Iron Flame Live Reactions: Chapter 9-10
Mar. 3rd, 2024 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaWe open to the next morning, where Violet wakes up after a nightmare. She runs into Imogen, who drops that she knows Violet's been secretly running in the extra hour second years get every morning.
If it's hell on your joints, maybe that's a sign you shouldn't do it? This is a weird chapter in terms of the timeline. It starts the morning after the preceding chapter, but is about Violet's secret running which she's been doing for weeks. I actually had to go back and double check, because it's written like more time has passed. And why is this running a secret from us, the readers? We're in Violet's head!
It turns out Violet wants to run because of the fight with the venin, where she realized she has to be able to outtrun their evil channeling to survive. This could be a powerful moment, but like so many ideas in this book, Yarros can't execute them well enough to make them stick. Why am I learning this through confusing dialogue with Imogen? If Violet's been tormented by these nightmares to the point she's torturing herself by running, why can't I just get a scene of her running, sweaty and in agony? Why the expository dialogue or the weird quasi time skip at all?
Scene. First Battle Brief, which as you will recall is a kind of class they take in this war college. Violet gets a proud smile from the professor and then gets mad at the sight of the scribe who helps teach this class, internally accusing him of writing the textbook full of lies and handpicking her to be a scribe. Even in her mad internal dialogue, we can never forget how smart and good Violet is.
Insane that a single scribe co-teaches one course at the war college.
We learn that the war college gets information from the front before the king himself gets it. That maybe makes sense, though it makes less sense that they tell their first year rider cadets this info immediately. Colonel Markham, the scribe, tells them about three recent gryphon attacks, while Violet ruminates. The third is at Athebyne. This is where the climax of the last book occurred, so Violet gasps loudly and drops her pen. Damn, it's crazy that Xaden didn't tell her all his secrets!
The gryphons have been raiding the outposts for weaponry, Violet deduces, since they don't have enough of the venin-killing metal on hand. A first year suggests razing some villages as a retaliation tactic, which her professors tell her is against the Codex they're supposed to follow, and Violet thinks that refusing to save civilians is as bad as actively killing them.
After class, Violet immediately goes to the current head of the rebel kids, Bodhi, and demands a job. Xaden already told Bodhi that Violet was not to be involved, in part because her shields aren't strong enough, and we know they aren't because Violet told us so earlier in this scene. Violet, to her credit, realizes she can't help and backs off.
Rhiannon then pulls Violet aside to tell her she thinks something sketchy is happening in the Healer Quadrant. A passing first year suggests that maybe the war college's single mender is too busy fixing up a tortured prisoner to heal people.
Side note: if there's only one mender for the whole war college, they really should be using him judiciously. Like if they don't have separate healers set aside for actual riders, he really shouldn't be wasting much energy on cadets at all, or at least not unbonded ones. I can buy that Violet got special access because of nepotism, but this school lets so many of their riders die during training that it feels very wasteful to have them magically healed at all.
Violet finishes reading her library book, laments it contains nothing useful, and then heads to assessment day, aka first years fight each other day. This is where Violet started her streak of poisoning her way through combat. Violet watches them fight for a bit. Liam's sister, Sloane, wants to fight Violet instead of her opponent, but no one will let her in a rare display of actual sense. Then a brutish first year who threw someone off the parapet earlier in the book appears and...well, I'll just let you read this bit yourself.
Ah, it's the Jack of this book. Probably a sibling seeking revenge. Fuck this book.
Hey, so before we go on to the next chapter: it should be extremely dangerous and stupid for a first year to kill a bonded rider. It just should. So we'll see how Yarros handles it.
Okay, next chapter opens with this:
Violet immediately tells everyone to not interfere so she can engage in hand to hand combat with this guy. Which is silly -- he's committing what should be a crime, this shouldn't be about honor, everyone should be on this guy at once to take him down so he can be executed for treason or whatever. It's astonishing how this book wants Violet to be a smart heroine but so rarely lets her actually use her brain to avoid fights. And when she does, it's still stupid. Like, Violet could use her encyclopedic knowledge of the law to let this guy know surrendering is his only chance at lenience, or to get everyone else to help, but she doesn't. No, she does the bullshit ego rider thing. Why even give her the scribe background?
Oh, never mind. Look at this bullshit:
What do you mean, THEY CAN'T INTERFERE? You're a fucking bonded rider, the thing the military has a critical shortage of! If you just fucking get killed, your dragon might die! Everyone should be interfering! You're telling me it's still legal to murder each other after the first year? WHY? What purpose does that serve?
