Silver Elite: Chapter 36-37
Nov. 18th, 2025 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaIt's time for the elite test.
It is both simple and stupid: there are twelve recruits and six slots, so they go into rooms in pairs and whoever taps out first is eliminated. The six winners get to join Silver Elite.
There are six men and six women in this line up, and Wren assumes that she will not be paired with a man. I'm not really sure why. But she is right, and is paired with Bryce. We could have predicted this, because Bryce got some page time earlier in this chapter because her dad is here (he is an officer in Silver Elite, I believe) and in this book a side character only gets page time if they are about to be plot relevant.
Chapter end.
Or why not have her fight one of the people she hates, like Kess, so she can deliberately kill them and then feel bad about that later? Or not feel bad about it? Having Wren accidentally kill Bryce, a character who does not matter, is a bad choice. It lets Wren off the hook. She didn't mean to kill Bryce, so there's no need to wrestle with a protagonist who does morally ambiguous things, and she killed a character none of the readers care about, so none of the readers can be put off by it.
This scene has so many ways it could be good, and instead it's completely bland. In a way, that's an achievement.
Okay, let's do the next chapter.
Wren sobs in Kaine's arms as he and then Cross assure her that it wasn't her fault and she was completely justified in what she did.
Cross tells Wren to go to Medical to get her arm stitched up, and on her way out, Tyler Struck, one of the other officers, also stops to tell Wren that she was justified.
Just in case the reader was wondering if Wren could have maybe done a wrong thing.
This is a lot of emotional coddling considering earlier in the book we were told that that Silver Block was all about weeding about the weak. Does Wren's emotional breakdown after killing Bryce not reflect badly on her as a recruit? Does she think about that at all? Of course not.
We also find out no one else was killed during this exercise.
Like, this sudden whitewashing of Bryce is wild.
Wren is a person whose entire life has been defined by the marginalization of Modified people. That prejudice is the reason she never knew her parents. It is the reason she has lived in hiding, with an uncle who was paranoid and willing to harm her to protect her. It is the reason she has to live a lie every moment of her existence. But Wren does not behave like a character who grew up under those circumstances.
Wren opened the book by telling us she hates soldiers, but also exclusively fucks them. Wren tells us she hates Primes and doesn't want to befriend them, but she's never actually spurned the friendship of any Prime willing to be nice to her. Wren tells us she doesn't want to be attracted to Cross, but she has not actually made a meaningful effort to stay away from him. Wren's uncle was killed right in front of her and it was arguably her fault, and her grief about that event lasted like, two chapters.
The way Wren behaves and interacts with other people feels completely disconnected from the facts of her life.
Next scene! Wren gets her new quarters, which have been stocked with some new civilian clothing for her. Wren is grateful for whoever picked them out, which is a big change from when she was pissed about being given a bra when she was initially coerced into Silver Block. I do not think this is a deliberate piece of characterization, but I do think it perfectly illustrates that Wren has no actual principles and is a selfish, short-sighted person concerned only with herself.
Cross comes to see Wren in her new room and by see I mean have sex with her.
They fuck, and Wren has now pivoted from telling herself not to be attracted to Cross to deciding that she can use him for sex and it's fine as long as they don't actually get to know each other.
Truly she is one of the most pathetic women of all time.
The chapter ends with Ivy catching Cross leaving Wren's quarters. Cross talks like they could get in trouble for fucking, but let's be honest, Cross is the son of the leader of the government, so realistically the only person who will actually get in trouble is Wren. So will Ivy screw Wren over by pointing out she's fucking her commanding officer? We shall see.
It is both simple and stupid: there are twelve recruits and six slots, so they go into rooms in pairs and whoever taps out first is eliminated. The six winners get to join Silver Elite.
There are six men and six women in this line up, and Wren assumes that she will not be paired with a man. I'm not really sure why. But she is right, and is paired with Bryce. We could have predicted this, because Bryce got some page time earlier in this chapter because her dad is here (he is an officer in Silver Elite, I believe) and in this book a side character only gets page time if they are about to be plot relevant.
Bryce glances up at the blinking camera mounted to the corner of the ceiling. She studies the mirror. Then, with a miserable expression, she leans closer to whisper in my ear.This is extremely funny, because Bryce initially dominates Wren in this fight. She draws first blood, she surprises Wren by kicking away her weapon, and she refuses to tap out, to the point that the fight only ends because Wren accidentally kills her.
“Please let me have this.”
Pity ripples through me. “You know I can’t.”
I’ve been tasked with joining this unit. That’s my one and only objective. Besides, we both know this girl wouldn’t last a minute in an elite squad. She’s not good enough.
Chapter end.
