While it's cute I never understood why people see random character traits in fur color... Like are orange the stupid ones or the sassy ones? It feels about as founded in science as black cats = bad luck.
I think what bugs me the most is that the dragons just seem to go along with human bullshit politics and rarely intervene for their own interests, which makes no sense considering they’re the more powerful species. you can’t write dragons as a complex, intelligent species with their own society and customs, only to have them act as props for the humans’ stories most of the time.
I’ve been toying with the idea of “Ancient Egypt but with dragons” and the first thing that was obvious to me was that all of Egyptian mythology would get rewritten in terms of dragons. There wouldn’t be pharaohs, there would be a dragon, and the priesthood would serve it. Et cetera.
This has the same feeling as a toddler telling a story who forgot mid-sentence what they've already said, so they keep adding more to hide it. My brain is in pain.
Something thats been eating at me a bit... Why are the dragon riders treated as if they are supposed to be an elite infiltration unit, when they ride one of the least stealthy creatures possible, thats also the best air superiority in their world? Plus fact that they have incredibly easily identifiable markings thanks to their bonds. Also, any prize that isn't the WankPanzer
I’m surprised you didn’t mention that Brennan’s supposed to be keeping his identity a secret and yet everyone calls him by his name. It drove me insane while reading the book
I think my biggest problem is that Rebecca Yarros made the empire so stupid. Why in the world would this empire put the children of rebels into this military? especially the rider quadrant cause they now have dragons who can just kill them all. What if all the children of rebels just banded together and burnt down the quadrant with dragon fire. Even if you keep an eye on them, that doesn't help anything when you've given them DRAGONS?!
@@definitelynotashark1799 Right. I'm stuck wondering where is the editor cause why did they let her publish this. This one thing is ruining her storyline and everything she set up. When Violet's mom suggested this, NO ONE around her thought the rebellion children wouldn't y'know hate them and want revenge
I don't get why the author thinks the children of rebels are automatically all bad and need to be branded? What if they had nothing to do with it? What if they didn't live at home? What if they were infants and everything happened before they could remember? Well if you brand them all, now you've made an enemy. Also what happened to the rebels' other family members? Spouses, siblings, parents, cousins. Did everyone just get murdered by association? Then who raised the kids?
if i was a dragon in this universe and i was hearing all this bullshit id fly down there, scruff my bonded like a kitten and fly off lmfao. fuck do i look like😭
This series feels like the embodiment of not outrageously problematic, just overall pretty bad. There are definitely insensitive moments but on the whole it’s just confusing and underdeveloped. Not good enough to be engaging and not bad enough to truly despise
@@ReadswithRachel oh yeah the characters definitely suck, everything else just feels so lame all I can muster up is a meh. It’s really a talent to make this slop entertaining
I think what a lot say its that its just lazy generic bad from an author who should be able to write better, not entertaining creative trying at least bad, just lazy bad. And what really makes it inexcusable is that the author is known to be a military romance writer , and military spouce which makes it really strange. Like she knows military secrets, she knows about the military stuff yet, its very strange. (And i dont mean her gaza stuff, i mean her general attitude about military, its strange)
Also the books do a pissy poor job of explaining how the griffon fliers are able to keep the empire away from their territory given they can't fly as high, aren't as physically strong, apparently less intelligent (mostly because no one in the cast directly interacts with a griffon), and have less magic powers than the super cool sexy dragon riders. The griffon fliers are both super strong enough to stall the empire's expansion, but also have to be weak to prop up the cool dragon riders like stupid sexy Xaden and Violet, the supposed MC.
It’s at the part where the griffin ppl explain how they get their griffins which involves zero death and the dragon ppl are all confused and think their way is weird 🤨 that’s when I almost threw the dang book… kinda wish I had because everything that happens next is even more annoying
Or like when the griffen folk are baffled by the fist fight to the death part of training, and Violet is all smug about how they would never have made it at dragon murder college. Im sorry Violet, i thought you here horrified by all the random murder around you, but ok. At least the hot girl you hate looks horrifed, anything is fair game.
@@ianmckee4726right it’s basically added to provide stakes that make zero sense because if the stakes are reinforced with lore and consistency then cool but no because their rules make no sense which is why even the students don’t understand the rules and what’s allowed and what isn’t because I feel even the author didn’t know. 🤷♀️
Even worse, in everyday English, a luminary is most often used to refer to a learned expert in their field. I have no idea why Yarros used that word to refer to a special dragon related device, and not made up her own word. Very lazy and confusing.
As someone with EDS, it makes me VIVID that the bad guy sees her weakness as “too much love for her friends” instead of, you know, the literal weakness of her chronic illness. Why has her disability conveniently disappeared in this book? 🤔 Anyway, thank you for pointing out the bad world building in this book. It helps me a lot to hear you break it down and ask the questions!
What I'm having a real hard time with is WHAT was her mom's endgame here? She is 100% getting detained, interrogated, and court-martialled for this. Both her surviving children defect after the suspicious death of an officer with a bunch of traitors' children SHE vouched for. She can't lie about what happened either, so what was the goal? It wasn't buying time or misdirecting the military. The first place evil general man is going to look is Aresha. So, she signed her own death warrant to be bait for a trap, I guess? Also, why didn't Violet tell her Brennan was alive? Probably could've turned her to their side with that little tidbit.
I remember being sooooo frustrated with “the 6 and the one” every time it was brought up I’d yell into the void “AND THE ONE” the entire 2nd of half the book. Like she’s suppose to be soo smart and yet she’s not even comprehending what she’s reading. It was such lazy writing.
I will always mourn the books and the creator's lack of commitment to give Violet a mother whose both kind of a villain, but also a victim to the empire's teachings and practices rather than having it be Violet's mother was secretly trying to do her best. I stand by that a lot of the plot and character motivation being tied with Violet's complicated relationship with wanting to impress her mother would have naturally given Violet more of an arc that shows Violet changes on two layers, philosophically becoming distant from the Empire's ideals and personally/emotionally rejecting wanting her toxic mother's love and acceptance.
I read this book because all the fans said i couldn't be uncomfortable and critical of the "disability rep" in the first book without reading the second because it's a series, and so i did, and i found this book turned up the overcoming your disability, super-crip stuff by 200% 🤡🤡 it does nothing to undo the gross stuff FW buys into and perpetuates, and instead does those things more, and then does extra things on top of it to just show that RY did zero research into things to be mindful of when writing disabled characters. (and because people will bring this up: yes, she has EDS, i know. but that doesn't make her unable to perpetuate ableism and ableist ideas. I also have EDS and had to unlearn a lot of it, especially once trying to overcome my disbaility actually damaged me further)
Omg disabled people can be ableist too? Who would've thought! /s People would take the lowest hanging fruit possible and treat it like it's gold. Being disabled is not enough to write good disabled characters by virtue of that alone but we live in such a performative society that would take anything at surface value just so nobody has to be critical of things
It drives me crazy, when people use the “But she has EDS” argument, as if it means anything. It’s no different than saying a novel written by a woman can’t be misogynistic by default. 🤡
@haggisa yeah!! and fourth wing fans are some of the loudest about it too, which makes me feel like they don't actually stand on business or have the knowledge when it comes to disability inclusion. I got hate dms on tiktok for saying I felt uncomfortable with the representation (verbatim) and several people brought up that yarros has eds so I can't criticise her... and when I said I have it too 🫢 apparently I don't know my own disability. so maddening
for real, yeah, cause like... even aside from anything about countries, it's a character saying they'd be willing to let thousands or even millions die - likely including children, and also a ton of other people just trying to live - if it meant the single person they're romantically attracted to was fine 😬 that's something that should be said by a villain, or at least something acknowledged as bad by other characters.... i am begging, authors. please.
Obviously the luminary is going to be the engagement ring our two main characters whose names I have already forgotten are going to propose to eachother with💍/sarcasm
I swear, you and KrimsonRouge are my FAVORITE book (roast) tubers. I love watching you both uplift the masterpieces, and rightfully eviscerate the bad books 😂♥️
Can someone explain this to me? According to what Rachel reads at 1:41:26, the only reason the Flyers haven't killed Brennan already is because they don't know who his mother is. So you'd think that'd be information they'd want to keep hidden. Yet, at 1:50:55, Brennan lets slip without a care in the world that Violet is his sister... But the Flyers know who Violet's mother is, so surely now they know that Brennan has the same mother, thus shuttering his oh-so-precious "anonymity"?? And nobody reacts??
My mind supplied the mental scent of reptile enclosures that are in use plus the distinct funk of a leather tannery. I can't imagine they would smell good to prey, and humans are definitely on that list.
Does Violet’s Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome ever come up in this book? Because I thought for a bit that maybe Ms. Yarros was going to do something interesting paralleling Andarna’s imperfect wings with Violet’s ligaments. Didn’t the dragons say Andarna’s wings aren’t as taut as they’re supposed to be? Because the muscles didn’t develop something something?