This is actually a decent fight scene. The choreography makes sense, and it's tight and engaging.So it turns out Aetos (Dain's dad) sent this guy to assassinate Violet. Which she knows because he tells her as he's assassinating her. Hey, uh, why? Why would Aetos even give the assassin a secret phrase that would let Violet know he's responsible? Like, if it's not a problem for him to assassinate her, then he should be able to kill her using legal means.
Violet is badly injured, concussed, strangled (strangulation injuries are insanely dangerous, by the way, I don't know why books blow them off) but she insists on staying there and even tells the first years to clean up the blood and keep fighting. Ugh. Then she leaves, and Xaden is back to be all "who hurt you" over her injuries. Yaaaay.
Xaden and Violet eat together while he tells her about Samarra, where he's stationed. There's a lot of hate from the other riders because of his background. As they talk, Xaden assures her the room is warded, but tells her she can bring in anyone as long as they're touching her. That feels like an easy way for someone to take advantage of the wards by dragging her in by force. Violet is surprised, because she assumed Xaden warded the rooms so only she and he could enter, but he tells her she can bring in anyone she wants.
Violet tells Xaden she can't handle the deaths of first years, to the point she won't even learn their names, and Xaden assures her that it's normal and that part of their training is to become desensitized to death. That's fucked up, and I really like it. It tells us something about Xaden's viewpoint, about how he's normalized all the horrors of the war college. Like, it's a fucked up thing that makes sense and adds to the worldbuilding.
Xaden gets pulled away by Bodhi to go do rebellion shit, but he leaves Violet a sheet of paper -- a letter he wrote her. His room, he tells her for when she comes to him, is warded for them two and only them two.
Chapter end. I don't have the will to keep going right now. This book is so fucking long.
“So, why are we running, Sorrengail?” Imogen asks, finishing her stretches.
“Because I generally suck at it,” I answer. “I’m good in short bursts, but anything longer than that—and I won’t make it.” Not to mention it’s hell on my joints.
If it's hell on your joints, maybe that's a sign you shouldn't do it? This is a weird chapter in terms of the timeline. It starts the morning after the preceding chapter, but is about Violet's secret running which she's been doing for weeks. I actually had to go back and double check, because it's written like more time has passed. And why is this running a secret from us, the readers? We're in Violet's head!
It turns out Violet wants to run because of the fight with the venin, where she realized she has to be able to outtrun their evil channeling to survive. This could be a powerful moment, but like so many ideas in this book, Yarros can't execute them well enough to make them stick. Why am I learning this through confusing dialogue with Imogen? If Violet's been tormented by these nightmares to the point she's torturing herself by running, why can't I just get a scene of her running, sweaty and in agony? Why the expository dialogue or the weird quasi time skip at all?
Scene. First Battle Brief, which as you will recall is a kind of class they take in this war college. Violet gets a proud smile from the professor and then gets mad at the sight of the scribe who helps teach this class, internally accusing him of writing the textbook full of lies and handpicking her to be a scribe. Even in her mad internal dialogue, we can never forget how smart and good Violet is.
Insane that a single scribe co-teaches one course at the war college.
We learn that the war college gets information from the front before the king himself gets it. That maybe makes sense, though it makes less sense that they tell their first year rider cadets this info immediately. Colonel Markham, the scribe, tells them about three recent gryphon attacks, while Violet ruminates. The third is at Athebyne. This is where the climax of the last book occurred, so Violet gasps loudly and drops her pen. Damn, it's crazy that Xaden didn't tell her all his secrets!
The gryphons have been raiding the outposts for weaponry, Violet deduces, since they don't have enough of the venin-killing metal on hand. A first year suggests razing some villages as a retaliation tactic, which her professors tell her is against the Codex they're supposed to follow, and Violet thinks that refusing to save civilians is as bad as actively killing them.
After class, Violet immediately goes to the current head of the rebel kids, Bodhi, and demands a job. Xaden already told Bodhi that Violet was not to be involved, in part because her shields aren't strong enough, and we know they aren't because Violet told us so earlier in this scene. Violet, to her credit, realizes she can't help and backs off.
Rhiannon then pulls Violet aside to tell her she thinks something sketchy is happening in the Healer Quadrant. A passing first year suggests that maybe the war college's single mender is too busy fixing up a tortured prisoner to heal people.
Side note: if there's only one mender for the whole war college, they really should be using him judiciously. Like if they don't have separate healers set aside for actual riders, he really shouldn't be wasting much energy on cadets at all, or at least not unbonded ones. I can buy that Violet got special access because of nepotism, but this school lets so many of their riders die during training that it feels very wasteful to have them magically healed at all.
