Iron Flame Live Reactions: Chapters 50-55
Nov. 6th, 2024 09:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaWe open with another ominous opening quote about riders and signets.
Violet is training her lightning with Felix, who is still working with her on aiming. She's still struggling, which is good. After the lesson, we move back to Riorson House, where Violet discovers the wyvern have taken another town and several riders have been killed or injured in a vain attempt to stop them. No one important is dead, of course.
That's the entire chapter. Who edited this?
Violet goes upstairs to the top of a tower to find Xaden. He's upset, which she can tell, and she gives him a slice of cake and talks to him a little. The wyvern attack was apparently ten times the size of the one we saw at the end of book 1, so it was a big deal. Xaden is not optmistic:
Interesting. This is good, but it also feels...hmm. It's just another thing that feels like it should have been way more prominent in the book earlier, instead of being dropped in via exposition at the 77% mark. There's so much wasted time in this book, so much effort on scenes that do nothing, when there's actual meat on the story Yarros wants to tell. It's so frustrating. Why is this wyvern attack happening off page? We've had one wyvern attack and one lone venin in the past 51 chapters!
Okay, next scene. Violet and Dain are still translating daily, since raising the wards is the only chance they have at survival. Dain goes up to bed, and Violet continues working, only to have a revelation: it's the breath of life, not the blood of life, meaning what they need to raise the wards is dragons.
I mean...yeah, that seems like a thing. Sure. We've had one failure at ward raising before this, so I'll even say this is an earned achievement by Violet.
I want y'all to know that Calibre keeps crashing during these recaps. I am suffering.
Violet rushes to Rhiannon, the only person she trusts in this moment.
Chapter ends. Yeah, okay, let's keep going. Next chapter finally makes good use of the opening quote again, with the actual text of the journal Violet is translating.
Her entire squad is meeting at Rhiannon's sister's home. Flier and rider tensions are apparently improving. Violet is trying to find someone to double check her work before actually trying to raise the wards. There's probably a better way than randomly asking first years.
Violet then announces to the entire group that she's going to raise the wards, but it will probably cut off the fliers' ability to channel power from their gryphons. They're all really mad about this. Violet tells them she's giving them advance warning in case they want to leave beforehand.
Operational security: no one in this book except Xaden appears to know what it is. Violet, these people have tried to kill you. Couldn't you run this by, like, anyone else? Use your telepathic bond with Xaden? Assemble the council?
Violet also gives the fliers some explosives that she had imbued secretly.
Scene change. Violet is having the dream (that is obviously not a dream and is a telepathic connection with the venin) about the venin sage. he spends it verbally jerking off about how powerful she is. He then tells her that when the time comes, she will tear down the wards herself for love. Thanks for telling us what the climax of the book (or the next book? With Yarros, who knows) will be.
Next scene. They're suiting up for a training mission. Andarna is whining that she wants to fly with them, but Violet and Tairn are against it because of the damage to her wing. The mission is to track summoning runes that are hidden along the mountain range. As they prepared to head out, Xaden shows up, and Violet breaks off to go talk to him. He apparently fought and killed a venin. Violet tells him they'll talk about raising the wards when she gets back from her mission, and sends him off.
Okay, hopefully the book will provide a good reason for this later, but it is idiotic to prioritize the mission over the wards. The venin are closing in on them. Like one chapter ago Xaden was saying they were all doomed! People are dying! Violet should have summoned Xaden and assembled whatever authority she needed to get the wards up the moment she knew how to do it, instead of fucking around for like multiple days.
What if she gets injured during this mission and the knowledge gets lost with her death?
God, that's the end of the chapter. Christ.
Violet and Co. are hiking to a cave to get one of the boxes with the summoning room. Andarna is with them, complaining. Can I just say that Andarna is supremely annoying and no fun to read about.
