Iron Flame Live Reactions: Chapters 29-31
Sep. 20th, 2024 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaWe open this chapter to Tairn giving Violet a pep talk because she's insecure about Xaden's ex-girlfriend. It's a nice moment. Tairn and his mate take off, as Violet and Xaden decide to go back to their rooms and bang for whatever time they have left.
But first: Violet wants to know about Viscount Tecarus, this mysterious foreign noble who apparently the rebels are negotiating with and who apparently wants Violet. Or rather, he wants to see Violet's signet, because lightning wielders are rare. I definitely have questions about this aspect of worldbuilding. On one hand, the signets are supposed to be unique, and yet everyone seems to have a list of all the possibilities memorized. It's just loose enough that it never feels like a solid part of the world.
Xaden, I'm begging you, there are literal lives at stake here, this is not the time to be an overdramatic lover.
On one hand, this book wants to be taken seriously: it's full of danger and murder. On the other hand, we have scenes like this where we're supposed to be blown away by how hot and romantic Xaden is. Nothing wrong with an unhealthily devoted fantasy lover, okay? But the book feels so often like it's at odds with itself. This characterization of Xaden is fine in a vacuum, but it doesn't make sense next to the rest of his characterization, nor does it make sense with the non-romance parts of this book. This could so easily be a continuation of the running theme of trust in a time of war where Xaden has to ask Violet to take a terrible risk for the war effort, and Violet can have complicated feelings about both being trusted and being asked to risk herself by her lover. If Yarros wanted to spend the first 40% of this book on this stupid interpersonal conflict, there are elements in the actual plot she wrote that could be used to wind together the romance and the external plot! But no! Instead Violet and Xaden just have tedious conversations that sound like they both see the same hack therapist in between plot elements that are interesting.
Sorry. Kind of went off there. Xaden gives Violet one of the daggers that kills venin, and then Violet drops the last couple chapters' worth of plot on him. It's only a few lines of dialogue, though, not a huge recap.
Next scene. Violet is swooning on Tairn's back because she feels like Xaden and her finally are trusting each other, and also she's happy they're fucking. Violet realizes as she lands she didn't hide her special dagger, even though in the last scene she specifically thought about doing so. Dammit, Violet.
They're back at Basgiath, so Tairn goes to hydrate and Violet goes to be punished. She stops to talk to a professor, who I don't remember, but who is just here to tell Violet how great she is and to feed her an excuse to explain her absence. She's almost made it to her room and is thinking about how she'll have time to stash her dagger when...Varrish shows up.
Well, no shit. Violet really should have prepared for this better, considering her supposed encyclopedic knowledge of the Codex. Like, common sense should have told her her own fucking quarters would be watched, and also she came in riding a huge black dragon.
Varrish immediately starts searching Violet's bag and then starts trying to have Violet searched, since she's in Xaden's jacket. Another professor shows up immediately to stop Varrish. He's already talked to Varrish's superior and they've agreed Violet shouldn't get in trouble, since it's all Tairn's fault anyway. Interesting comment from Varrish in response:
Before we go on, I'll just say this. This is extremely convenient for Violet. So it really should go badly, but from a different angle. Professor Kaori should find her dagger and use the knowledge to blackmail her, or otherwise use this moment to create another problem for Violet. This dagger has been built up over the past two chapters, with three separate mentions of it as incriminating and dangerous. The gun is on the mantelpiece, and it needs to be fired directly into Violet. Yarros hates it when Violet has problems, in my experience, but we shall see.
I'm turning the page and...
Welp. Rhiannon has pulled the dagger through the wall into her room using her signet, so it's safe from Kaori and Violet is in the clear. And Violet is so moved by this that she decides to spill all to her friends, and the chapter ends with her telling Rhiannon that her special dagger is for killing venin.
Ugh. Not sure how I feel about this. We'll see if it creates any problems down the line or not.
Next chapter. Opening quote says infantry and healers are forbidden from the Rider's Quadrant without welcome. Considering their death toll, that sounds dumb as fuck.
Violet tells her squadmates almost everything. She holds back the info about Aretia and her brother. So she is apparently telling all of them about the rebel kids and their treason. Without permission from said rebels. Violet, baby, this is why Xaden didn't trust you. Have you learned nothing.