These videos are so funny because I haven't read these books. So in order to understand THIS one I have to rewatch all parts of Fourth Wing, and then part one of Iron Flame so I can remember what's happening. So by the time you finish, I'll probably have watched all of the videos three times.
I'm not trying to invalidate what someone else finds to be a yum, I am genuinely confused about how anything about this is supposed to be hot. Someone out there has the answer for me.
@@kbird6208 this, this sums it perfectly. she little and fragile, he big and brute, they both horny and then magically horny, and they "should hate each other", so it's at least a setup for forbidden love/enemies to lover, even if it has no development. that works for many people, just check AO3. but imo, this shouldn't leave AO3.
I actually read an article where Rebecca Yarros was interviewed and the interviewer was asking her some pretty basic lore and character questions (similar to the ones Rachel is asking) and generally her response is "Oh you have to wait until book 3 to fine out 🤷♀️" and that's SUCH a copout answer. Yarros makes swiss cheese of her world building so that she can fill in the holes later and call it a plot twist, rather than creating a world with characters and rules that actually make logical sense. "Wait until book three" doesn't make book two actually work, I'm afraid.
That just shows that she didn't really sit and plan out her world until the last minute. Onyx Storm is probably going to have information we should have known in the first book.
Yes, what a treat! I'm so excited to dive into this deep dive. At about the halfway point now and I have to dump four huge things: 1) The Rules. I get the intention was to have Violet appear plucky and clever by finding workarounds for her physical weaknesses, but the way it's shaken out so far is that when faced with a challenge she is not good enough to overcome, she either cheats or argues technicalities. "Yes I'm doing this, but the rules don't TECHNICALLY state that this specific thing is not allowed..." has happened many times, and every time, it repulses me. Wow, what a hero, being a "Well ACTUALLY" type and a cheat. Everyone loves those! So the rules are the most important thing to know. Except for riders, who don't care about the rules despite being the most powerful part of an army trained on propaganda and mindless loyalty, but who also hide behind rules and technicalities whenever they're in a bad spot. And Dain is constantly insulted for being a "rule-follower", even by his own superiors like Varrish, who would MOST want him to follow those rules so that he stays in line... 2) Violet picking up no context clues. Remember all those mentions of the mender guy being sequestered on some secret project for ages? Remember how Violet and Xaden were face to face with him when he said "Mending a body is easy but mending a soul is way harder!" and our genius girl didn't pick that up at all? How could it possibly have been a surprise when Jack returned? Oh right, because she was distracted by... 3) The Argument. There's just one, and I don't know why Yarros thought rehashing it well over a dozen times was good writing. Violet: I want 100% honesty! Xaden: I cannot do that until your mental shields are trained enough that you don't leak the entire rebellion to the literal mind-readers and get us all killed. I'll tell you safe information about me, though. Violet: No, I refuse to wait until my shields are trained! Tell me everything or we can't be together! Xaden: Okay, then I guess we won't be together. Over and over again. Xaden reads to me like a guy who has completely checked out emotionally from his relationship. Not that there's much of one anyway, because they have literally no interest in each other aside from the physical, and all they do is fight... or rather, all Violet does is start the same fight. Creating a relationship that is both entirely about sex and also a total Dead Bedrooms situation is actually kind of impressive. 4) Violet's Priorities. How are there this many scenes of Violet brooding over her relationship problems when the scene occurring is massively important war-related activities for the rebellion SHE is clamoring to join? Enormous plot points are being dropped in class, in outposts, in secret rendezvouses, and she's not listening in favour of wondering why this woman is taking such a familiar tone with her not-boyfriend.
Also, point 3.5: the enormous hypocrisy of Violet being so against lying. Lying is the worst thing you can do! I'm so betrayed that Xaden lied by not telling me 100% of the truth immediately while I still could have been his enemy... but I don't lie, I'm just selective with the truth, it's okay when I do it, I have good reasons, I'm just omitting facts not LYING... ohhhh my god.
I imagine the Luminary is just the band the Lumineers frozen in amber Jurasdic Park style. And the key to making wardstones is letting them sing st the dragons to get them in the proper mood.
26:00 you are correct, it should be "composed of". "Comprised of" is always incorrect, and Bryan Henderson (giraffedata) didn't edit 47,000 Wikipedia articles for this kind of error to make it into a published book >:(
It’s interesting last book they made a big deal about Dane not believing in her/giving her agency but this book xaden explicitly tries to forbid her from going to the viscount to protect her
As much as I roll my eyes at everything in this book, if the world building was basically competent (not even revolutionary or brilliant, just like... it basically made sense), I would tolerate the book Please make "Fourth Wing with coherent worldbuilding" and even better if you can make me like the characters 🥺🥺🥺
When they resurrected Jack, I gave up on the book. They let all these decent riders die, but resurrect one random a-hole? It's not like he was anyone important, so why was Nolan slaving away trying to mend him for months from being a literal pancake? But they can't mend someone who fell off their dragon? Or got murdered on the mat by a classmate? Why is Jack's life so important?? 46:00 I can't tell you where it said any of this because I traded in my copy LOL but I do remember reading in the first book that cadets have the patches and that the "officers" who have graduated do not in case they fall behind enemy lines. Still, as you read previously, it said they didn't have nametags as riders. It doesn't make sense why the teacher points Violet's nametag out. In the first book, they said it wasn't unusual for 2nd and 3rd years to go help the military when needed, so why would they even wear the patches at all? The whole patch thing seems so irrelevant, because they can alter their uniforms however they want. Are the patches even regulation? The book said there are no uniform standards besides wearing black. Can they just not wear them? Or are they required? Then the characters get one for breaking out of the interrogation, so are they badges of pride and achievement? Is this like the Boy Scouts now? Like everything else, it makes no sense but is conveniently used whenever the author wants it to be. This scene is also another one where something nonsensical happens to Violet to cause drama in the moment, but then immediately after it doesn't matter. Anyways, thank you for reading this!! I am still chugging away at my Iron Flame audio book, but I completely gave up on ANYTHING making sense. Looking forward to the next part 💛
Haven't touched these books myself, but for that particular scene it sounds like there's a distinction between "flying leathers" and normal "uniforms" that was never clarified properly. Both are somehow marked to identify their owner. The author made a point to (clumsily) reference the jacket Violet borrowed before she returns to the academy place. This HAS to be different from regular uniforms, because Violet's name tag (if she had one) and patches wouldn't be on some other guy's jacket. This would mean that stupid scene was: Violet left in her own uniform, with her own rank and identity patches, while wearing someone else's "flying leathers". When she returned, she was accused of "impersonation of an officer" based purely on the jacket, which was immediately disproven the fact she was actually wearing her own uniform. Even for a cheap "villain tries to make up a crime to publicly justify attacking the hero and immediately fails" scene, this is spectacularly dumb, and it still has the nametag issue, but there is a tiny bit of logic to it. I'm also personally suspicious-- especially now that I look at a character list for this book, which is so sad it's funny-- that she refuses to provide solid descriptions for most people, outfits, magic, dragons, and macguffins because she knows she's bad at making effective visual designs and is hoping readers will take the scraps she gives them and do the character design for her. The problem with having zero concrete character designs is that you necessarily cannot have a reference sheet for them. The problem with writing characters without any character profiles or reference sheets is that details become made of ooze, and you end up with things like "riders never wear nametags but also very much do because that's how you know whose uniform is whose".
I do think they have different uniforms for riding and just being at the academy, but I can't think of the terminology she used (I believe "flight leathers" is correct). It seemed their uniforms were very similar so they could jump up and ride without having to run back to their rooms to change. But in this scene Rachel is talking about, Boghi gives Violet his flying jacket since she didn't have one and he knew she would get cold (being high up in the air, I assume). Then I believe this is the same jacket they are questioning later, but it's kinda implied it's Xaden's jacket? I honestly did not pay enough attention at this point in the book, so maybe I am confusing myself. You are right about the character list and sheets. I get the sense our author makes up things as she goes, and sometimes forgets lore she already wrote about. I know this book was rushed also, so fans excuse everything bad about it that way. This nametag thing I think is a specific plot hole the author wrote in that she didn't realize. In the last book it specifically said they do not wear nametags. What they wear are patches, which are symbols that denote their year and any special abilities they may have that are not classified, although the author doesn't give us any examples of common signets the cadets may have. And also apparently they get patches as rewards (as they did for escaping the interrogation room). It's very clear none of this is fleshed out very well by the author. Which is why we have a million questions, and not in a good way.
"There are no uniform standards besides wearing black" brought a vivid image to mind. You could, under these rules, technically ride into battle in a glittery cocktail dress... as long as it's black. 😂
The fact that I just watched part one yesterday. You’ve made my day! Thank you for enduring this torture of a book for us. ❤ Side note: I can’t believe BN had a release party for this. Readers deserve so much better. Ridiculous.
