Onyx Storm: Chapter 20
Mar. 11th, 2025 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaViolet opens the chapter with a list of things she's doing. She's reading every book about Deverelli, going to class, modifying her saddle, and practicing her wielding. In addition, she's interrogating Jack.
Violet is also reading her dad's research, but she withholds the conclusions she's drawn from it because they're just too crazy. First off, I hate it when first person POV narrators withhold shit without a really good reason. This feels like it's just being withheld so it can be dramatically dropped later. Second off, I can't wait to be deeply underwhelmed by this reveal.
She and her squad are heading to the Senarium, to a meeting to decide on the new commander of the irid-searching mission since Grady is now dead. Note that Sawyer is with them, on his metal leg, and is now rejoining classes, though he has yet to return to flying. I don't blame him, since the riders don't even have saddles.
Violet notes that Cat is next to a male flier. He's not described as super hot, so he must be her love interest--only the hottest of men are worthy of The Protagonist. Then we get this speech from Ridoc:
Ridoc also informs them that despite being a comedic relief character, he's actually competent and has trained himself to freeze the water inside people's bodies. Violet is like, cool, I'll take you with me.
Okay, we get something interesting here. Violet quotes the chapter's opening epigraph, which seems to suggest that the opening quotes are selections of her reading? Or is that just a coincidence? It doesn't really make sense, but whatever. It's better than the quote consistently being a spoiler of a future plot point.
Violet meets with the Senarium, whose plan is for her to go with the new leader to Deverelli when Melgren and Markham search Aretia. That seems like a cartoonishly bad idea, like you just signed a peace treat with Aretia, guys, what are you doing.
She and the commanding officers go back and forth for a page or so. I guess this is supposed to be a scene where we see Violet being a badass.
I have some notes.
Okay, so...first off. As I just said, this is a stupid move on Melgren and Markham's part. They don't have the authority to do this. They have a treaty with Aretia, so they shouldn't be able to just announce they are searching it. And why is this coming up at this meeting with Violet? Xaden's the leader of Aretia.
Second of all. Why is Violet in Aetos's chain of command? No, seriously. There's an obvious divide between the Aretian and Navarrian riders, and Violet hates Aetos's guts. Why didn't the rebels establish a separate chain of command for their own riders during all the negotiations? Why put themselves in a position where they have to obey the orders of leaders who hate them and want them to die? For that matter, how does the Navarre military benefit here? Yeah, they have the wards, but Violet's the one who raised them and half their cadets defected. It doesn't seem like they are in a position to fight both the rebel forces and the venin, and if that's the case, it is also in their best interest to at least make the pretense of playing nice.
Third. Once again can the book please decide if dragons obey the orders of humans or not? Violet's making a bold claim about speaking for dragons, but she's been fucking bullied by the Navarre leadership over this mission for the whole damn book. If Violet can speak with Andarna's authority, aka the authority of the ONLY IRID, why hasn't that held more weight? Why don't the dragons who lost their riders show up at this meeting to cause problems? Once again the only dragons who matter are Tairn, Andarna, and sometimes Sgaeyl, and they only matter when Violet needs their help. The dragons in this book exercise minimal political power and and authority, even though the book keeps insisting the dragons don't obey humans and do whatever they want.
This is the first time this point has come up, even though it absolutely should have way earlier if those are the stakes. And those are stupid terms--if Violet and the Aretians leave, the Navarre military is down a bunch of riders and the only irid that exists.
Also, I have a side note here. How do so many of the scribes/riders speak another language if Navarre is isolationist and doesn't have much communication with other countries? How did Dain learn fluent Krovlish if no one in Navarre speaks that language? I can buy he studied books, but that's not the same as speaking in a way that's going to be natural to a native speaker.
Violet gets her way, and her choice of squad. The male flier with Cat is a relative, who Mira immediately knees in the balls for putting Violet in danger at some point earlier in the series. I really want to like Mira, but I wish Yarros would realize that randomly punching people in the balls and threatening violence for no good reason makes Mira look like a lunatic. She was on the wrong side of the war! She was on the side killing the Poromish for defending themselves! Why does the book act like she's morally in the right for being mad at Drake Cordella for doing his job?
Chapter end.
Neither does Jack. He’s all too happy to tell me about asim progression, how channeling from the earth happens as easily as breathing beyond the wards, but he won’t give up the name of his Sage or give me anything other than trivial information about them. And he’s sure as Malek not telling me how Theophanie knew we’d go for the citrine or what answers I’m searching for.
Violet is also reading her dad's research, but she withholds the conclusions she's drawn from it because they're just too crazy. First off, I hate it when first person POV narrators withhold shit without a really good reason. This feels like it's just being withheld so it can be dramatically dropped later. Second off, I can't wait to be deeply underwhelmed by this reveal.
She and her squad are heading to the Senarium, to a meeting to decide on the new commander of the irid-searching mission since Grady is now dead. Note that Sawyer is with them, on his metal leg, and is now rejoining classes, though he has yet to return to flying. I don't blame him, since the riders don't even have saddles.
