Silver Elite: Chapter 2
Jul. 5th, 2025 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaThe next chapter starts after Wren successfully shot the animal, which is a little annoying. A doctor is called as they try to tend to the kid's wounds.
Couple notes: the left arm contains major arteries, so he can still bleed to death, it's not automatically not a fatal wound just because it's on the extremity. Also, mammal bites are fucking filthy, that shit is going to get infected.
Wren's not supposed to be drawing attention to herself in town, so she's eager to make her escape, especially because Jordan (the soldier) is all over her still. He's very impressed by her shooting, and she brushes off his praise while inwardly fuming because how dare he suggest she might have hit the kid?
Wren keeps telling us her uncle would be mad at her and she should know better, but so far this book has just been her conga line of impulsive bad decisions. Curious to see if that's going to be her actual character flaw throughout the book and if so, if she'll overcome it.
As Wren finally heads home, a new character is introduced as he links with her mind: Wolf.
Either Wolf is the other leg of a love triangle or he's the mysterious hot guy who was choking her out earlier in the book. I'm calling it now.
Wren and Wolf have a psychic connection from childhood, even though they've never met and don't know each other's real names. Even though Wren's uncle disapproved of the connection and the danger it posed to Wren, she's maintained it because she was a lonely child.
This chapter continues to drop lore about the world, and it's starting to get both repetitive and tedious. I wish the author would leave more up to the reader to infer. We don't really need as much detail as she's giving about the dystopia these characters live in, and we're getting absolutely pounded with reminders that the Modified are capital-O oppressed. And Wolf and Wren's conversation is all about how she's sad because she can't make real connections with the random soldiers she fucks, another thread that we've been choked with over the past chapter and a half. I'm begging the book, move on.
We meet Jim, her uncle, a misanthropic recluse and a wanted man.
See, this is what I'm talking about. We know already that Jim has protected Wren since she was a child, and that he has a past as a rebel, and we just got through a page of him having grumpy banter with Wren. We don't need an explicit description of his core personality traits! We can infer what he's like from the way he's written!
As Jim and Wren discuss the day's events, and he lays into her for drawing attention to herself, we learn about inciting. Inciting is apparently the ability to mind control other people, and while Wren has it, she has no ability to control it.
We learn that Jim never leaves without saying goodbye to Wren--I hope that pays off later.
Next scene.
Wren takes her horse out for a ride to do her chores, including repairing the fence. She starts to return to the house, only to be told telepathically by Jim to not return because the military is there. Naturally, Wren does so anyway.
The military are there because the soldier Wren fucked told them about her great shooting. They've recognized that Jim is really Julian Ash, the rebel leader, so they kidnap him while Wren hides and watches.
Chapter end.
Well, we're two chapters in and the plot has already kicked off, which I like. And the protagonist's carelessness has already caused a major problem, which is good. I know that sounds like damning with faint phrase, but after reading three Yarros novels, I'm just relieved to read a book where conflicts actually occur.
This book's worldbuilding is pretty heavyhanded for my taste, and overall I think the author needs to trust her readers more. But so far, it isn't the worst thing I've ever read.
Despite the copious amount of blood, it seems most of the damage is isolated to his left arm. Tana winces when she notices the ragged teeth marks and a flap of flesh hanging off the gaping wound.
“Is he going to be all right?” she asks urgently.
Elsie is now pressing a rag to the young boy’s arm. “The bleeding seems to be slowing down. He’ll need quite a lot of stitches, though.”
Couple notes: the left arm contains major arteries, so he can still bleed to death, it's not automatically not a fatal wound just because it's on the extremity. Also, mammal bites are fucking filthy, that shit is going to get infected.
Wren's not supposed to be drawing attention to herself in town, so she's eager to make her escape, especially because Jordan (the soldier) is all over her still. He's very impressed by her shooting, and she brushes off his praise while inwardly fuming because how dare he suggest she might have hit the kid?