I saw a short recently of someone saying this was "good romance" and watching this and reading the book for myself I cant help but to think to myself "Really...?"
Okay but like, why is Jessinia, who is the same age as Violet, translating Violet's journal? When in their lifetime did "the modern language" change so drastically that it needed to be translated? Does that imply that some other people came in and conquered Navarre? Because the griffon riders and dragon riders communicate without translators, and there's nothing implying scribes live absurdly long lives, so.....? And it specifically says it was translated from Navarrian.... not to mention Violet never writes in a journal or even thinks about writing, and Xaden straight up says he doesn't keep a diary so nothing about the setup makes even a little bit of sense..... Also, pointing out that Violet speaks Tyrish without Violet knowing anything about Tyr in general proves to me that Rebecca definitely never learned a second language because culture and history are intrinsically linked to language....
I made the same comment on the last videos but I love the use of YuGiOh cards as a representation of the dragons. It would have been hysterical if you used YuGiOh cards for all the characters and concepts in the book. Anyway, you’re fun to listen to either way
The number one thing I can't with is her fucking prose. The dialogue is so clunky, like she's trying to create intensity but it comes off so cheesy. If anybody spoke this way in real life they'd be met with "why are you like this?"
I don’t think I’m misremembering from the previous videos, but it really seems like any time Violet and Xadan talk about missing each other or wanting to be together (over and over), it’s almost always in terms of their sex life. Like it just makes it sound like they miss having a fuck buddy, but not Them specifically, you know? Personally, I don’t find that interesting or compelling.
big agree omg cause tbh, they don't really have much happening in terms of a relationship outside their sex life IMO.... i'm so tired of characters who are just horny for each other being framed as The Great Romance Of The Ages in-universe/by the narrative 😮💨 like, what do we really get of their dynamic outside of sex? what do they like about each other besides physical attractiveness and being 'cool'? what do they enjoy doing together? do they have any inside jokes? so many things that an author could address and deepen the relationship, so there's a chance of caring when they miss each other or have fights - not to mention a chance of making the sexual scenes more unique beyond the magic powers they have.....
I read both books and was always so confused by what was happening and why. Her brother being alive should’ve been a big deal but wasn’t really focused on at all. Thank you Rachel for sacrificing your peace of mind to try explain things better than the writer did lol
40:36 One thing I'll give to Yarros, I genuinely never questioned why a rich guy would spend all his time trying to see something new and shiny and not try to protect the citizenry. Perhaps the only thing I found unrealistic about the Viscount is how there was really much stubbornness and vindictiveness from him post-callout from the main characters.
Spicy descriptions I wish to never hear again: - flicking - entrance List not comprehensive and I reserve the right to augment and / or amend at any time without notice
My biggest problem with this book (among so many problems) is that I don't understand the nature of dragons-humans relationship from the dragons perspective. In the beginning Violet describes it as if bonded humans are some kind of beloved pets for dragons, dunno like my dog is for me - you sure adore Cooper, you sure will suffer greatly if something happens to Cooper, and you sure try really hard to protect Cooper and vaccinate him and 'oh no other dogs are attacking him I'm running to help baby Cooper', and you give him 'super-power' like treats, just because you can and Cooper is the best and smartest boy ever, but other dogs? But as a dragon (a much superior creature) I'd be very confused if the pets are plotting to steal our babies, or endanger a teen's health OR tell me how often I can see my spouse. Like how should this work? Like some stupid pet-like creature is dictating me where I should live and how often I should be near my wife? And I'm okay with that, ah? Because of what? Also if someone's dog is constantly attacking my dog, I'd do something, so Tairn is a rather shitty owner.
I’ve been binging all of your videos while I drive to and from work every day and I have been CHOMPING AT THE BIT for this one. Thanks for all the work you do!!
Whats so annoying is I can see a potentially good story with some of the concepts. She just went about everything the weirdest way. Like it would’ve been vastly more interesting to have a focus on the dragon bonds and if Violet only bonded with the young gold dragon. But we can still have the black dragon (who maybe isn’t over the death of his last rider) acting as a guide and mentor to the both of them.
Oh I love how you represent the dragons with different Yu-Gi-Oh cards, especially the main coupled dragons as Red Eyes Black Dragon and Blue Eyes White Dragon. And now I'm thinking I would rather read a REBD/BEWD fic or even a Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba/Joey Wheeler) fic over this book lol
Rachel, as a non-fan hater of these romance with a sprinkle of fantasy dragon books the reason why the empire give the rebel children dragons is because dragons are loyal to the empire (supposedly) so they can tell who will be a traitor or not... except at the beginning of this book and the end of book 1 some of the dragons are totally on board with the rebellion because I guess the author forgot that plot point because she needed to explain why the empire would hand over their most prized assets to the people who have the most reason to hate and rebel against them, but doesn't to think about how bad of an explanation that is given that the dragons don't seem too invested in who is in charge of the government and just seem to follow through on their human rider's wishes in the end of all of it. Basically my guess is that the reason why the empire gives the rebel children their dragons is so that the story can have Violet's love interest be a bad sad boy rebel with a golden heart who rides a dragon (though this could have been solved by having Xaden and the other rebel children going under different identities trying to bond with a dragon illegally and having be a twist that Xaden is a rebel child or something) and because we can't have a dude love interest be less powerful than a leading lady in any kind of these romance fantasy stories.
I would have preferred it if the other rebel children were in the infirmary and Xaden was also supposed to be there too but maybe somehow he ended up being bonded to his dragon, so now he's part of the war quadrant because obviously they can't kill cause his dragon wouldn't be happy. That would make an outcast and an underdog like Violet was supposed to be. I just think it would be more interesting, because imagine the sweet bonding moments we could have had between them when they're both trying to help each other to survive.
Would make sense if they were actually just arrogant in the whole “we control the dragons” when in fact it’s the opposite but then like wouldn’t the dragons just eat the lot of them 🤷♀️ 🤷♀️
I'm sure it's not great for your mental health, but fuck do I love watching you rant about shitty books for hours on end. Seriously the best is seeing a 1-2 hour long video of your drop and thinking "Ah yes, now THIS is the kind of stuff I wanna listen to while cleaning"
I know it is unrelated to the video, but I don't know what you are doing new with your makeup. Your makeup always looked good, and now it is just STUNNING
I don't know why, but I imagine the luminary as a person. I think the luminary is like Dawn in Buffy the vampire slayer, a mystical power in the form of a human. I have no idea why I think that. I haven't even read these books, but the luminary being a person makes sense because the dude who collects people has one.
I have been binging your content. Your commentary is both comedic and intelligent. I find myself giggling and full out laughing. Thank you for taking one for the team because some of these books are painful.
the question i feel like nobody but me has is the definition of empyrean 💀 like, by definition it means relating to heaven or the sky, as well as the highest part of heaven, thought by the ancients to be the realm of pure fire. but the thing is, the empyrean is a place where it acts as a bubble around the nine layers of heaven and the home of angels, so i’m not sure if yarros is trying to say the empyrean are angels or she just saw it meant the realm of fire and somehow connected dragons to that even though they’re completely irrelevant 🤨 cant wait to see if she provides an explanation (she probably wont)
Cadets wear different uniforms with their patches (indicating wing, signet, etc) and name tags on them, while stationed riders don't wear patches and name tags. (Violet says to Xaden he looks good in an officer's uniform, earlier on.) But all riders wear the same flight gear, for cadets it is only for flight class but for working military, every time they are on duty because they need to be ready to fly at any point. So, in this case, Violet was in Battle Brief class in her cadet uniform but she decided to fly and Bodhi gave her his jacket. When she was coming back, Xaden gave her his flight jacket, which is what Varrish is trying to use to incriminate her.
