penwalla

Okay, it's time for pit night, which I assume is some kind of cage match thing. It serves as "both entertainment and release".

Wren is self-conscious, because...

In the barracks, recruits are getting ready around me, and I feel a twinge of self-consciousness. It’s quite unlike me, as normally I don’t stress about my wardrobe or how I dress in comparison with others. But I’m seeing my female fellows slipping into short skirts, tight denim, tiny tops, and it triggers a rush of insecurity.

I...I don't know, man. It feels weird to me that these female soldiers trying to get into an elite military unit are wearing clubwear. It really does. And I can't really articulate why. Anyways, Wren feels weird because she has no other clothes. She only has the issued uniform, since all her stuff was taken when she was drafted into Silver Block.

Okay, that's at least a normal thing to feel weird about.

Another recruit gives Wren some clothes to wear for the night. And...okay, sorry, but I have another complaint. She's in a crop top that doesn't fit so she...takes off her bra?

She’s given me a black crop top with thin straps and a perilously low neckline. I slip it over my head but can barely tug it over my chest.

“Ditch the bra,” she advises. “It’s black. No one will see the nips.”

Without the bra, there’s a lot more breathing room, although I’m conscious of the way my nipples instantly bead against the fabric. The shirt ends just above my belly button, baring my stomach, and the neckline is racier than I prefer.

Okay, I have big tits and that is simply not how that works. The crop top is not going to fit better without the bra. It will fit differently, but on me what would happen is that the bottom half of my breast would just be hanging out below the crop top. That's how gravity works.

Next scene.

They head to a warehouse as Wren feels an "aggravating sense of camaraderie with Lyddie". I would love for that to go somewhere, instead of just having Wren repeat it over and over again. I feel like it's just in there to justify Lyddie being there, because the female protag has to have a female best friend whose only purpose is to prop her up.

The pit is indeed a hole in the middle of a warehouse where people are fighting.

We will set aside whether letting your recruits have lawless cage fights in a warehouse at night is actually a good idea. (It isn't.)

So, they're looking around when Wren spots two of the officers necking--literally, one of them is sitting in the other's lap while she gets felt up--and Cross is also there.

Okay, so they just have a nightclub with cage fights on their military base and everyone is cool with it. I...okay.

Wren is back to being horny about Cross, unfortunately, and gets flustered as he checks her out.

“The captain is staring at you,” Betima says. She’s smirking.

“Maybe he’s staring at you,” I counter.

“Definitely not. It’s you.”

I blanch, even as a teeny jolt of pleasure sparks in my belly. I’m embarrassed by the response. Resentful of it. I shouldn’t be susceptible to this man, just because he happens to be attractive.

I don’t want to be attracted to him. I don’t want anything to do with him.

Wren, please, for the love of God, just shut the fuck up.

Despite literally saying she doesn't want anything to do with Cross, a couple sentences later Wren gets jealous of another woman trying to get his attention and starts sexily drinking whiskey and licking it off her lips. How close is she to Cross that she can see his eyes narrowing? Isn't he on the other side of the pit? This book is stupid.

So finally we get to see a pit fight. It's two women we don't know, and the only rule is that they can't kill each other.

I'm having Fourth Wing flashblacks. Why would you let them beat each other up? How does that help you train and recruit an elite military force?

Wren continues to obsess over Cross as the fight ends and the next one starts. Then Roe, Cross's half-brother, comes over to warn Wren off him.

“He likes them fragile,” Cross’s half brother continues, as if I hadn’t even spoken. “That way he can take care of them, hold them close so they don’t break. Be the hero.” Roe laughs again. I think he’s inebriated. Or high on stims. Probably the latter. “That’s the irony, isn’t it? Because he’s the one who ends up breaking them.”

The chapter ends as Cross jumps into the pit.

Is anything going to happen in this book? Ever?