“Wren,” he says firmly. “You took out its eye. That was a hundred yards, easy. A moving target. And a kid in the way. You could have accidentally blown his head off.”
I bristle, taking great offense to that. Blown his head off! Hardly. I guarantee I’m a better shot than anyone in Jordan’s unit. He’s not even in Silver Block, which is where all the elite soldiers go. I think he told me he served in Copper. I could outshoot a Copper guy with my eyes closed. I have half a mind to challenge this guy to a shooting contest—
Wren keeps telling us her uncle would be mad at her and she should know better, but so far this book has just been her conga line of impulsive bad decisions. Curious to see if that's going to be her actual character flaw throughout the book and if so, if she'll overcome it.
As Wren finally heads home, a new character is introduced as he links with her mind: Wolf.
I feel my mind tingle with an invitation, smiling to myself when I recognize the familiar energy. After I accept the link, a deep voice fills my head.
“You still out?”
I’m quick to answer. “No. Driving home.”
“Well, damn. You’ve already broken his heart? You work fast.”
“Oh, shut up. Like you don’t break hearts on a nightly basis.”
“I’m celibate.”
“Ha!”
“You’re always laughing at me. Stop it.”
“Stop saying ludicrous things.”
But that’s not Wolf’s style. He has no filter, never has. And he’s an outrageous flirt, although the flirting didn’t really start until we hit our teenage years. One day, we were two kids talking about kid stuff; the next, we were discussing our love lives. A bit unnerving, considering we’ve never actually met.
Either Wolf is the other leg of a love triangle or he's the mysterious hot guy who was choking her out earlier in the book. I'm calling it now.
Wren and Wolf have a psychic connection from childhood, even though they've never met and don't know each other's real names. Even though Wren's uncle disapproved of the connection and the danger it posed to Wren, she's maintained it because she was a lonely child.
This chapter continues to drop lore about the world, and it's starting to get both repetitive and tedious. I wish the author would leave more up to the reader to infer. We don't really need as much detail as she's giving about the dystopia these characters live in, and we're getting absolutely pounded with reminders that the Modified are capital-O oppressed. And Wolf and Wren's conversation is all about how she's sad because she can't make real connections with the random soldiers she fucks, another thread that we've been choked with over the past chapter and a half. I'm begging the book, move on.
We meet Jim, her uncle, a misanthropic recluse and a wanted man.
He’s loyal, though. To me. To his friends in the Uprising. If he loves and trusts you, he’ll go to the ends of the earth to protect you. Literally. He took me to the damn Blacklands to keep me safe.
But if he doesn’t love or trust you…well…stay far away, because the man is pricklier than the cactus growing out back.
See, this is what I'm talking about. We know already that Jim has protected Wren since she was a child, and that he has a past as a rebel, and we just got through a page of him having grumpy banter with Wren. We don't need an explicit description of his core personality traits! We can infer what he's like from the way he's written!
As Jim and Wren discuss the day's events, and he lays into her for drawing attention to herself, we learn about inciting. Inciting is apparently the ability to mind control other people, and while Wren has it, she has no ability to control it.
We learn that Jim never leaves without saying goodbye to Wren--I hope that pays off later.
Next scene.
Wren takes her horse out for a ride to do her chores, including repairing the fence. She starts to return to the house, only to be told telepathically by Jim to not return because the military is there. Naturally, Wren does so anyway.
The military are there because the soldier Wren fucked told them about her great shooting. They've recognized that Jim is really Julian Ash, the rebel leader, so they kidnap him while Wren hides and watches.
Chapter end.
Well, we're two chapters in and the plot has already kicked off, which I like. And the protagonist's carelessness has already caused a major problem, which is good. I know that sounds like damning with faint phrase, but after reading three Yarros novels, I'm just relieved to read a book where conflicts actually occur.
This book's worldbuilding is pretty heavyhanded for my taste, and overall I think the author needs to trust her readers more. But so far, it isn't the worst thing I've ever read.