Anyways, Violet and Cat are fighting again. It's boring stuff. They make it to the cave, but it's pitch dark and no one can do a mage light, even Violet. God, she's suddenly bad at everything in this book, but Yarros is mentioning this now? 80% in? Cat has an actual torch with her, but no fire rune, so Violet lights it with lightning. Side note: during this bit, we find out the fliers have been pooling their skill so they can all be equipped with runes. The riders have not been doing this.
So, uh...why don't the riders share runes? Cat's snide comment isn't really a good reason. This should be something that the people in charge of the military decide and make policy. Because, as we have just seen, it would be really useful if everyone had a fire rune for emergencies. Which was the point of all the rune training in the first place. We should really have scenes of all the riders who can rune being ordered to rune to produce a supply for everyone else.
But. That would make sense.
We also get this:
They wander the cave and find the summoning rune they were looking for. Cat, the best at runes, goes to retrieve it, but then Andarna smells other dragons approaching. They grab the rune and start to head out, but an orange dragon arrives and attacks, killing Visia, a named character who has gotten a lot of page time and therefore must die.
Next chapter. Andarna shields the others with her body to protect them from Solas's fire. I think Solas (the orange dragon trying to kill them) is...Varrish's dragon? I have no idea. Tairn hasn't reached them, so Violet goes for and takes out the dragon's other eye while she tells Cat and Andarna to run. Neither of them do, of course. Sloane accidentally manifests her signet and siphons Violet, while Andarna kills Solas.
Fight over. That was pretty good, honestly. Visia's been around long enough that it does feel bad she's dead. And now hopefully the Cat vs Violet bullshit is going away, leaving time for the actual plot of the book.
Next scene.
Violet is being treated by a healer when Xaden storms in to yell at her for saving Cat. Violet's like, I had to for political reasons, and Xaden's like, the fuck, but they then make up. Xaden then asks Violet: are you ready to ask about the deal I made with your mom? They haven't talked about this, I guess.
Next chapter and yep, we're back to Violet and Xaden fighting about trust again. Oh, for fuck's sake. We have beaten this dead horse into the fucking ground.
Who CARES? Tell us how you're going to raise the fucking wards, Violet! The book is almost over! They continue to have the same convoluted and boring argument they have had for the entire book. Violet then drops that Xaden has a secret second signet, which, what? We learned about the secret second signets in general a couple chapters ago, and it was confirmed it has to do with the dragon bonding to a direct descendant of a previous rider. I guess we might have learned that Xaden's dragon was also his grandfather's dragon. Eh. I'm not really mad about this twist, I'm just annoyed it's in this dumb argument segment.
Anyways, Brennan then interrupts them to point out the wyvern are on their way, so Violet's up.
I'm done. I can't recap any more of this. See y'all next time.
Violet is training her lightning with Felix, who is still working with her on aiming. She's still struggling, which is good. After the lesson, we move back to Riorson House, where Violet discovers the wyvern have taken another town and several riders have been killed or injured in a vain attempt to stop them. No one important is dead, of course.
That's the entire chapter. Who edited this?
Violet goes upstairs to the top of a tower to find Xaden. He's upset, which she can tell, and she gives him a slice of cake and talks to him a little. The wyvern attack was apparently ten times the size of the one we saw at the end of book 1, so it was a big deal. Xaden is not optmistic:
“We’re outmatched.” He looks away and flexes his jaw. “Outmatched and spread too fucking thin to be anything but a nuisance to them. We can’t communicate fast enough. We aren’t effective or any kind of real barrier when we’re sending out riots of three.” His gaze shifts eastward. “They can take the rest of Poromiel—take us—whenever they want, and I have no clue why they don’t. We have no idea how many of them are assembling in Zolya or where the fuck all these wyvern are hatching from. There’s no plan except hold the line, and the line isn’t holding.”
“We weren’t ready.” I look out over the rapidly growing town, noting the dozens of new roofs under construction and the uncountable number of chimneys letting out smoke from the homes within.
“We never could have been ready,” he counters, lifting the fork, then stabbing it into the cake. “So don’t go adding this to the list of things you blame yourself for. Even if we’d waited to come after the forge was running, after we had enough riders to imbue the alloy and temper runes for the daggers…” His shoulders dip in a sigh. “I’ll never say this in front of the others, but we’re fifty years too late.”