I can't, how we live in a world this BS sells millions of copies, gets an adaptation, and An Ember in the Ashes is forgotten in the barbecue? (I hope Lou told you about "esquecidas no churrasco")
I am right there with you in the trenches trying to figure out how the ward-forging works. It sounds a bit like the author is literally just mystifying blacksmithing, but it's so vague that it's hard to say for sure. I was half-expecting the luminary to have a twist where it's a person and not an object, but it sounds like that's not the case? They got the luminary, allegedly, but if it was shown or described on-page I feel like you would've mentioned it?? So they just pocketed it off-page after all this nonsense to get it. Probably for a 'dramatic' reveal later. We love MacGuffins, I guess. Anyway, my speculation is that the whole "forging a ward" thing is pretty one-to-one (which may be why the author didn't feel she needed to explain it much) to real-world metalworking. In the narrative, we have fire (dragonfire), metal (the alloy), a way to control the fire's temperature (which would normally be a forge bellows but in this case is whatever the hell the luminary actually is), and a crucible. A crucible is a container with a higher melting/burn point than the metal being smelted (often porcelain IRL), allowing it to contain and transport the molten metal. Since this is a crucible for forging magic metal, I have to assume it also needs to have resistance to magical properties, but who knows, really. Notably, what's missing is any way to shape the metal after it's made molten? There's no reference to a mold to shape the ward, or tools to carve sigils into it, and we have thoroughly established that dragons have no thumbs, so I have no idea who is supposed to be able to withstand the juiced-up dragonfire's heat to shape and temper weapons made from the alloy. Nor do I have any idea of what tools could actually handle doing that. It wouldn't be the first time magic weapons sprung fully-formed from raw materials that got hit with magic fire, but it will definitely be very annoying if the author pulled that shit when like two thirds of the protagonist's strategy appear to hinge on performing fetch quests for a bunch of forging equipment. It also sounds like the ward needs to be magically charged or enchanted once it's forged, so I don't understand why anyone expects a freshly-forged ward to work when they don't know how to power/enchant the one they already have?? It does not sound like the journals of the six founders said "we made a magic hunk of metal, which is very cool but it had to be recharged eventually", it sounds like they took a hunk of metal with special properties and THEN enchanted it through ritual sacrifice/blood magic. There seems to be no evidence that wards spontaneously form from forging the alloy. I mean... if the metal can also be forged into weapons that don't have ward properties... clearly warding isn't an inherent trait of the metal, it's just very good at holding and amplifying that kind of magic. If the protagonist is a natural amplifier of ambient magic, obviously she's the One who needs to get sacrificed to transfer her magic to the ward. I am so glad I have never tried to read this myself, because I have never in my life felt this bored by a self-sacrifice/"cruel magic for the good of all" plot line. I *hope* she gets turned into a magic battery in the end. A little bit of unconventionally tragic writing would do wonders for this narrative-- at minimum, by sparing us from her horny internal monologues.
Your book reviews are the only enjoyable thing about these books lmfao. Also i feel the need to tell someone that I saw iron flame in my uncles bookcase when I was visiting. Not only has he and my cousins read it, but they got the recommendation from none other than my grandmother. There are no words for the shock and horror I felt in that moment 😂😂😭😭
I am watching these videos for the same reason I suffered through all eight Throne of Glass books. Learning through suffering. I now have two extra hours worth of "what not to do" content for my own writing so thank you for your sacrifice ~
The one thing I realized from all the Fourth Wing discourse is, I would rather read comic smut than these books, coz at least I get my smut fix (as an asexual) in an efficient way without the messy plot.
The problem with this book is that it's only enjoyable if you don’t think about it. Every time I had a question I gave up asking and said multiple times out loud “it doesn’t even matter fr” and like 10 times out of 10 it didn’t even matter fr. Then I got to one part that was too stupid to ignore and i DNFed out of anger.
7:00 I reckon 'sword tail' refers to tails that end in a point, like a lizard's, and 'morningstar tail' refers to tail clubs, where the tail ends in a spikey ball like an Anklyosaurus tail.
@ReadswithRachel I think in the case of dragons, given they fly similarly to Pterosaurs its more the length than the shape that helps with flight. Pterosaurs had some pretty weird tail shapes. Dimorphodon for example, had a tail that could be described as dagger-like with a pointed tip. In the dragons cases, the long tails indicate that they'd be better at short distance flying and the length of the tail, similar to dimorphodon or a modern Swallow, would aid in increasing their turning rate in flight, allowing them to zip from side to side easier and be generally more agile, versus something like a Pteranodon or modern Albatros bird which are streamlined for long distance flight exploiting updrafts and have short tails (or sometimes none at all for some Pterosaurs) to not interfere with their aerodynamics so they are efficient at gliding long distances. So the end of the tail doesn't impact flight too too much. Birds developed feathers there which do aid in turning in air, but plenty of other flying animals lacked these features and there are examples in relatives of dinosaurs/birds/pterosaurs of odd tail ends. As the saying goes in evolution, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If a dragon naturally evolved a tail feature that doesn't interfere with flight or its reproduction, it will probably stay as is, as a neutral mutation. If humans were involved in breeding them, they might also breed for those features as weapons and encourage that trait in offspring (or indeed, the dragons themselves could be sexually identifying these traits as desireable in a mate)
@@danielbroome5690 oh damn that's really interesting. I was also kind of thinking dinosaurs in my own personal headcanon on dragon tail shapes: like the morningstar tail are kind of the defenders of the herd when they were wild but with humans more or less looking after them, the tail shapes kind of fluctuate every generation or so
Gonna be honest, I think you're bringing way too many brain cells into this explanation. I think yarros watched how to train your dragon once and stole those designs 😂
So not a fourth wing fan, but I read the book and I think it’s that they have a “regular” uniform, maybe not just as cadets but like to wear in noncombat situations? This is the uniform with the patches and the name tag. The flight leathers are their like”combat” uniform. Which only has rank (so it doesn’t have the patches that denote signets). Not 100% sure why that would give someone access to an outpost but whatever. The scene that explains this is I think right before their first flight lesson. It kind of felt like the author wanted to give her characters edgy Girl Scout patches but realized that was maybe a security risk and a bad idea, so then gave everyone two uniforms to explain it? Like everything in this book it’s convoluted and doesn’t really make sense in like a wider world building way. So in that scene she was wearing a flight (“combat”) jacket with only rank and no name tag/patches, over her regular uniform. Which doesn’t really explain why they would have two uniforms. Because you would think riders would need to be combat ready at all times but whatever.
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"What do we want?"
"Answers!"
"What do we get?"
"Nothing!"
At least we get this review 😊😁
😂😂😂
My theory is still that orange dragons are more difficult because they’re like orange cats.
Same with orange (chestnut) horses lol
While it's cute I never understood why people see random character traits in fur color... Like are orange the stupid ones or the sassy ones? It feels about as founded in science as black cats = bad luck.
@@atherisGAY wait so is supposed to be their version of one golden brain cell ..?
Like for serious what is this orange thing?
I think what bugs me the most is that the dragons just seem to go along with human bullshit politics and rarely intervene for their own interests, which makes no sense considering they’re the more powerful species. you can’t write dragons as a complex, intelligent species with their own society and customs, only to have them act as props for the humans’ stories most of the time.
RIGHT?? Like what's in it for them?
I’ve been toying with the idea of “Ancient Egypt but with dragons” and the first thing that was obvious to me was that all of Egyptian mythology would get rewritten in terms of dragons. There wouldn’t be pharaohs, there would be a dragon, and the priesthood would serve it. Et cetera.
Literally lmao
I choose to think that humans are the Dragon's version of reality TV.
She could’ve avoided this by just making them animals.
Ending of Fourth Wing: welcome to the Rebellion
Most of Iron Flame: welcome back to school
This has the same feeling as a toddler telling a story who forgot mid-sentence what they've already said, so they keep adding more to hide it. My brain is in pain.
my god, this may just be the perfect description!!!!
YES
Or those games where each person writes a sentence or paragraph of a story then passes it to the next person
Have you ever-- have-- have you-- dream-- have you ever-- dream--
Literally how the movie Sharkboy & Lavagirl was written 😂
Something thats been eating at me a bit... Why are the dragon riders treated as if they are supposed to be an elite infiltration unit, when they ride one of the least stealthy creatures possible, thats also the best air superiority in their world? Plus fact that they have incredibly easily identifiable markings thanks to their bonds.
Also, any prize that isn't the WankPanzer
I’m surprised you didn’t mention that Brennan’s supposed to be keeping his identity a secret and yet everyone calls him by his name. It drove me insane while reading the book
Iron Flame: 😢
Rachel's rant of Iron Flame: 😊
I think my biggest problem is that Rebecca Yarros made the empire so stupid. Why in the world would this empire put the children of rebels into this military? especially the rider quadrant cause they now have dragons who can just kill them all. What if all the children of rebels just banded together and burnt down the quadrant with dragon fire.
Even if you keep an eye on them, that doesn't help anything when you've given them DRAGONS?!
Right, at least give us some shitty Deus ex machina reason for that... Instead of nothing at all??? It's truly giving tween's first OC.
@@definitelynotashark1799 Right. I'm stuck wondering where is the editor cause why did they let her publish this. This one thing is ruining her storyline and everything she set up. When Violet's mom suggested this, NO ONE around her thought the rebellion children wouldn't y'know hate them and want revenge
I don't get why the author thinks the children of rebels are automatically all bad and need to be branded? What if they had nothing to do with it? What if they didn't live at home? What if they were infants and everything happened before they could remember?
Well if you brand them all, now you've made an enemy.
Also what happened to the rebels' other family members? Spouses, siblings, parents, cousins. Did everyone just get murdered by association? Then who raised the kids?
she tried to mash up a bunch of decent ideas and failed spectacularly at getting them to be coherent together
if i was a dragon in this universe and i was hearing all this bullshit id fly down there, scruff my bonded like a kitten and fly off lmfao. fuck do i look like😭
“Yes, what a shame. We are all crying.” RACH THIS IS ICONIC. I died.