I’ve never seen anyone bleed out that fast.I mean...this is fine, I guess, but I think it's also indicative of the weakness of the writing in this book. Once again it feels like the author is just missing out on every opportunity to make use of Wren's actual character in favor of cliches. Like, would it not be way more meaningful to have Wren actually kill Bryce, after so many scenes where Wren berated herself for feeling real camaraderie with the other recruits? For that matter, would it not be way more meaningful to have had Wren kill Lyddie, or Ivy, or someone with who she had a preexisting relationship?
I suck in desperate breaths, my lungs straining for oxygen. As my heart thunders against my ribs, I crawl away from Bryce, leaving her dead in the middle of the room.
Or why not have her fight one of the people she hates, like Kess, so she can deliberately kill them and then feel bad about that later? Or not feel bad about it? Having Wren accidentally kill Bryce, a character who does not matter, is a bad choice. It lets Wren off the hook. She didn't mean to kill Bryce, so there's no need to wrestle with a protagonist who does morally ambiguous things, and she killed a character none of the readers care about, so none of the readers can be put off by it.
This scene has so many ways it could be good, and instead it's completely bland. In a way, that's an achievement.
Okay, let's do the next chapter.
Wren sobs in Kaine's arms as he and then Cross assure her that it wasn't her fault and she was completely justified in what she did.
First Kaine holds Wren in his arms and tells her she's completely justified. Then Bryce's actual father pauses to give Wren a look that she describes as "as if to say Good work," and then Cross comes in for the kill to tell her Bryce would never have tapped out, so Wren had no choice.When Cross speaks again, it’s brusque, impassive. “You had no choice. She was going to kill you.”
“Fuck you.”
“She wouldn’t have tapped out.”
“Fuck you,” I repeat, and swallow hard. Another onslaught of tears threatens, but I refuse to cry in front of him. “May I be dismissed?”
Cross tells Wren to go to Medical to get her arm stitched up, and on her way out, Tyler Struck, one of the other officers, also stops to tell Wren that she was justified.
Just in case the reader was wondering if Wren could have maybe done a wrong thing.
This is a lot of emotional coddling considering earlier in the book we were told that that Silver Block was all about weeding about the weak. Does Wren's emotional breakdown after killing Bryce not reflect badly on her as a recruit? Does she think about that at all? Of course not.
We also find out no one else was killed during this exercise.
Why didn’t she tap out?Wren berates herself for killing Bryce as she links with Adrienne, her Uprising contact, to tell her she made it into Silver Elite. Wren characterizes Bryce as someone who only wanted to please her father, as someone who didn't deserve to die. At no point does Wren consider that Bryce was signing up to join Silver Elite because she, like everyone else, thinks all Modified people should be killed or imprisoned.
Why didn’t she fucking tap out?
Why didn’t you tap out? demands an internal voice, harsh and unforgiving.
The voice is right.
Why am I blaming the dead girl?
I did this. I chose to kill her. I could have said screw Elite and not continued the fight. I could have let Bryce have it. But I didn’t. I’m just as bad as she is. Just as pathetic.
Like, this sudden whitewashing of Bryce is wild.
Wren is a person whose entire life has been defined by the marginalization of Modified people. That prejudice is the reason she never knew her parents. It is the reason she has lived in hiding, with an uncle who was paranoid and willing to harm her to protect her. It is the reason she has to live a lie every moment of her existence. But Wren does not behave like a character who grew up under those circumstances.
Wren opened the book by telling us she hates soldiers, but also exclusively fucks them. Wren tells us she hates Primes and doesn't want to befriend them, but she's never actually spurned the friendship of any Prime willing to be nice to her. Wren tells us she doesn't want to be attracted to Cross, but she has not actually made a meaningful effort to stay away from him. Wren's uncle was killed right in front of her and it was arguably her fault, and her grief about that event lasted like, two chapters.
The way Wren behaves and interacts with other people feels completely disconnected from the facts of her life.
Next scene! Wren gets her new quarters, which have been stocked with some new civilian clothing for her. Wren is grateful for whoever picked them out, which is a big change from when she was pissed about being given a bra when she was initially coerced into Silver Block. I do not think this is a deliberate piece of characterization, but I do think it perfectly illustrates that Wren has no actual principles and is a selfish, short-sighted person concerned only with herself.
Cross comes to see Wren in her new room and by see I mean have sex with her.
They fuck, and Wren has now pivoted from telling herself not to be attracted to Cross to deciding that she can use him for sex and it's fine as long as they don't actually get to know each other.
Truly she is one of the most pathetic women of all time.
The chapter ends with Ivy catching Cross leaving Wren's quarters. Cross talks like they could get in trouble for fucking, but let's be honest, Cross is the son of the leader of the government, so realistically the only person who will actually get in trouble is Wren. So will Ivy screw Wren over by pointing out she's fucking her commanding officer? We shall see.