Interesting. This is good, but it also feels...hmm. It's just another thing that feels like it should have been way more prominent in the book earlier, instead of being dropped in via exposition at the 77% mark. There's so much wasted time in this book, so much effort on scenes that do nothing, when there's actual meat on the story Yarros wants to tell. It's so frustrating. Why is this wyvern attack happening off page? We've had one wyvern attack and one lone venin in the past 51 chapters!
Okay, next scene. Violet and Dain are still translating daily, since raising the wards is the only chance they have at survival. Dain goes up to bed, and Violet continues working, only to have a revelation: it's the breath of life, not the blood of life, meaning what they need to raise the wards is dragons.
I mean...yeah, that seems like a thing. Sure. We've had one failure at ward raising before this, so I'll even say this is an earned achievement by Violet.
I want y'all to know that Calibre keeps crashing during these recaps. I am suffering.
Violet rushes to Rhiannon, the only person she trusts in this moment.
I press my lips between my teeth, searching for the right words as I wear a path in Rhiannon’s floor. “I need to tell you something.”
“All right.”
Stopping suddenly in the middle of the room, I turn toward her. “I know how to raise the wards. I’m just not entirely sure we should.”
Chapter ends. Yeah, okay, let's keep going. Next chapter finally makes good use of the opening quote again, with the actual text of the journal Violet is translating.
Her entire squad is meeting at Rhiannon's sister's home. Flier and rider tensions are apparently improving. Violet is trying to find someone to double check her work before actually trying to raise the wards. There's probably a better way than randomly asking first years.
Violet then announces to the entire group that she's going to raise the wards, but it will probably cut off the fliers' ability to channel power from their gryphons. They're all really mad about this. Violet tells them she's giving them advance warning in case they want to leave beforehand.
Operational security: no one in this book except Xaden appears to know what it is. Violet, these people have tried to kill you. Couldn't you run this by, like, anyone else? Use your telepathic bond with Xaden? Assemble the council?
Violet also gives the fliers some explosives that she had imbued secretly.
Scene change. Violet is having the dream (that is obviously not a dream and is a telepathic connection with the venin) about the venin sage. he spends it verbally jerking off about how powerful she is. He then tells her that when the time comes, she will tear down the wards herself for love. Thanks for telling us what the climax of the book (or the next book? With Yarros, who knows) will be.
Next scene. They're suiting up for a training mission. Andarna is whining that she wants to fly with them, but Violet and Tairn are against it because of the damage to her wing. The mission is to track summoning runes that are hidden along the mountain range. As they prepared to head out, Xaden shows up, and Violet breaks off to go talk to him. He apparently fought and killed a venin. Violet tells him they'll talk about raising the wards when she gets back from her mission, and sends him off.
Okay, hopefully the book will provide a good reason for this later, but it is idiotic to prioritize the mission over the wards. The venin are closing in on them. Like one chapter ago Xaden was saying they were all doomed! People are dying! Violet should have summoned Xaden and assembled whatever authority she needed to get the wards up the moment she knew how to do it, instead of fucking around for like multiple days.
What if she gets injured during this mission and the knowledge gets lost with her death?
God, that's the end of the chapter. Christ.
Violet and Co. are hiking to a cave to get one of the boxes with the summoning room. Andarna is with them, complaining. Can I just say that Andarna is supremely annoying and no fun to read about.
Anyways, Violet and Cat are fighting again. It's boring stuff. They make it to the cave, but it's pitch dark and no one can do a mage light, even Violet. God, she's suddenly bad at everything in this book, but Yarros is mentioning this now? 80% in? Cat has an actual torch with her, but no fire rune, so Violet lights it with lightning. Side note: during this bit, we find out the fliers have been pooling their skill so they can all be equipped with runes. The riders have not been doing this.
“You all trade runes?” Visia stares in open shock.