30:25 that bingo card just took years off my life. Why did I look up at the screen and get stabbed in the eyes with "wet folds" omg
Terrible day to be literate ✋🏾😭
Obviously Violet is going to be the luminary. It's going to be yet another one of her super special not-like-other-girls-powers that she didn't earn.
A luminary is an object like a tool for metal smithing not a person
Watch Yarros bending over backwards to kinda make it happen. Everything is possible if you shit on your own rules
This series feels like the embodiment of not outrageously problematic, just overall pretty bad. There are definitely insensitive moments but on the whole it’s just confusing and underdeveloped. Not good enough to be engaging and not bad enough to truly despise
bad enough to despise for me, because i hate the characters
@@ReadswithRachel oh yeah the characters definitely suck, everything else just feels so lame all I can muster up is a meh. It’s really a talent to make this slop entertaining
and like there was no reason for it to be meh! WHYYYY did we waste potential rebecca
@@ReadswithRachel literallyyyy dragons are so cool and I love disability rep in fantasy, but it just ended up feeling like Divergent with dragons
I think what a lot say its that its just lazy generic bad from an author who should be able to write better, not entertaining creative trying at least bad, just lazy bad.
And what really makes it inexcusable is that the author is known to be a military romance writer , and military spouce which makes it really strange. Like she knows military secrets, she knows about the military stuff yet, its very strange. (And i dont mean her gaza stuff, i mean her general attitude about military, its strange)
Also the books do a pissy poor job of explaining how the griffon fliers are able to keep the empire away from their territory given they can't fly as high, aren't as physically strong, apparently less intelligent (mostly because no one in the cast directly interacts with a griffon), and have less magic powers than the super cool sexy dragon riders.
The griffon fliers are both super strong enough to stall the empire's expansion, but also have to be weak to prop up the cool dragon riders like stupid sexy Xaden and Violet, the supposed MC.
It’s at the part where the griffin ppl explain how they get their griffins which involves zero death and the dragon ppl are all confused and think their way is weird 🤨 that’s when I almost threw the dang book… kinda wish I had because everything that happens next is even more annoying
Or like when the griffen folk are baffled by the fist fight to the death part of training, and Violet is all smug about how they would never have made it at dragon murder college. Im sorry Violet, i thought you here horrified by all the random murder around you, but ok. At least the hot girl you hate looks horrifed, anything is fair game.
@@ianmckee4726right it’s basically added to provide stakes that make zero sense because if the stakes are reinforced with lore and consistency then cool but no because their rules make no sense which is why even the students don’t understand the rules and what’s allowed and what isn’t because I feel even the author didn’t know. 🤷♀️
So... there is a nail gel's brand named Luminary and all I can imagine is a dragon blowing fire at a nail polish bottle
To be fair, I've heard that stuff can be flammable
Great way to cure your nails. Makes as much sense as an ink pen.
Even worse, in everyday English, a luminary is most often used to refer to a learned expert in their field. I have no idea why Yarros used that word to refer to a special dragon related device, and not made up her own word. Very lazy and confusing.
@@haggisa”lazy and confusing” that covers these books in entirety 😂
As someone with EDS, it makes me VIVID that the bad guy sees her weakness as “too much love for her friends” instead of, you know, the literal weakness of her chronic illness. Why has her disability conveniently disappeared in this book? 🤔
Anyway, thank you for pointing out the bad world building in this book. It helps me a lot to hear you break it down and ask the questions!
What I'm having a real hard time with is WHAT was her mom's endgame here? She is 100% getting detained, interrogated, and court-martialled for this. Both her surviving children defect after the suspicious death of an officer with a bunch of traitors' children SHE vouched for. She can't lie about what happened either, so what was the goal? It wasn't buying time or misdirecting the military. The first place evil general man is going to look is Aresha. So, she signed her own death warrant to be bait for a trap, I guess? Also, why didn't Violet tell her Brennan was alive? Probably could've turned her to their side with that little tidbit.
I remember being sooooo frustrated with “the 6 and the one” every time it was brought up I’d yell into the void “AND THE ONE” the entire 2nd of half the book. Like she’s suppose to be soo smart and yet she’s not even comprehending what she’s reading. It was such lazy writing.
I will always mourn the books and the creator's lack of commitment to give Violet a mother whose both kind of a villain, but also a victim to the empire's teachings and practices rather than having it be Violet's mother was secretly trying to do her best. I stand by that a lot of the plot and character motivation being tied with Violet's complicated relationship with wanting to impress her mother would have naturally given Violet more of an arc that shows Violet changes on two layers, philosophically becoming distant from the Empire's ideals and personally/emotionally rejecting wanting her toxic mother's love and acceptance.
I read this book because all the fans said i couldn't be uncomfortable and critical of the "disability rep" in the first book without reading the second because it's a series, and so i did, and i found this book turned up the overcoming your disability, super-crip stuff by 200% 🤡🤡 it does nothing to undo the gross stuff FW buys into and perpetuates, and instead does those things more, and then does extra things on top of it to just show that RY did zero research into things to be mindful of when writing disabled characters.
(and because people will bring this up: yes, she has EDS, i know. but that doesn't make her unable to perpetuate ableism and ableist ideas. I also have EDS and had to unlearn a lot of it, especially once trying to overcome my disbaility actually damaged me further)
Omg disabled people can be ableist too? Who would've thought! /s
People would take the lowest hanging fruit possible and treat it like it's gold. Being disabled is not enough to write good disabled characters by virtue of that alone but we live in such a performative society that would take anything at surface value just so nobody has to be critical of things
It drives me crazy, when people use the “But she has EDS” argument, as if it means anything. It’s no different than saying a novel written by a woman can’t be misogynistic by default. 🤡
@haggisa yeah!! and fourth wing fans are some of the loudest about it too, which makes me feel like they don't actually stand on business or have the knowledge when it comes to disability inclusion. I got hate dms on tiktok for saying I felt uncomfortable with the representation (verbatim) and several people brought up that yarros has eds so I can't criticise her... and when I said I have it too 🫢 apparently I don't know my own disability. so maddening
I’m not a particularly patriotic person, but “I’d sacrifice the lives of my whole country to keep you safe” will only ever be selfish, not romantic
for real, yeah, cause like... even aside from anything about countries, it's a character saying they'd be willing to let thousands or even millions die - likely including children, and also a ton of other people just trying to live - if it meant the single person they're romantically attracted to was fine 😬 that's something that should be said by a villain, or at least something acknowledged as bad by other characters.... i am begging, authors. please.
Seriously, that's what a villain says.
"The fire is blue, not the dragons are blue."
So which would be the curtains in this analogy?
It's like she writes a first draft and...stops.
I wish I could do that :(
Maybe flow of consciousness.
you may be the only person alive who can make this book sound even SOMEWHAT entertaining, I'm strapped in for the mess!! 🙇🏻♀🙇🏻♀🙇🏻♀
there are some that rant fun about it , but i get the point, true
IKR
"why are orange dragons more unpredictable?" I only know of this series what you've told me, but I suspect this is an orange cat meme smuggled in.
The best thing about this book tbh 🤷♂️
Obviously the luminary is going to be the engagement ring our two main characters whose names I have already forgotten are going to propose to eachother with💍/sarcasm
I swear, you and KrimsonRouge are my FAVORITE book (roast) tubers. I love watching you both uplift the masterpieces, and rightfully eviscerate the bad books 😂♥️
OMG KRISMSONROGUE MENTIONED ??
@@unitedkibbles4580 ABSOLUTELY 😌👌
OMG KRIMSONROUGE FAN SPOTTED
@@oceqn4857 Absolutely! Hey fellow fan 😁
Can someone explain this to me?
According to what Rachel reads at 1:41:26, the only reason the Flyers haven't killed Brennan already is because they don't know who his mother is. So you'd think that'd be information they'd want to keep hidden. Yet, at 1:50:55, Brennan lets slip without a care in the world that Violet is his sister... But the Flyers know who Violet's mother is, so surely now they know that Brennan has the same mother, thus shuttering his oh-so-precious "anonymity"?? And nobody reacts??
you had me at "hi my name is rachel"
I think personally a dragon would smell like leather. Like a hot couch lol 😂
My mind supplied the mental scent of reptile enclosures that are in use plus the distinct funk of a leather tannery. I can't imagine they would smell good to prey, and humans are definitely on that list.
This is the sort of detail in fantasy that I live for. 👌 love the “old couch” descriptor 😂
A HOT COUCH 😂😂😂
Does Violet’s Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome ever come up in this book? Because I thought for a bit that maybe Ms. Yarros was going to do something interesting paralleling Andarna’s imperfect wings with Violet’s ligaments. Didn’t the dragons say Andarna’s wings aren’t as taut as they’re supposed to be? Because the muscles didn’t develop something something?