Violet finishes reading her library book, laments it contains nothing useful, and then heads to assessment day, aka first years fight each other day. This is where Violet started her streak of poisoning her way through combat. Violet watches them fight for a bit. Liam's sister, Sloane, wants to fight Violet instead of her opponent, but no one will let her in a rare display of actual sense. Then a brutish first year who threw someone off the parapet earlier in the book appears and...well, I'll just let you read this bit yourself.
“Did someone say Sorrengail?” a deep voice asks from behind us.
Our line of second-years all glance over shoulders at the bullish first-year who threw the scrawny one off the parapet. There’s a Second Wing patch on his shoulder as he lumbers forward, his hands at his sides.
“Popular today, aren’t you?” Nadine whispers with a smile, pivoting playfully toward the first-year. “Hi. I’m Violet Sorrengail.” She points to her purple hair. “See? Like my hair. Do you have a message for—”
“Did someone say Sorrengail?” a deep voice asks from behind us.
Our line of second-years all glance over shoulders at the bullish first-year who threw the scrawny one off the parapet. There’s a Second Wing patch on his shoulder as he lumbers forward, his hands at his sides.
“Popular today, aren’t you?” Nadine whispers with a smile, pivoting playfully toward the first-year. “Hi. I’m Violet Sorrengail.” She points to her purple hair. “See? Like my hair. Do you have a message for—”
He grabs hold of her head and twists, snapping her neck.
Ah, it's the Jack of this book. Probably a sibling seeking revenge. Fuck this book.
Hey, so before we go on to the next chapter: it should be extremely dangerous and stupid for a first year to kill a bonded rider. It just should. So we'll see how Yarros handles it.
Okay, next chapter opens with this:
It is not unheard of that a candidate enters the Riders Quadrant having been paid to assassinate a cadet. I’m sorry Mira was targeted but proud to say she dispatched the threat quickly. You have enemies, General.
—OFFICIAL NOTICE FROM COMMANDANT PANCHEK TO GENERAL SORRENGAIL
Violet immediately tells everyone to not interfere so she can engage in hand to hand combat with this guy. Which is silly -- he's committing what should be a crime, this shouldn't be about honor, everyone should be on this guy at once to take him down so he can be executed for treason or whatever. It's astonishing how this book wants Violet to be a smart heroine but so rarely lets her actually use her brain to avoid fights. And when she does, it's still stupid. Like, Violet could use her encyclopedic knowledge of the law to let this guy know surrendering is his only chance at lenience, or to get everyone else to help, but she doesn't. No, she does the bullshit ego rider thing. Why even give her the scribe background?
Oh, never mind. Look at this bullshit:
My heart launches into my throat as people around me yell my name, but they can’t interfere. I’m a second-year, and this asshole isn’t in my squad.
What do you mean, THEY CAN'T INTERFERE? You're a fucking bonded rider, the thing the military has a critical shortage of! If you just fucking get killed, your dragon might die! Everyone should be interfering! You're telling me it's still legal to murder each other after the first year? WHY? What purpose does that serve?
This is actually a decent fight scene. The choreography makes sense, and it's tight and engaging.So it turns out Aetos (Dain's dad) sent this guy to assassinate Violet. Which she knows because he tells her as he's assassinating her. Hey, uh, why? Why would Aetos even give the assassin a secret phrase that would let Violet know he's responsible? Like, if it's not a problem for him to assassinate her, then he should be able to kill her using legal means.
Violet is badly injured, concussed, strangled (strangulation injuries are insanely dangerous, by the way, I don't know why books blow them off) but she insists on staying there and even tells the first years to clean up the blood and keep fighting. Ugh. Then she leaves, and Xaden is back to be all "who hurt you" over her injuries. Yaaaay.
Xaden and Violet eat together while he tells her about Samarra, where he's stationed. There's a lot of hate from the other riders because of his background. As they talk, Xaden assures her the room is warded, but tells her she can bring in anyone as long as they're touching her. That feels like an easy way for someone to take advantage of the wards by dragging her in by force. Violet is surprised, because she assumed Xaden warded the rooms so only she and he could enter, but he tells her she can bring in anyone she wants.
Violet tells Xaden she can't handle the deaths of first years, to the point she won't even learn their names, and Xaden assures her that it's normal and that part of their training is to become desensitized to death. That's fucked up, and I really like it. It tells us something about Xaden's viewpoint, about how he's normalized all the horrors of the war college. Like, it's a fucked up thing that makes sense and adds to the worldbuilding.
Xaden gets pulled away by Bodhi to go do rebellion shit, but he leaves Violet a sheet of paper -- a letter he wrote her. His room, he tells her for when she comes to him, is warded for them two and only them two.
Chapter end. I don't have the will to keep going right now. This book is so fucking long.
