Onyx Storm: Chapter 22
Mar. 12th, 2025 09:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaViolet suffers under the heat as she and her dragon-hunting squad swoop down towards Deverelli, which is an island nation. They're greeted by archers with enormous crossbolts, or at least the largest ones Violet has ever seen. Have we ever even seen crossbolts before? They've been mentioned, but that's all.
They land on the beach of Tecarus's estate. Andarna is still doing this running bit of wanting to eat everything in sight. I wish Andarna would do more in this story besides give Violet inspiring speeches and provide 'comedic' relief. This novel purports that a rider's first love is their dragon, and yet pretty much every dragon-human bond except Violet and Tairn's is nonexistent. And Violet's dragons always support her, so it's not a very interesting relationship.
Okay, having landed, we now have confirmation: Violet, Andarna, and Tairn are the only ones who have their telepathic communication intact. No one else can talk to their dragons. Way to prove my point, Yarros.
Tecarus is waiting for them.
While the dragons go off to hunt, Violet and co. prepare to go shopping for books in Deverelli. Apparently the king will only meet with aristocracy, so only Halden is meeting with him. I assume Xaden would be allowed as well, since he's a Duke, and I assume Violet will as well, because she's a main character and that will override Yarros's love of not showing up important things.
He grabs my hand and brings it to his chest, where his heart pounds in a steady rhythm that feels slightly more relaxed than it was in Cordyn— than it has been in weeks, really. “Can you feel it?”
I don't...nothing has happened! Just keep going forward! Why is this single scene its own chapter?
I actually want to go back to something that happened last chapter, because I think it is illustrative of the problems with Yarros's writing. Ridoc gave a speech about how he was more than a funny guy, he was a warrior who'd been working hard to become stronger and shouldn't be underestimated. And that's fine, in a vacuum. This book has a lot of characters who are semi-important, and I think giving them small arcs and plots of their own helps fill out the book.
But why is Ridoc making this speech? Where's the examples of him being underestimated or excluded earlier in the series? There aren't any. This comes out of nowhere. We, the readers, might have chalked him up as comedic relief because that's pretty much his one personality trait, but Violet's never disparaged him for it.
Yarros really struggles to convey things to the reader implicitly. That makes these books very easy to read, because you don't have to think about anything--in fact you'll probably enjoy them more if you don't try to think about them, because there's so many things that do not make sense--but it also means there's not much depth to them. It's marketed as enemies-to-lovers, but Yarros never manages any ambiguity about whether Xaden is a threat to Violet, he's helpful to her from day one. Bad characters are obviously evil, and good characters are straightforwardly good, and you can tell whether anyone is good or bad just based on how they treat Violet.
And it's frustrating to me that these books are so long, with a huge cast, and yet the characters are so underutilized.
Well, see y'all next time.
They land on the beach of Tecarus's estate. Andarna is still doing this running bit of wanting to eat everything in sight. I wish Andarna would do more in this story besides give Violet inspiring speeches and provide 'comedic' relief. This novel purports that a rider's first love is their dragon, and yet pretty much every dragon-human bond except Violet and Tairn's is nonexistent. And Violet's dragons always support her, so it's not a very interesting relationship.
Okay, having landed, we now have confirmation: Violet, Andarna, and Tairn are the only ones who have their telepathic communication intact. No one else can talk to their dragons. Way to prove my point, Yarros.
Tecarus is waiting for them.
"You made it!” Tecarus shouts with glee from the doorway, his arms outstretched in ostentatious welcome as he walks toward us in a fuchsia tunic embroidered in heavy gold. “Prince Halden hasn’t awakened yet, but I was able to secure an emergency meeting with a chancellor to the king upon our arrival last night, and you’ll be thrilled to know that your creatures may hunt in the valleys three leagues south of here where there is an abundance of wild game. Humans are not to be on the menu.”
While the dragons go off to hunt, Violet and co. prepare to go shopping for books in Deverelli. Apparently the king will only meet with aristocracy, so only Halden is meeting with him. I assume Xaden would be allowed as well, since he's a Duke, and I assume Violet will as well, because she's a main character and that will override Yarros's love of not showing up important things.
He grabs my hand and brings it to his chest, where his heart pounds in a steady rhythm that feels slightly more relaxed than it was in Cordyn— than it has been in weeks, really. “Can you feel it?”
“It’s slower,” I whisper.Chapter end.
“There’s no magic here.” He tugs me against him. “No power. No lure. No taunting reminder that I can save everyone if I just reach for it and take what’s offered. It’s only… peace.”
I don't...nothing has happened! Just keep going forward! Why is this single scene its own chapter?
I actually want to go back to something that happened last chapter, because I think it is illustrative of the problems with Yarros's writing. Ridoc gave a speech about how he was more than a funny guy, he was a warrior who'd been working hard to become stronger and shouldn't be underestimated. And that's fine, in a vacuum. This book has a lot of characters who are semi-important, and I think giving them small arcs and plots of their own helps fill out the book.
But why is Ridoc making this speech? Where's the examples of him being underestimated or excluded earlier in the series? There aren't any. This comes out of nowhere. We, the readers, might have chalked him up as comedic relief because that's pretty much his one personality trait, but Violet's never disparaged him for it.
Yarros really struggles to convey things to the reader implicitly. That makes these books very easy to read, because you don't have to think about anything--in fact you'll probably enjoy them more if you don't try to think about them, because there's so many things that do not make sense--but it also means there's not much depth to them. It's marketed as enemies-to-lovers, but Yarros never manages any ambiguity about whether Xaden is a threat to Violet, he's helpful to her from day one. Bad characters are obviously evil, and good characters are straightforwardly good, and you can tell whether anyone is good or bad just based on how they treat Violet.
And it's frustrating to me that these books are so long, with a huge cast, and yet the characters are so underutilized.
Well, see y'all next time.