These videos are so funny because I haven't read these books. So in order to understand THIS one I have to rewatch all parts of Fourth Wing, and then part one of Iron Flame so I can remember what's happening. So by the time you finish, I'll probably have watched all of the videos three times.
I'm not trying to invalidate what someone else finds to be a yum, I am genuinely confused about how anything about this is supposed to be hot. Someone out there has the answer for me.
She little, he big!
@@kbird6208 this, this sums it perfectly. she little and fragile, he big and brute, they both horny and then magically horny, and they "should hate each other", so it's at least a setup for forbidden love/enemies to lover, even if it has no development. that works for many people, just check AO3.
but imo, this shouldn't leave AO3.
@@kbird6208 Ah, the Ali Hazelwood method.
I actually read an article where Rebecca Yarros was interviewed and the interviewer was asking her some pretty basic lore and character questions (similar to the ones Rachel is asking) and generally her response is "Oh you have to wait until book 3 to fine out 🤷♀️" and that's SUCH a copout answer. Yarros makes swiss cheese of her world building so that she can fill in the holes later and call it a plot twist, rather than creating a world with characters and rules that actually make logical sense. "Wait until book three" doesn't make book two actually work, I'm afraid.
That just shows that she didn't really sit and plan out her world until the last minute. Onyx Storm is probably going to have information we should have known in the first book.
I am probably never going to read these books but am I gonna watch all 2 hours of this? Yes.
Same, are we weird or is Rachel just that good?
@@kbird6208Yes.
The full 10-15 minutes at the start of questioning all the plot holes gave me so much life 😂😂😂
Yes, what a treat! I'm so excited to dive into this deep dive. At about the halfway point now and I have to dump four huge things:
1) The Rules. I get the intention was to have Violet appear plucky and clever by finding workarounds for her physical weaknesses, but the way it's shaken out so far is that when faced with a challenge she is not good enough to overcome, she either cheats or argues technicalities. "Yes I'm doing this, but the rules don't TECHNICALLY state that this specific thing is not allowed..." has happened many times, and every time, it repulses me. Wow, what a hero, being a "Well ACTUALLY" type and a cheat. Everyone loves those!
So the rules are the most important thing to know. Except for riders, who don't care about the rules despite being the most powerful part of an army trained on propaganda and mindless loyalty, but who also hide behind rules and technicalities whenever they're in a bad spot. And Dain is constantly insulted for being a "rule-follower", even by his own superiors like Varrish, who would MOST want him to follow those rules so that he stays in line...
2) Violet picking up no context clues. Remember all those mentions of the mender guy being sequestered on some secret project for ages? Remember how Violet and Xaden were face to face with him when he said "Mending a body is easy but mending a soul is way harder!" and our genius girl didn't pick that up at all? How could it possibly have been a surprise when Jack returned? Oh right, because she was distracted by...
3) The Argument. There's just one, and I don't know why Yarros thought rehashing it well over a dozen times was good writing.
Violet: I want 100% honesty!
Xaden: I cannot do that until your mental shields are trained enough that you don't leak the entire rebellion to the literal mind-readers and get us all killed. I'll tell you safe information about me, though.
Violet: No, I refuse to wait until my shields are trained! Tell me everything or we can't be together!
Xaden: Okay, then I guess we won't be together.
Over and over again. Xaden reads to me like a guy who has completely checked out emotionally from his relationship. Not that there's much of one anyway, because they have literally no interest in each other aside from the physical, and all they do is fight... or rather, all Violet does is start the same fight. Creating a relationship that is both entirely about sex and also a total Dead Bedrooms situation is actually kind of impressive.
4) Violet's Priorities. How are there this many scenes of Violet brooding over her relationship problems when the scene occurring is massively important war-related activities for the rebellion SHE is clamoring to join? Enormous plot points are being dropped in class, in outposts, in secret rendezvouses, and she's not listening in favour of wondering why this woman is taking such a familiar tone with her not-boyfriend.
Also, point 3.5: the enormous hypocrisy of Violet being so against lying.
Lying is the worst thing you can do! I'm so betrayed that Xaden lied by not telling me 100% of the truth immediately while I still could have been his enemy... but I don't lie, I'm just selective with the truth, it's okay when I do it, I have good reasons, I'm just omitting facts not LYING... ohhhh my god.
I imagine the Luminary is just the band the Lumineers frozen in amber Jurasdic Park style. And the key to making wardstones is letting them sing st the dragons to get them in the proper mood.
26:00 you are correct, it should be "composed of". "Comprised of" is always incorrect, and Bryan Henderson (giraffedata) didn't edit 47,000 Wikipedia articles for this kind of error to make it into a published book >:(
It’s interesting last book they made a big deal about Dane not believing in her/giving her agency but this book xaden explicitly tries to forbid her from going to the viscount to protect her
Not me watching this while plotting my own dragon-military style world and not doing anything Fourth Wing does when creating its world building
You shall save us with good worldbuilding!
As much as I roll my eyes at everything in this book, if the world building was basically competent (not even revolutionary or brilliant, just like... it basically made sense), I would tolerate the book
Please make "Fourth Wing with coherent worldbuilding" and even better if you can make me like the characters 🥺🥺🥺
When they resurrected Jack, I gave up on the book. They let all these decent riders die, but resurrect one random a-hole? It's not like he was anyone important, so why was Nolan slaving away trying to mend him for months from being a literal pancake? But they can't mend someone who fell off their dragon? Or got murdered on the mat by a classmate? Why is Jack's life so important??
46:00 I can't tell you where it said any of this because I traded in my copy LOL but I do remember reading in the first book that cadets have the patches and that the "officers" who have graduated do not in case they fall behind enemy lines. Still, as you read previously, it said they didn't have nametags as riders. It doesn't make sense why the teacher points Violet's nametag out.
In the first book, they said it wasn't unusual for 2nd and 3rd years to go help the military when needed, so why would they even wear the patches at all? The whole patch thing seems so irrelevant, because they can alter their uniforms however they want. Are the patches even regulation? The book said there are no uniform standards besides wearing black. Can they just not wear them? Or are they required? Then the characters get one for breaking out of the interrogation, so are they badges of pride and achievement? Is this like the Boy Scouts now?
Like everything else, it makes no sense but is conveniently used whenever the author wants it to be. This scene is also another one where something nonsensical happens to Violet to cause drama in the moment, but then immediately after it doesn't matter.
Anyways, thank you for reading this!! I am still chugging away at my Iron Flame audio book, but I completely gave up on ANYTHING making sense. Looking forward to the next part 💛
Haven't touched these books myself, but for that particular scene it sounds like there's a distinction between "flying leathers" and normal "uniforms" that was never clarified properly. Both are somehow marked to identify their owner. The author made a point to (clumsily) reference the jacket Violet borrowed before she returns to the academy place. This HAS to be different from regular uniforms, because Violet's name tag (if she had one) and patches wouldn't be on some other guy's jacket. This would mean that stupid scene was: Violet left in her own uniform, with her own rank and identity patches, while wearing someone else's "flying leathers". When she returned, she was accused of "impersonation of an officer" based purely on the jacket, which was immediately disproven the fact she was actually wearing her own uniform. Even for a cheap "villain tries to make up a crime to publicly justify attacking the hero and immediately fails" scene, this is spectacularly dumb, and it still has the nametag issue, but there is a tiny bit of logic to it.
I'm also personally suspicious-- especially now that I look at a character list for this book, which is so sad it's funny-- that she refuses to provide solid descriptions for most people, outfits, magic, dragons, and macguffins because she knows she's bad at making effective visual designs and is hoping readers will take the scraps she gives them and do the character design for her.
The problem with having zero concrete character designs is that you necessarily cannot have a reference sheet for them. The problem with writing characters without any character profiles or reference sheets is that details become made of ooze, and you end up with things like "riders never wear nametags but also very much do because that's how you know whose uniform is whose".
I do think they have different uniforms for riding and just being at the academy, but I can't think of the terminology she used (I believe "flight leathers" is correct). It seemed their uniforms were very similar so they could jump up and ride without having to run back to their rooms to change. But in this scene Rachel is talking about, Boghi gives Violet his flying jacket since she didn't have one and he knew she would get cold (being high up in the air, I assume). Then I believe this is the same jacket they are questioning later, but it's kinda implied it's Xaden's jacket? I honestly did not pay enough attention at this point in the book, so maybe I am confusing myself.
You are right about the character list and sheets. I get the sense our author makes up things as she goes, and sometimes forgets lore she already wrote about. I know this book was rushed also, so fans excuse everything bad about it that way. This nametag thing I think is a specific plot hole the author wrote in that she didn't realize. In the last book it specifically said they do not wear nametags. What they wear are patches, which are symbols that denote their year and any special abilities they may have that are not classified, although the author doesn't give us any examples of common signets the cadets may have. And also apparently they get patches as rewards (as they did for escaping the interrogation room).
