penwalla

The only signet more terrifying than an inntinnsic is a truth-sayer. And yet we let them live.

—MAJOR AFENDRA’S GUIDE TO THE RIDERS QUADRANT (UNAUTHORIZED EDITION)

I don't mind these opening quotes, per se, but I do think Yarros very often gives away things that could be suspenseful in them. And I also think which powers are acceptable and which are not seems like it makes no sense. Truth-sayers and Dain are okay, Imogen's memory-wiping is okay, but mind-reading is just out?

Violet wakes up to a conversation between yet unknown people, presumably her captors. She's been drugged to dull her connection to Tairn, and her captors are talking about a mysterious "she" who they're wary of.

I'm gonna guess this is Violet's mother.

Violet's tied and up and defenseless in the cell. Varrish is there, but he's replaced by Nolon, who comes in to interrogate Violet. This is a tense scene, because Nolon has always been one of this book's "good guys". But of course, as a loyal citizen of Navarre, he of course is opposed to what Violet is up to. This is the first time Violet has actually had ideological conflict with someone she trusted over her newfound treasonous beliefs. Finally.

Nolon is holding the stolen journal they spent the last couple chapters heisting.

Okay, this is a scene where Violet's only weapon is her brain, and she is supposed to be smart, so I'm expecting great things here. Nora, the truth-sayer (a woman who can detect the truth?) is there, so Violet can't lie, but she also has to not reveal anything.

“Violet, please,” Nolon pleads, setting the journal on the table. “Just explain. Was it an unsanctioned squad challenge? Some kind of dare between second-years? They’re still trying to ascertain exactly what’s missing. Help us. Tell us, and this will go much easier for you.”

Trying to ascertain. They can’t get in.

“You’re jumping to the why part.” Varrish rolls his eyes. “Honestly, Nolon, this is why you’ve never been suited to interrogation.” His pale gaze locks on mine. “How?”

Violet carefully avoids telling lies, so Varrish sends Nora out to check every cadet's hands (for the burns Aaric sustained in the last chapter) and sends Nolon out so he can torture Violet.

Why is he sending out his truth-sayer? That's dumb as fuck. What if he tortures Violet and she lies to make the pain stop? On one hand, Varrish is cartoonishly evil, and on the other hand, I find most authors have not interrogated their conception of torture as effective. I still hate it though.

The torture begins, the scene ends. Next scene. Violet's arm has been mangled and she's now hallucinating (?) Liam, who is encouraging her to be strong. She's in bad shape, but trying to hold it together.

“She didn’t during assessment,” Varrish responds. Gods, I wish I didn’t know his voice. “And bringing them in means they’ll know what’s happened, and given the relic winding around Imogen Cardulo’s arm, I doubt she’ll be willing to wipe their memories. Killing them presents an entirely different set of issues, too. You’re sure none of the cadets have hand injuries?”

“I inspected them all myself,” Nora replies. “Devera and Emetterio are asking where she is, as is the rest of her squad. She’s missed class today.”

I am once again asking why the fuck the military allows the rebel kids to become dragon riders. You could literally make them all infantry! You could kill them! If you suspect them all of treason, why allow them to join your military's elite dragon riding force where they get magical powers, a fire-breathing lizard as a protector, and the ability to undermine your military's actions? Why? WHY? Why does the military in Navarre keep coming up with convoluted excuses to NOT kill people?

Okay, Varrish is monologuing.

“Gods, you’re good. Or you’re in too much pain to react.” Varrish tilts his head, reminding me of an owl as he studies me. “Do you know what my signet is, Cadet Sorrengail? Why it is I’m so good in this room? It’s classified, but we’re all friends here, aren’t we?”

I stare at him but don’t reply.

“I don’t see people.” He tilts his head and studies me. “I see their weaknesses. It’s a great advantage in battle. Honestly, you surprised me when we met. From everything I’d heard about the youngest Sorrengail, I expected to look at you and see pain, broken bones, or maybe shame for never living up to Mom’s expectations.” He skims his finger over the obvious break in my forearm but doesn’t apply pressure. The threat is enough to make my chest tighten. “But I saw…nothing. Someone taught you to shield, and I’ll admit you’re very good at it.” He leans closer. “Do you want to know what I see now that we’ve cut you off from your power?”

Hatred wells within me and I hope he sees it.

“By Dunne, must I carry all of the conversation? ‘Yes, of course I want to know,’” he says, raising his voice in mock imitation. “Well, Cadet Sorrengail, your weaknesses are the people you love. So many people to choose from. Squad Leader Matthias and the rest of your squad, your sister, your dragons.” A twisted smile curves his mouth. “Lieutenant Riorson.”

