and co. in the last book. Well, Violet, maybe there are other people they want killed.
As Brennan and Violet discuss how unbelievable it is that the military keeps this all secret, they offer some reasons.
“I do. Their survival depends on it as much as ours depends on stopping them. The energy in the hatching grounds at Basgiath could keep them fed for decades. And yet Melgren thinks the wards are so infallible that he won’t alert the population. Or he’s afraid that telling the public will make them realize we aren’t entirely the good guys. Not anymore. Fen’s rebellion taught leadership it’s a lot easier to control happy civilians than disgruntled—or worse, terrified— ones.”
“And yet they manage to keep the truth hidden,” I whisper. Sometime in our past, one generation of Navarrians wiped the history books, erasing the existence of venin from common education and knowledge, all because we aren’t willing to risk our own safety by providing the one material that can kill dark wielders—the same alloy that powers the farthest reaches of our wards.
I'm sorry, none of this rings true to me.
The military holds absolute power in Navarre. What wouldn't they have to gain by telling the population that there's a horrible enemy outside the country's borders, but through the power of wards and riders, they can keep them away? The actual truth is a more compelling reason to garner complete public support for the military than the lie about griffin fliers.
The rebel kids are apparently using the forge at Basgiath in secret to produce weapons for the rebellion.
Okay, now we're getting some halfway decent worldbuilding. The wards that Navarre has are made using a lost art -- isn't wards Mira's signet? -- and the wards in Navarre are all linked to a wardstone in Basgiath. Navarre's wards are centered around the Vale where dragons hatch their eggs and don't extend over the region where the rebellion happened. And Aretia has a "dormant wardstone". Wards are also dragon powered.
This is a very important conversation, and it's not nearly as clumsy as it could be, so I'm glad it's here. Nothing about wards made any sense in Fourth Wing, and I suspect Yarros made all this up while writing Iron Flame.
Violet immediately realizes that if there's any info about this, it'll be in the Archives, where the evil, history-rewriting, censorious scribes store the forbidden information. Brennan tells her not to think about it, that only weapons can win this war. Yes, clearly he is a brilliant strategist. A magical shield that repels the enemy is much less effective then your dagger.
The revolution is looking for a mythical weapon that killed all the venin off six hundred years ago. It's called a luminary. Seems like the kind of thing that might be kept in the Archives.
I'm just saying.
“It’s best if you don’t know specifics—” He tenses, then reaches for me again. “I’ve already put you in danger by telling you too much. At least until you can shield Aetos out.”
My chest constricts, and I sidestep from his embrace. “You sound like Xaden.” I can’t help the bitterness that leaches into my tone. Turns out, falling in love with someone only brings that blissful high all the poets talk about if they love you back. And if they keep secrets that jeopardize everyone and everything you hold dear? Love doesn’t even have the decency to die. It just transforms into abject misery. That’s what this ache in my chest is: misery.
Because love, at its root, is hope. Hope for tomorrow. Hope for what could be. Hope that the someone you’ve entrusted your everything to will cradle and protect it. And hope? That shit is harder to kill than a dragon.
My chest constricts, and I sidestep from his embrace. “You sound like Xaden.” I can’t help the bitterness that leaches into my tone. Turns out, falling in love with someone only brings that blissful high all the poets talk about if they love you back. And if they keep secrets that jeopardize everyone and everything you hold dear? Love doesn’t even have the decency to die. It just transforms into abject misery. That’s what this ache in my chest is: misery.
Because love, at its root, is hope. Hope for tomorrow. Hope for what could be. Hope that the someone you’ve entrusted your everything to will cradle and protect it. And hope? That shit is harder to kill than a dragon.
Oh for fuck's sake.
Immediately after this, Violet finally has the revelation that her brain being open to Dain makes her a huge liability, and she tells him to tell her nothing so she doesn't get him or anyone else killed.
Next scene. We're in the valley, with Brennan and Marbh (his dragon), as well as Big T. Violet finally sees Andarna, who is now black and twice the size she was, because only baby dragons are golden. Her growth was accelerated due to the strain of stopping time so long, and she's gone straight into being a teenager.
Big T assures Violet that Andarna will be fine, and probably more annoying to others because dragon teenagers have anger issues, but she needs to get to the Vale to "enter the Dreamless Sleep and finish the growth process."
'Growth process' is so fucking unwieldy. Just say 'finished growing.'
Big T explains that dragon tails are "a matter of choice and need" and apparently not hereditary. This isn't even bad worldbuilding, that's legitimately cool and I want to know more, but the sheer secrecy of the dragons once again makes me question what they get out of cooperating with the Navarre military. If dragons power the wards, why aren't they in charge?
Xaden's here with the rest of the cadets in tow. Violet wants to leave to avoid further bloodshed, but Brennan points out that she'll definitely be executed by their mother if she goes back. There's some argument about whether General Sorrengall would in fact kill her own daughter. This makes me think we're going to have some kind of Violet's mom redemption arc. Ew.
They all take a vote, they're going back, Xaden's going to train Violet to shield herself against Dain. Forced proximity? Nice.
Andarna wakes up and is immediately grumpy. She can't fly because of the sudden growth making her discombobulated. Xaden announces they need to be home in 48 hours for his plan to work, because in 48 hours...it's graduation.
Chapter End.
Yarros's writing is better in this book, but it's still just...boring? I don't like it. It's repetitive and it spoonfeeds you everything.
The plot is here a lot earlier than it was in Fourth Wing. Which is good because this is an insanely long book and I don't have the patience for fucking around. If I had to make some predictions, I'd say Violet is going to infiltrate the scribe quadrant to get information, we're going to find out whether Violet's mom is evil, and the intimacy of shielding practice is going to get Violet and Xaden back together. And adolescent Andarna is going to be really annoying.