It's very clear none of this is fleshed out very well by the author. Which is why we have a million questions, and not in a good way.
"There are no uniform standards besides wearing black" brought a vivid image to mind. You could, under these rules, technically ride into battle in a glittery cocktail dress... as long as it's black. 😂
Imagine to class with black nipple tassels and black assless chaps 😭
I think Yarros needed a named Venin for readers to hate, so she chose Jack
These books are so monotonous I can’t remember if this is still the first or if it’s the second. Good job Yarros.
The fact that I just watched part one yesterday. You’ve made my day! Thank you for enduring this torture of a book for us. ❤
Side note: I can’t believe BN had a release party for this. Readers deserve so much better. Ridiculous.
„A frenzy of questing hands and mouths“ is the sentence that told me all i needed to know about this book
I saw a short recently of someone saying this was "good romance" and watching this and reading the book for myself I cant help but to think to myself "Really...?"
But sidebar this is super helpful for my author's process because I learn best by seeing what not to do. You're doing important work 🙌🏻
The luminary is literally a 🔦
I'm convinced Jesinia is just channeling Tina Belcher and this is erotic friend-fiction
Okay but like, why is Jessinia, who is the same age as Violet, translating Violet's journal? When in their lifetime did "the modern language" change so drastically that it needed to be translated? Does that imply that some other people came in and conquered Navarre? Because the griffon riders and dragon riders communicate without translators, and there's nothing implying scribes live absurdly long lives, so.....? And it specifically says it was translated from Navarrian.... not to mention Violet never writes in a journal or even thinks about writing, and Xaden straight up says he doesn't keep a diary so nothing about the setup makes even a little bit of sense..... Also, pointing out that Violet speaks Tyrish without Violet knowing anything about Tyr in general proves to me that Rebecca definitely never learned a second language because culture and history are intrinsically linked to language....
1:37:54 oh my gosh it’s so funny you used this picture for him because that’s exactly who I was picturing when I read the book 🤣
🔍 With how dumb everything else is in this book, I can't help but think that the luminary is going to be something dumb like a magnifying glass.
I made the same comment on the last videos but I love the use of YuGiOh cards as a representation of the dragons. It would have been hysterical if you used YuGiOh cards for all the characters and concepts in the book. Anyway, you’re fun to listen to either way
The number one thing I can't with is her fucking prose. The dialogue is so clunky, like she's trying to create intensity but it comes off so cheesy. If anybody spoke this way in real life they'd be met with "why are you like this?"
47:00 You have put *so much* more thought into this book than Yarros has
I don’t think I’m misremembering from the previous videos, but it really seems like any time Violet and Xadan talk about missing each other or wanting to be together (over and over), it’s almost always in terms of their sex life. Like it just makes it sound like they miss having a fuck buddy, but not Them specifically, you know? Personally, I don’t find that interesting or compelling.
big agree omg
cause tbh, they don't really have much happening in terms of a relationship outside their sex life IMO.... i'm so tired of characters who are just horny for each other being framed as The Great Romance Of The Ages in-universe/by the narrative 😮💨
like, what do we really get of their dynamic outside of sex? what do they like about each other besides physical attractiveness and being 'cool'? what do they enjoy doing together? do they have any inside jokes? so many things that an author could address and deepen the relationship, so there's a chance of caring when they miss each other or have fights - not to mention a chance of making the sexual scenes more unique beyond the magic powers they have.....
I read both books and was always so confused by what was happening and why. Her brother being alive should’ve been a big deal but wasn’t really focused on at all. Thank you Rachel for sacrificing your peace of mind to try explain things better than the writer did lol
I love Rachel's seamless ads in her videos. Flawless.
40:36 One thing I'll give to Yarros, I genuinely never questioned why a rich guy would spend all his time trying to see something new and shiny and not try to protect the citizenry. Perhaps the only thing I found unrealistic about the Viscount is how there was really much stubbornness and vindictiveness from him post-callout from the main characters.
Spicy descriptions I wish to never hear again:
- flicking
- entrance
List not comprehensive and I reserve the right to augment and / or amend at any time without notice
- seated
- slam up to the hilt
@@amara560 Yeah. Seated is a mood. A mood I never want.
Slickened core. Bleh.
My biggest problem with this book (among so many problems) is that I don't understand the nature of dragons-humans relationship from the dragons perspective. In the beginning Violet describes it as if bonded humans are some kind of beloved pets for dragons, dunno like my dog is for me - you sure adore Cooper, you sure will suffer greatly if something happens to Cooper, and you sure try really hard to protect Cooper and vaccinate him and 'oh no other dogs are attacking him I'm running to help baby Cooper', and you give him 'super-power' like treats, just because you can and Cooper is the best and smartest boy ever, but other dogs? But as a dragon (a much superior creature) I'd be very confused if the pets are plotting to steal our babies, or endanger a teen's health OR tell me how often I can see my spouse. Like how should this work? Like some stupid pet-like creature is dictating me where I should live and how often I should be near my wife? And I'm okay with that, ah? Because of what? Also if someone's dog is constantly attacking my dog, I'd do something, so Tairn is a rather shitty owner.
Thank you for helping me through my 2 hour car ride. Your Part 2 seriously makes your Part 1 sound actually like a so-so book. 🙃
I’ve been binging all of your videos while I drive to and from work every day and I have been CHOMPING AT THE BIT for this one. Thanks for all the work you do!!
Whats so annoying is I can see a potentially good story with some of the concepts. She just went about everything the weirdest way.
Like it would’ve been vastly more interesting to have a focus on the dragon bonds and if Violet only bonded with the young gold dragon. But we can still have the black dragon (who maybe isn’t over the death of his last rider) acting as a guide and mentor to the both of them.
Oh I love how you represent the dragons with different Yu-Gi-Oh cards, especially the main coupled dragons as Red Eyes Black Dragon and Blue Eyes White Dragon. And now I'm thinking I would rather read a REBD/BEWD fic or even a Puppyshipping (Seto Kaiba/Joey Wheeler) fic over this book lol
Rachel, as a non-fan hater of these romance with a sprinkle of fantasy dragon books the reason why the empire give the rebel children dragons is because dragons are loyal to the empire (supposedly) so they can tell who will be a traitor or not... except at the beginning of this book and the end of book 1 some of the dragons are totally on board with the rebellion because I guess the author forgot that plot point because she needed to explain why the empire would hand over their most prized assets to the people who have the most reason to hate and rebel against them, but doesn't to think about how bad of an explanation that is given that the dragons don't seem too invested in who is in charge of the government and just seem to follow through on their human rider's wishes in the end of all of it.
Basically my guess is that the reason why the empire gives the rebel children their dragons is so that the story can have Violet's love interest be a bad sad boy rebel with a golden heart who rides a dragon (though this could have been solved by having Xaden and the other rebel children going under different identities trying to bond with a dragon illegally and having be a twist that Xaden is a rebel child or something) and because we can't have a dude love interest be less powerful than a leading lady in any kind of these romance fantasy stories.
I would have preferred it if the other rebel children were in the infirmary and Xaden was also supposed to be there too but maybe somehow he ended up being bonded to his dragon, so now he's part of the war quadrant because obviously they can't kill cause his dragon wouldn't be happy. That would make an outcast and an underdog like Violet was supposed to be. I just think it would be more interesting, because imagine the sweet bonding moments we could have had between them when they're both trying to help each other to survive.
Would make sense if they were actually just arrogant in the whole “we control the dragons” when in fact it’s the opposite but then like wouldn’t the dragons just eat the lot of them 🤷♀️ 🤷♀️
I'm sure it's not great for your mental health, but fuck do I love watching you rant about shitty books for hours on end. Seriously the best is seeing a 1-2 hour long video of your drop and thinking "Ah yes, now THIS is the kind of stuff I wanna listen to while cleaning"
You can tell that Rebecca was writing purely on ✨️vibes✨️ and not, you know, any thinking through anything.
I know it is unrelated to the video, but I don't know what you are doing new with your makeup. Your makeup always looked good, and now it is just STUNNING
This isn’t love. It’s lust
@ same with A Court of Silver Flames
I don't know why, but I imagine the luminary as a person. I think the luminary is like Dawn in Buffy the vampire slayer, a mystical power in the form of a human. I have no idea why I think that. I haven't even read these books, but the luminary being a person makes sense because the dude who collects people has one.
It's cos the definition of luminary is "a person who influences or inspires".
I have been binging your content. Your commentary is both comedic and intelligent. I find myself giggling and full out laughing. Thank you for taking one for the team because some of these books are painful.