Okay, some notes. First of all, this is hack shit and I hate it. What does this mean? Emotional weaknesses? Physical weaknesses? How is this a great advantage in battle? Second of all, the next line is about Nora's lie-detecting powers just being her ability to detect tachycardia, an extremely non-specific and stupid way of detecting lies. And it's completely unnecessary, because this is a world with fucking dragons, she can have the magical ability to detect lies and that's not a stretch of the reader's imagination at all.

Varrish tells Violet his true evil plan: he's waiting for Xaden to come rescue her, because then he'll have a legal reason to interrogate him. Sir, why do you NEED a legal reason. What are the consequences of doing it illegally? Who is watching you to keep you in line? I would buy that he has to be careful with Violet because of her mom, but we already supposedly established that everyone hates the rebel kids anyway!

Yes, I know it's because the rules are whatever Yarros needs them to be at any given moment.

Violet is tortured and mended over and over again, with breaks only to eat and to be drugged again to prevent Tairn from finding her. Hey, if the dragons prefer their humans not be murdered, does the military not have to worry that their treaty with them might be hampered by them killing Violet? See, that would be a good reason for the military's incredible stupid way of handling this situation: they have to go at underhandedly because their treaty doesn't allow the military to kill a Rider without dragon permission or whatever. But then we're back to the problem of letting Xaden and Co. become riders in the first place. My solution would be to change the premise so that the dragons essentially pick their preferred humans out of a line up of all the infantry or out of all the rider applicants at random at the beginning of their education, so that there's some room for Xaden and Co. to have tricked their way into the military or for it to be out of the dragon's hands.

Again, this book would be very improved if this far in we had any sense of dragon politics.

And...ooo. They bring Dain in to extract Violet's memories. Why didn't they do this first? I guess because Varrish had to break her down so she couldn't shield or whatever, but still.

Violet breaks down and starts arguing with Dain. Can't blame her for this, she's been through an ordeal.

Violet doesn't have the strength to shield, but dream Liam gives her another strategy:

They may have blocked me from my power, but that stems from Tairn. The control over my mind? That’s mine, and it’s all I have left.

Unlike last year, I feel Dain’s presence at the edge of my mind this time, right where my shields should be, and instead of recoiling from the assault, I grab hold of that presence and throw myself into the memory, dragging Dain with me.

“Do we have a riot nearby?” Liam asks.

Gravity shifts as I realize my worst nightmare is indeed a living, breathing monster.

Two legs. Not four. Wyvern.

They’d sent us here to die.

Venin with red veins distending from their eyes, killing helpless people.

Blue fire. Desiccated land. Soleil and Fuil falling.

We’ll never be able to smuggle enough weaponry out to make a difference.

They’ve kept us in the dark, erased our very history to avoid conflict, to keep us safe while innocent people die.

Liam— Gods...Liam. I dig my mental fingernails into Dain and hold him there, making him feel it with me again, the helplessness. The chest-crushing sorrow. The eye-blurring rage.

It’s been my honor. Liam’s last words to me.

My vengeance in the sky, fighting along Tairn’s back, armed with the only weapon that will kill the dark wielder doing her best to slay my dragon and end me.

The moment the dagger slides into my side, I stop pulling Dain and start shoving, screaming both physically and mentally, filling my head with every ounce of pain that’s been inflicted upon me in the last four days.

I'm so torn about this chapter, guys. It's good but it's so hampered by the rest of the book around it. Yarros can write bursts of interesting plot, but there are so many fundamentally stupid things about her worldbuilding that you really have to read with your brain off.

It seems like Dain has completely misunderstood what Violet was trying to tell him, but plot twist! He's on her side now and he stabs Varrish and starts helping her escape. And right as they're about to start fighting...it's him.

Next chapter! Xaden's here to save the day.

But first, please look at this hilarious opening quote.

The only crime worse than murdering a cadet is the unfathomable act of attacking leadership.

—MAJOR AFENDRA’S GUIDE TO THE RIDERS QUADRANT (UNAUTHORIZED EDITION)

What the fuck are you talking about? The cadets are ENCOURAGED to kill each other all the fucking time with 0 repercussions! Unless Violet's protag power demands them!

Violet stops Xaden from killing Dain. Violet kills Varrish, and then...

Ugh. Okay, so there's been this ongoing angst for Violet about whether Xaden really loves her, because he hasn't said those exact words. And she's been telling herself during the torture scenes that he won't come for her, because it would threaten the rebellion.

And now...this.

“Then I’ll have everything I need.” He lowers his face, leaning in so he’s all I see, all I feel. “I will happily watch Aretia burn to the fucking ground again if it means you live.”