The riders all confirm this with their dragons, who all know about the venin. Apparently, because the dragon leadership is undecided, all the dragons have decided to not tell their rider anything. Okay. Really want to meet these dragon leadership at some point.
The squad discusses Violet's revelations. They all seem to believe her. And none of them are mad at her and they all think she's so brave and they all want to stand with her against injustice. Convenient.
Violet does have the insight to recognize Rhiannon is taking it much better than Violet did with Xaden. They start planning to help Violet with her plan to rebuild Navarre's wards, when Ridoc just casually drops that when they broke into Violet's mom's office last year, he read a classified ledger that revealed the existence of a sublevel vault with the journals of the founders of Navarre, aka The First Six, aka the guys whose work created the wards in the first place.
Again, convenient, but plausible enough and it didn't involve Violet being a genius, so I will allow it.
Time passes quickly here. As they research, they start to make progress, but Violet is also now being prevented from flying out to see Xaden, which is straining Tairn. Andarna is still sleeping, longer than they expected. Jack Barlowe is being weirdly nice, something we're told but not actually shown. Finally, it's Threshing, and Violet is afraid for Sloane.
Oh, and I guess Violet told Imogen she'd looped in all her squadmates on their secret rebellion and Imogen's response was to be a little mad and then tell her girlfriend. Once again: Violet needs to actually have problems! With consequences!
Everyone's getting bonded to dragons, including both Aaric and Sloane. Violet gets a message from Jesinia saying she has what they need, so she and Ridoc go back to the quadrant: Ridoc to meet Jesinia, Violet to take her watch. It's all very happy. Something really bad is about to happen. (I hope.)
Violet is now alone in a building she's never been alone in. She goes up to relieve the watch there and yep, four infantry are waiting to kill her.
They attack her. The other rider is killed, and Violet is dangling off the side of the tower, about to fall to her death. Once again this book has swung back into being decently interesting. This is a genuinely tight, tense scene. Violet is hanging on by her fingertips as the soldier leans down to push her off -- and then he's stabbed in the throat.
Next chapter.
I'll give this one to Yarros. I did NOT see that coming. Jack and Violet talk a bit -- his brush with death has changed him, and he's decided that he's just returned the favor for Violet. Tairn arrives, too late. Ridoc then arrives, as well, as Violet collapses to the ground.
Now, her assumption is that Aetos (Dain's dad) is killing off all the Riders who were present at the climax of the last book. However, I still don't understand why. I mean, I get that he wants them dead, but...they all committed treason. Why the subterfuge of assassins? Why allow them to return to the war college at all? This is no reason to believe that Aetos couldn't just have all of them tried and executed for treason on their return. Like, I would buy that Violet might scrap by due to her mom, and that would be interesting if she were the sole survivor, or if she was the sole person returning to the war college because of her mom's protection.
It just doesn't make sense to me.
But good news! Ridoc did talk to Jesinia, and she figured out how to get into the sublevel vault. They just need someone of royal blood to assist them...and Aaric is available.
Chapter end.
Hmm.
In Fourth Wing, I felt like the romance scenes were a lot stronger than any of the actual plot. And in Iron Flame, it's the opposite. It feels like Yarros has got her footing with the plot stuff, but the romance has pitched off a cliff and is now super boring. Maybe it's because established romances are harder to sustain, especially considering the length of these books.
I do feel like pretty much every problem in this book could have been addressed by a half-competent editor.
But first: Violet wants to know about Viscount Tecarus, this mysterious foreign noble who apparently the rebels are negotiating with and who apparently wants Violet. Or rather, he wants to see Violet's signet, because lightning wielders are rare. I definitely have questions about this aspect of worldbuilding. On one hand, the signets are supposed to be unique, and yet everyone seems to have a list of all the possibilities memorized. It's just loose enough that it never feels like a solid part of the world.
“Doesn’t seem like it’s your risk to take,” I say softly. He needs that luminary, but maybe if I can get the wards up, that will buy us some time.
“I told you in Aretia—I would rather lose this entire war than live without you.” He skims my jawline with his fingers before dropping his hand.
“I didn’t really think you meant it when you said that.” The ache in my chest damn near explodes. I love this man with every beat of my reckless heart, which would be his if he’d simply stop keeping all his secrets and let me know him.