00:14 “This series is ridiculous.” Nipping it in the bud. Love it 😂
HELL YEAH. Artists (me) are eating well today. Thank you for this meal. 🕺
I REALLY like the typing noises in this new intro of yours! :D Please keep them
the question i feel like nobody but me has is the definition of empyrean 💀 like, by definition it means relating to heaven or the sky, as well as the highest part of heaven, thought by the ancients to be the realm of pure fire. but the thing is, the empyrean is a place where it acts as a bubble around the nine layers of heaven and the home of angels, so i’m not sure if yarros is trying to say the empyrean are angels or she just saw it meant the realm of fire and somehow connected dragons to that even though they’re completely irrelevant 🤨 cant wait to see if she provides an explanation (she probably wont)
Cadets wear different uniforms with their patches (indicating wing, signet, etc) and name tags on them, while stationed riders don't wear patches and name tags. (Violet says to Xaden he looks good in an officer's uniform, earlier on.) But all riders wear the same flight gear, for cadets it is only for flight class but for working military, every time they are on duty because they need to be ready to fly at any point. So, in this case, Violet was in Battle Brief class in her cadet uniform but she decided to fly and Bodhi gave her his jacket. When she was coming back, Xaden gave her his flight jacket, which is what Varrish is trying to use to incriminate her.
I rewatched all the past videos in preparation for this and I am GIDDY that it's finally here!
I love your snark and commentary but honestly at this point I'm exhausted by this book too and I haven't even read it!
I can't, how we live in a world this BS sells millions of copies, gets an adaptation, and An Ember in the Ashes is forgotten in the barbecue? (I hope Lou told you about "esquecidas no churrasco")
I am right there with you in the trenches trying to figure out how the ward-forging works. It sounds a bit like the author is literally just mystifying blacksmithing, but it's so vague that it's hard to say for sure. I was half-expecting the luminary to have a twist where it's a person and not an object, but it sounds like that's not the case? They got the luminary, allegedly, but if it was shown or described on-page I feel like you would've mentioned it?? So they just pocketed it off-page after all this nonsense to get it. Probably for a 'dramatic' reveal later. We love MacGuffins, I guess.
Anyway, my speculation is that the whole "forging a ward" thing is pretty one-to-one (which may be why the author didn't feel she needed to explain it much) to real-world metalworking. In the narrative, we have fire (dragonfire), metal (the alloy), a way to control the fire's temperature (which would normally be a forge bellows but in this case is whatever the hell the luminary actually is), and a crucible. A crucible is a container with a higher melting/burn point than the metal being smelted (often porcelain IRL), allowing it to contain and transport the molten metal. Since this is a crucible for forging magic metal, I have to assume it also needs to have resistance to magical properties, but who knows, really. Notably, what's missing is any way to shape the metal after it's made molten? There's no reference to a mold to shape the ward, or tools to carve sigils into it, and we have thoroughly established that dragons have no thumbs, so I have no idea who is supposed to be able to withstand the juiced-up dragonfire's heat to shape and temper weapons made from the alloy. Nor do I have any idea of what tools could actually handle doing that.
It wouldn't be the first time magic weapons sprung fully-formed from raw materials that got hit with magic fire, but it will definitely be very annoying if the author pulled that shit when like two thirds of the protagonist's strategy appear to hinge on performing fetch quests for a bunch of forging equipment.
It also sounds like the ward needs to be magically charged or enchanted once it's forged, so I don't understand why anyone expects a freshly-forged ward to work when they don't know how to power/enchant the one they already have?? It does not sound like the journals of the six founders said "we made a magic hunk of metal, which is very cool but it had to be recharged eventually", it sounds like they took a hunk of metal with special properties and THEN enchanted it through ritual sacrifice/blood magic. There seems to be no evidence that wards spontaneously form from forging the alloy. I mean... if the metal can also be forged into weapons that don't have ward properties... clearly warding isn't an inherent trait of the metal, it's just very good at holding and amplifying that kind of magic.
If the protagonist is a natural amplifier of ambient magic, obviously she's the One who needs to get sacrificed to transfer her magic to the ward. I am so glad I have never tried to read this myself, because I have never in my life felt this bored by a self-sacrifice/"cruel magic for the good of all" plot line. I *hope* she gets turned into a magic battery in the end. A little bit of unconventionally tragic writing would do wonders for this narrative-- at minimum, by sparing us from her horny internal monologues.
Your book reviews are the only enjoyable thing about these books lmfao. Also i feel the need to tell someone that I saw iron flame in my uncles bookcase when I was visiting. Not only has he and my cousins read it, but they got the recommendation from none other than my grandmother. There are no words for the shock and horror I felt in that moment 😂😂😭😭
Thank you Rachel I’ve been waiting for this!!!!
Thanks for being here!
I am watching these videos for the same reason I suffered through all eight Throne of Glass books. Learning through suffering. I now have two extra hours worth of "what not to do" content for my own writing so thank you for your sacrifice ~
The one thing I realized from all the Fourth Wing discourse is, I would rather read comic smut than these books, coz at least I get my smut fix (as an asexual) in an efficient way without the messy plot.
33:31 I'd say warm peach cobbler with a scoop of peach ice cream is better than it lmao- but that's just me
I hate irone flame so much. Especially violet..cuz her emotional intelligence is Zero and xaden don't even start
The problem with this book is that it's only enjoyable if you don’t think about it. Every time I had a question I gave up asking and said multiple times out loud “it doesn’t even matter fr” and like 10 times out of 10 it didn’t even matter fr. Then I got to one part that was too stupid to ignore and i DNFed out of anger.
Thank you so much for suffering through this so I don’t have to. 🖤 Can’t wait to watch this one!
Ah yes the return of Temu!Annabeth as Violet Sorrengail
This plot has the same skeletal framework as a jellyfish
I’m so embarrassed that the out of date John Cena joke totally got me 😂
I love how we have a minutes long recap of just questions from the last book. 😂
Saw Dylan O'Brien pop up and I was like oh don't bring him into this 😭
I feel like the orange dragons being unpredictable bit is a reference to orange cats.
7:00 I reckon 'sword tail' refers to tails that end in a point, like a lizard's, and 'morningstar tail' refers to tail clubs, where the tail ends in a spikey ball like an Anklyosaurus tail.
i suppose so but i wonder if having such tails has any affect on flight, ya know?
@ReadswithRachel I think in the case of dragons, given they fly similarly to Pterosaurs its more the length than the shape that helps with flight. Pterosaurs had some pretty weird tail shapes. Dimorphodon for example, had a tail that could be described as dagger-like with a pointed tip.
In the dragons cases, the long tails indicate that they'd be better at short distance flying and the length of the tail, similar to dimorphodon or a modern Swallow, would aid in increasing their turning rate in flight, allowing them to zip from side to side easier and be generally more agile, versus something like a Pteranodon or modern Albatros bird which are streamlined for long distance flight exploiting updrafts and have short tails (or sometimes none at all for some Pterosaurs) to not interfere with their aerodynamics so they are efficient at gliding long distances.
So the end of the tail doesn't impact flight too too much. Birds developed feathers there which do aid in turning in air, but plenty of other flying animals lacked these features and there are examples in relatives of dinosaurs/birds/pterosaurs of odd tail ends.
As the saying goes in evolution, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
If a dragon naturally evolved a tail feature that doesn't interfere with flight or its reproduction, it will probably stay as is, as a neutral mutation. If humans were involved in breeding them, they might also breed for those features as weapons and encourage that trait in offspring (or indeed, the dragons themselves could be sexually identifying these traits as desireable in a mate)
@@danielbroome5690 oh damn that's really interesting. I was also kind of thinking dinosaurs in my own personal headcanon on dragon tail shapes: like the morningstar tail are kind of the defenders of the herd when they were wild but with humans more or less looking after them, the tail shapes kind of fluctuate every generation or so
Gonna be honest, I think you're bringing way too many brain cells into this explanation. I think yarros watched how to train your dragon once and stole those designs 😂
@@kmitch4899 I mean, I'm using that explanation if I ever write a book with dragons in it, lol
So not a fourth wing fan, but I read the book and I think it’s that they have a “regular” uniform, maybe not just as cadets but like to wear in noncombat situations?
This is the uniform with the patches and the name tag. The flight leathers are their like”combat” uniform. Which only has rank (so it doesn’t have the patches that denote signets). Not 100% sure why that would give someone access to an outpost but whatever. The scene that explains this is I think right before their first flight lesson. It kind of felt like the author wanted to give her characters edgy Girl Scout patches but realized that was maybe a security risk and a bad idea, so then gave everyone two uniforms to explain it? Like everything in this book it’s convoluted and doesn’t really make sense in like a wider world building way.
So in that scene she was wearing a flight (“combat”) jacket with only rank and no name tag/patches, over her regular uniform. Which doesn’t really explain why they would have two uniforms. Because you would think riders would need to be combat ready at all times but whatever.