“You don’t mean that.” He loves his home. He’s done everything to protect his home.

“I do. I’m sorry if you expect me to do the noble thing. I warned you. I’m not sweet or soft or kind, and you fell anyway. This is what you get, Violet—me. The good, the bad, the unforgivable. All of it. I am yours.” His arm wraps around the small of my back, holding me steady and close. “You want to know something true? Something real? I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been since the night the snow fell in your hair and you kissed me for the first time. I’m grateful my life is tied to yours because it means I won’t have to face a day without you in it. My heart only beats as long as yours does, and when you die, I’ll meet Malek at your side. It’s a damned good thing that you love me, too, because you’re stuck with me in this life and every other that could possibly follow.”

You can't have it both ways! Is Xaden hot because he's a noble rebel leader who makes sacrifices and fights for the right thing under duress, or is he a fantasy selfish asshole who only cares about his woman? Both of those are things a romance novel love interest can be, but not in the same guy simultaneously!

Like, I'm not against dark romance or the idea of the fantasy lover who prioritizes you to an insane degree, the villain who is only soft for you. Those are tropes I even enjoy. But this book is about this rebellion against a corrupt government and our heroes are heroes in part because they oppose that evil. So Xaden's speech about suddenly not doing that makes him seem like a horrible person!

Okay, I'm chill now. I'm good. Garrick shows up and they start to escape, and then...it's Violet's mom!

Is this it? Is this the Violet's mom redemption arc I've been anticipating? Violet's mom was ostensibly the reason Violet became a dragon rider at all, and supposedly her wrath (which was never explained) kept Violet from doing the sensible thing and fucking off to become a scribe. But she's been extremely absent in the book(s) so far.

Violet's mom gives Violet the antidote to the serum she's been fed and tells her that when Violet is a mother, she'll understand that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to keep your child alive.

Cool motive, still morally contemptible.

And...turns out Violet's mom forced her to become a rider because she knew Violet was so smart that she would figure out about the venin and the wyvern, so she made a deal with Xaden to keep Violet alive during her first year of being a rider so that Violet would have a way to protect herself.

Hey, Violet's mom, couldn't you have like...conveyed literally any of this to her?

And of course it was for Violet's own good, because she's so smart, even though to be clear, Violet didn't figure shit out! She met the venin in real life and then she put together all the clues that we, the reader, had already put together. She saw the venin with her own eyes, there was no deduction involved!

God, this book is stupid again.

Violet's mom leaves and Violet decides they need to tell all the riders the truth and give them the chance to defect now, before it's too late. See, Xaden's distraction, which has drawn all the leadership away, was dropping a dozen dead wyverns on the border so that the government would have to scramble to do a cover up. So she, Xaden, and Dain go to give all the riders a pep talk and offer them a choice. About half of them agree, and so two hundred-odd riders fly out to join the rebellion.

They arrive to meet Brennan, who's like, the fuck, Xaden, why is my sister fucked up again. Chapter over.

Part Two. How are we only at Part Two? I'm at the 54% mark! I hate this.

We begin in Xaden's bedroom at the rebel base, which is of course luxurious, with Violet ogling him in bed.

They have some life-affirming sex. Scene change.

Xaden and Violet have to face the Council in charge of the rebellion. They're all pissed that Xaden just did whatever he wanted, but it's his house and he can do what he wants, and also it's too late, so it's mostly just a lot of yelling before everyone gives in. And then...Andarna wakes up!

Not sure how I feel about it. I'm not a fan of Andarna, but I hope she will be less annoying.

Chapter end. Okay, let's do one more.

Violet has finally made it to Andarna, but it took her an hour, so baby dragon's asleep again. She wakes up again, but turns out her prolonged sleep stunted her growth and she can't fly yet. And though she might fly in the future, she'll never be able to bear a rider.

This is clearly a parallel between Violet and Andarna, as two disabled characters, so I'm interested to see if it goes anywhere because Yarros doesn't seem to remember Violet's disability most of the time.

Meanwhile, Violet's translating the remaining stolen journal. She's figured out how to restart the wardstone in Aretia, but in the mean time. they're...having Battle Brief.

Christ. Okay, we have class, which is exactly like class was before except the subject matter is from a new perspective, but luckily Yarros has the sense to interrupt the class with the arrival of...Mira! The whole fam's together now as Mira has defected and brought a bunch of other riders with her. Apparently Violet's mom showed up, told all the riders the truth, and gave them an hour to decide if they were defecting. And didn't stop them if they defected.

Brennan appears, and Mira punches him in the face. Chapter end.

Please...get rid of the classroom scenes. We don't need them. Please, Yarros, we have 42% more book, I can't take it anymore.