“And you call yourselves a family. Of course we share. Whoever can make it, does. Then we all trade so everyone is equally equipped.” Cat shakes her head and stands, muttering a curse. “I can’t find it.”
“That’s…brilliant,” I admit. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“You’re used to hoarding power,” she says with a dismissive shrug. “Not sharing it. Now, unless someone has an idea for fire—”
So, uh...why don't the riders share runes? Cat's snide comment isn't really a good reason. This should be something that the people in charge of the military decide and make policy. Because, as we have just seen, it would be really useful if everyone had a fire rune for emergencies. Which was the point of all the rune training in the first place. We should really have scenes of all the riders who can rune being ordered to rune to produce a supply for everyone else.
But. That would make sense.
We also get this:
“Damn,” Cat says, glancing from the torch, to the conduit, to me. “I hate that you’re so…”Listen, fuck this book. Learn to go ONE chapter without someone telling Violet how great she is.
“Badass?” Sloane suggests, smiling in a way that reminds me of her brother.
“Powerful,” Cat admits, looking away before slipping her pack back on, changing hands with the torch instead of passing it off.
“It’s not the power making that possible,” I tell her, channeling into the conduit so it lights up again and marching into the darkness. “It’s the control.”
They wander the cave and find the summoning rune they were looking for. Cat, the best at runes, goes to retrieve it, but then Andarna smells other dragons approaching. They grab the rune and start to head out, but an orange dragon arrives and attacks, killing Visia, a named character who has gotten a lot of page time and therefore must die.
Next chapter. Andarna shields the others with her body to protect them from Solas's fire. I think Solas (the orange dragon trying to kill them) is...Varrish's dragon? I have no idea. Tairn hasn't reached them, so Violet goes for and takes out the dragon's other eye while she tells Cat and Andarna to run. Neither of them do, of course. Sloane accidentally manifests her signet and siphons Violet, while Andarna kills Solas.
Fight over. That was pretty good, honestly. Visia's been around long enough that it does feel bad she's dead. And now hopefully the Cat vs Violet bullshit is going away, leaving time for the actual plot of the book.
Next scene.
Violet is being treated by a healer when Xaden storms in to yell at her for saving Cat. Violet's like, I had to for political reasons, and Xaden's like, the fuck, but they then make up. Xaden then asks Violet: are you ready to ask about the deal I made with your mom? They haven't talked about this, I guess.
Next chapter and yep, we're back to Violet and Xaden fighting about trust again. Oh, for fuck's sake. We have beaten this dead horse into the fucking ground.
My mouth opens. Then shuts. “You knew…that I knew?” “Of course I knew.” He arches a dark brow as if I’m the problem here. “I’ve just been waiting for you to work up the courage, the trust, whatever you want to call it, to fucking ask me.”
My hands fist at my sides, and I shove my power back behind the Archives door and slam my shields up. Without a conduit, there’s every chance I’ll set the curtains on fire for the entirely wrong reason. “You let me stew in it for months?”
“You didn’t ask me!” He pushes off the wall but stops himself from taking more than a step. “I’ve been begging you for months to ask me what you want to know, to break down that last insurmountable wall you’re keeping between us, but you didn’t. Why?”
He has the nerve to put this on me?
“You’re the one who said you’d never be entirely truthful with me. How am I supposed to know what you will and will not answer? How am I supposed to know what there is to ask?”
Who CARES? Tell us how you're going to raise the fucking wards, Violet! The book is almost over! They continue to have the same convoluted and boring argument they have had for the entire book. Violet then drops that Xaden has a secret second signet, which, what? We learned about the secret second signets in general a couple chapters ago, and it was confirmed it has to do with the dragon bonding to a direct descendant of a previous rider. I guess we might have learned that Xaden's dragon was also his grandfather's dragon. Eh. I'm not really mad about this twist, I'm just annoyed it's in this dumb argument segment.
Anyways, Brennan then interrupts them to point out the wyvern are on their way, so Violet's up.
I'm done. I can't recap any more of this. See y'all next time.