Violet notes that Cat is next to a male flier. He's not described as super hot, so he must be her love interest--only the hottest of men are worthy of The Protagonist. Then we get this speech from Ridoc:
“I just… need to go.” He looks away and grips the orange in both hands. “One of us needs to go with you. Ever since…” Pain flashes through his dark-brown eyes as he brings his gaze back to mine. “Ever since Athebyne, one of us has been by your side.” He lifts his finger. “Except the time you snuck out on your little siblings-only trip to Cordyn. The school splits, and we go with you. Basgiath falls under attack, and we’re there. Heading into Poromiel for Maren’s brothers? It’s us. We get separated, and you either get dragged into an interrogation chamber and tortured for days or nearly roasted by Aura’s fire, and I know I can’t be the only one who thought, if Liam had been here, keeping watch over you, it never would have happened.” He swings that finger toward Rhiannon and Sawyer. “You both know it crossed your minds.”
Ridoc also informs them that despite being a comedic relief character, he's actually competent and has trained himself to freeze the water inside people's bodies. Violet is like, cool, I'll take you with me.
Okay, we get something interesting here. Violet quotes the chapter's opening epigraph, which seems to suggest that the opening quotes are selections of her reading? Or is that just a coincidence? It doesn't really make sense, but whatever. It's better than the quote consistently being a spoiler of a future plot point.
Violet meets with the Senarium, whose plan is for her to go with the new leader to Deverelli when Melgren and Markham search Aretia. That seems like a cartoonishly bad idea, like you just signed a peace treat with Aretia, guys, what are you doing.
She and the commanding officers go back and forth for a page or so. I guess this is supposed to be a scene where we see Violet being a badass.
I have some notes.
“You cannot speak to a superior officer, let alone the commander of a quadrant, with such disrespect!” Markham roars, coming out of his chair.
“In case you missed it when I crossed the parapet, I am not in your chain of command,” I fire back.
“But you are in mine,” Aetos warns. “And I speak with the authority of Melgren.”
Fury gets the best of me. “And I speak with the authority of Tairn, Andarna, and the Empyrean. Or did you forget that two dragons also lost their riders?”
Okay, so...first off. As I just said, this is a stupid move on Melgren and Markham's part. They don't have the authority to do this. They have a treaty with Aretia, so they shouldn't be able to just announce they are searching it. And why is this coming up at this meeting with Violet? Xaden's the leader of Aretia.
Second of all. Why is Violet in Aetos's chain of command? No, seriously. There's an obvious divide between the Aretian and Navarrian riders, and Violet hates Aetos's guts. Why didn't the rebels establish a separate chain of command for their own riders during all the negotiations? Why put themselves in a position where they have to obey the orders of leaders who hate them and want them to die? For that matter, how does the Navarre military benefit here? Yeah, they have the wards, but Violet's the one who raised them and half their cadets defected. It doesn't seem like they are in a position to fight both the rebel forces and the venin, and if that's the case, it is also in their best interest to at least make the pretense of playing nice.
Third. Once again can the book please decide if dragons obey the orders of humans or not? Violet's making a bold claim about speaking for dragons, but she's been fucking bullied by the Navarre leadership over this mission for the whole damn book. If Violet can speak with Andarna's authority, aka the authority of the ONLY IRID, why hasn't that held more weight? Why don't the dragons who lost their riders show up at this meeting to cause problems? Once again the only dragons who matter are Tairn, Andarna, and sometimes Sgaeyl, and they only matter when Violet needs their help. The dragons in this book exercise minimal political power and and authority, even though the book keeps insisting the dragons don't obey humans and do whatever they want.
“We’ll give this one shot. Name your squad for the Deverelli mission, Cadet Sorrengail,” Halden says. “But know that if you fail, we’ll assign another commander, and refusing to continue will negate the terms of the Second Aretia Accord.”
This is the first time this point has come up, even though it absolutely should have way earlier if those are the stakes. And those are stupid terms--if Violet and the Aretians leave, the Navarre military is down a bunch of riders and the only irid that exists.
Also, I have a side note here. How do so many of the scribes/riders speak another language if Navarre is isolationist and doesn't have much communication with other countries? How did Dain learn fluent Krovlish if no one in Navarre speaks that language? I can buy he studied books, but that's not the same as speaking in a way that's going to be natural to a native speaker.
Violet gets her way, and her choice of squad. The male flier with Cat is a relative, who Mira immediately knees in the balls for putting Violet in danger at some point earlier in the series. I really want to like Mira, but I wish Yarros would realize that randomly punching people in the balls and threatening violence for no good reason makes Mira look like a lunatic. She was on the wrong side of the war! She was on the side killing the Poromish for defending themselves! Why does the book act like she's morally in the right for being mad at Drake Cordella for doing his job?
Chapter end.