Xaden, I'm begging you, there are literal lives at stake here, this is not the time to be an overdramatic lover.
On one hand, this book wants to be taken seriously: it's full of danger and murder. On the other hand, we have scenes like this where we're supposed to be blown away by how hot and romantic Xaden is. Nothing wrong with an unhealthily devoted fantasy lover, okay? But the book feels so often like it's at odds with itself. This characterization of Xaden is fine in a vacuum, but it doesn't make sense next to the rest of his characterization, nor does it make sense with the non-romance parts of this book. This could so easily be a continuation of the running theme of trust in a time of war where Xaden has to ask Violet to take a terrible risk for the war effort, and Violet can have complicated feelings about both being trusted and being asked to risk herself by her lover. If Yarros wanted to spend the first 40% of this book on this stupid interpersonal conflict, there are elements in the actual plot she wrote that could be used to wind together the romance and the external plot! But no! Instead Violet and Xaden just have tedious conversations that sound like they both see the same hack therapist in between plot elements that are interesting.
Sorry. Kind of went off there. Xaden gives Violet one of the daggers that kills venin, and then Violet drops the last couple chapters' worth of plot on him. It's only a few lines of dialogue, though, not a huge recap.
Next scene. Violet is swooning on Tairn's back because she feels like Xaden and her finally are trusting each other, and also she's happy they're fucking. Violet realizes as she lands she didn't hide her special dagger, even though in the last scene she specifically thought about doing so. Dammit, Violet.
They're back at Basgiath, so Tairn goes to hydrate and Violet goes to be punished. She stops to talk to a professor, who I don't remember, but who is just here to tell Violet how great she is and to feed her an excuse to explain her absence. She's almost made it to her room and is thinking about how she'll have time to stash her dagger when...Varrish shows up.
Well, no shit. Violet really should have prepared for this better, considering her supposed encyclopedic knowledge of the Codex. Like, common sense should have told her her own fucking quarters would be watched, and also she came in riding a huge black dragon.
Varrish immediately starts searching Violet's bag and then starts trying to have Violet searched, since she's in Xaden's jacket. Another professor shows up immediately to stop Varrish. He's already talked to Varrish's superior and they've agreed Violet shouldn't get in trouble, since it's all Tairn's fault anyway. Interesting comment from Varrish in response:
“Oh.” Kaori nods. “That explains it. You haven’t talked to Panchek this afternoon. I turned in my expert opinion that Sorrengail not be punished for what was clearly the choice of her dragon. Her very powerful, very worried, very mated dragon. Panchek agrees. She’s clear of all charges.”
“I’m sorry?” Varrish drops Xaden’s jacket on the floor on top of Bodhi’s, and his henchmen stand.
“Come now,” Kaori says as if he’s talking to a child. “We can hardly expect a second-year to shield out the overpowering emotions of her dragon when even we struggle as officers, let alone one as strong as Tairn.”
“Maybe you struggle,” Varrish snips, losing his customary slick indifference. “Some of us do not bow to the whims of our dragons. In fact, we influence them.”
Before we go on, I'll just say this. This is extremely convenient for Violet. So it really should go badly, but from a different angle. Professor Kaori should find her dagger and use the knowledge to blackmail her, or otherwise use this moment to create another problem for Violet. This dagger has been built up over the past two chapters, with three separate mentions of it as incriminating and dangerous. The gun is on the mantelpiece, and it needs to be fired directly into Violet. Yarros hates it when Violet has problems, in my experience, but we shall see.
I'm turning the page and...
Welp. Rhiannon has pulled the dagger through the wall into her room using her signet, so it's safe from Kaori and Violet is in the clear. And Violet is so moved by this that she decides to spill all to her friends, and the chapter ends with her telling Rhiannon that her special dagger is for killing venin.
Ugh. Not sure how I feel about this. We'll see if it creates any problems down the line or not.
Next chapter. Opening quote says infantry and healers are forbidden from the Rider's Quadrant without welcome. Considering their death toll, that sounds dumb as fuck.
Violet tells her squadmates almost everything. She holds back the info about Aretia and her brother. So she is apparently telling all of them about the rebel kids and their treason. Without permission from said rebels. Violet, baby, this is why Xaden didn't trust you. Have you learned nothing.
The riders all confirm this with their dragons, who all know about the venin. Apparently, because the dragon leadership is undecided, all the dragons have decided to not tell their rider anything. Okay. Really want to meet these dragon leadership at some point.
The squad discusses Violet's revelations. They all seem to believe her. And none of them are mad at her and they all think she's so brave and they all want to stand with her against injustice. Convenient.
Violet does have the insight to recognize Rhiannon is taking it much better than Violet did with Xaden. They start planning to help Violet with her plan to rebuild Navarre's wards, when Ridoc just casually drops that when they broke into Violet's mom's office last year, he read a classified ledger that revealed the existence of a sublevel vault with the journals of the founders of Navarre, aka The First Six, aka the guys whose work created the wards in the first place.
Again, convenient, but plausible enough and it didn't involve Violet being a genius, so I will allow it.
Time passes quickly here. As they research, they start to make progress, but Violet is also now being prevented from flying out to see Xaden, which is straining Tairn. Andarna is still sleeping, longer than they expected. Jack Barlowe is being weirdly nice, something we're told but not actually shown. Finally, it's Threshing, and Violet is afraid for Sloane.
Oh, and I guess Violet told Imogen she'd looped in all her squadmates on their secret rebellion and Imogen's response was to be a little mad and then tell her girlfriend. Once again: Violet needs to actually have problems! With consequences!
Everyone's getting bonded to dragons, including both Aaric and Sloane. Violet gets a message from Jesinia saying she has what they need, so she and Ridoc go back to the quadrant: Ridoc to meet Jesinia, Violet to take her watch. It's all very happy. Something really bad is about to happen. (I hope.)
Violet is now alone in a building she's never been alone in. She goes up to relieve the watch there and yep, four infantry are waiting to kill her.
They attack her. The other rider is killed, and Violet is dangling off the side of the tower, about to fall to her death. Once again this book has swung back into being decently interesting. This is a genuinely tight, tense scene. Violet is hanging on by her fingertips as the soldier leans down to push her off -- and then he's stabbed in the throat.
Next chapter.
I slip another precious inch as the soldier is yanked backward, then thrown forward, over my head, disappearing into the darkness.
It’s Eya. It has to be. Maybe the wound isn’t—
Blond hair and icy-blue eyes appear above me, and my heart plummets with the assassin’s body. Jack Barlowe.
“Sorrengail?” He lunges forward, grasping my wrists with an unbreakable grip.
“I’m so sorry,” I tell Tairn and prepare myself for the weightless moment that will be my last.
“I’ve got you!” Jack shouts, holding my wrists tight as he throws himself backward and hauls me up and over the edge.
I'll give this one to Yarros. I did NOT see that coming. Jack and Violet talk a bit -- his brush with death has changed him, and he's decided that he's just returned the favor for Violet. Tairn arrives, too late. Ridoc then arrives, as well, as Violet collapses to the ground.
Now, her assumption is that Aetos (Dain's dad) is killing off all the Riders who were present at the climax of the last book. However, I still don't understand why. I mean, I get that he wants them dead, but...they all committed treason. Why the subterfuge of assassins? Why allow them to return to the war college at all? This is no reason to believe that Aetos couldn't just have all of them tried and executed for treason on their return. Like, I would buy that Violet might scrap by due to her mom, and that would be interesting if she were the sole survivor, or if she was the sole person returning to the war college because of her mom's protection.
It just doesn't make sense to me.
But good news! Ridoc did talk to Jesinia, and she figured out how to get into the sublevel vault. They just need someone of royal blood to assist them...and Aaric is available.
Chapter end.
Hmm.
In Fourth Wing, I felt like the romance scenes were a lot stronger than any of the actual plot. And in Iron Flame, it's the opposite. It feels like Yarros has got her footing with the plot stuff, but the romance has pitched off a cliff and is now super boring. Maybe it's because established romances are harder to sustain, especially considering the length of these books.
I do feel like pretty much every problem in this book could have been addressed by a half-competent editor.
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Date: 2024-09-21 04:43 pm (UTC)Xaden, I'm begging you, there are literal lives at stake here, this is not the time to be an overdramatic lover.
You extra especially will not want to read this author's modern-set novel In the Likely Event.
I do feel like pretty much every problem in this book could have been addressed by a half-competent editor.
It's impressive isn't it? Such an example of rushed to print before interest from buyers flagged.