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I think the worst part about this series is that there's a good story in there somewhere but the author is two busy making her dolls kiss to notice it.
she's not even making them kiss just having pretend arguments smh my head. Also for as much as the author talks about wanting to provoke discussions about knowledge and censorship she clearly doesn't know how to effectively tie it into the story. This would have been so much more tolerable if she'd just stuck with the romance and forgotten all the 'important' stuff.
It even could be an indoctrinated person deconstruct their beliefs about the empire story and that her mom tries to kill her. And she be way too patriotic while her dad, and the scribes, and xaden do the best to hint her and he makes her crack, or something. That way she could be smart, but also buy the empire propaganda, and see him as enemy when he really isnt. Ther could be a good story. several even probably.
The more I learn about this book, the more it feels like just a different fantasy version of house of night. It's just missing the hugely stereotypical best friends and maybe two less boyfriends. The story in there is interesting but God the writing and the characters are insufferable.
Jesinia over here transcribing the same argument between Violet and Xaden 500 times... plus on top of that, documenting all of Violet's thirsty thoughts and then going into explicit detail about them having s3x ...girl I know they' ain't paying you enough for that sh!t
Imagine how much better this book could be if the story was periodically interrupted by a sarcastic transcriber commenting on the teenage nonsense or ignorance of the characters. I'm thinking footnotes like from the Ciaphus Cane series, or Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
It is unbelievably repetitive isn't it. We get it - you're hot, you're arguing, you want to fuck, you don't trust each other, you're fucking. Something something Xaden's muscles.
@@Sistertotherain9god if Rebecca actually committed to the harm that censorship causes she could’ve started off the first book with Jesinia writing a introductory note that’s says something like,”Hello, if you are reading this it means we’re all dead. Maybe there are gods out there.” And the story probably could’ve been told in this journalistic way with random annotations as she gets new information and the scribe has honestly always known that there was something wrong with her country but the more she scribes Violet’s story the more she realizes just how bad it is.
@@Sistertotherain9 if you like that idea you should totally read a natural history of dragons. Its a woman who as an adult is writing down her experiences from when she was 19. insanely good fantasy but also so funny to have her adult self chime in.
honestly, the idea of violet not caring about the prince/the royal family would be cool if it showed how disconnected the military was from the monarch. it would show how much they were secretly in control and the king was a puppet. but no, violet just doesn't care.
the worst part of the book for me was the complete erasure of Violet's disability outside of Yarros using it like a disability super power 🤢 So now it is not only that she pushes through all her pain and symptoms (which is toxic and unhealthy but doesnt seem to affect her), she is now the poster child for the super-crip trope. For an author to allegedly want to "represent EDS and all its subtypes" and to inspire people, to put a foreword to Zebras (people with EDS) saying "not all strength is physical", and then go about writing these books where Violet's strength very much IS her physical prowess and ability to transcend her pain.... Violet has a super-human pain tolerance and can apparently take being tortured so much better than everyone else. She is never doing realistic pain management or anything and I have to wonder why the rep is being held up like some amazing achievement when it's so shallow and neglects even basic EDS logic? I LOATHED how she was "still healing" from said torture and then that was only mentioned because Xaden was so horny and he wanted to be rough with her, and she just goes "give it to me" and there is once again ZERO consideration of her body's needs in relation to her EDS. The rep at this point is problematic af
She even erases the chronic pain that Violet and Xaden's dragons allegedly experience from bring so seperated for so long; It's mentioned when the rule is instituted by the evil guy Varrish, and then it's mentioned once or twice more with throw-away lines, but is never actually an active part of the narrative. It's there for tension, but has no bearing. We never see anything meaningful done with it, it's just established and then forgotten. While I could get behind a character's chronic pain being just a casual part of a narrative, something that is just a constant underlying element, in this book with already near-constant forgetting and pushing through disability symptoms and pain, this feels even more questionable and frustrating. We could have *actually* had Tairn live by his performative "strength isn't only physical" line from book 1 by having him model to Violet how you can and SHOULD rest or treat yourself to a hot bath when you're low on spoons, but that would mean Yarros actually thought about things 🙄
god i feel all of this so hard. as someone with EDS, Violet does not strike me as a fellow sufferer. like i get that disabilities effect everyone differently, but atp it just doesn't even make any sense. instead of being a character with EDS, it comes off as rebecca writing everything and then occasionally remembering "oh yeah i should stick in a line about pain or dislocation again, i haven't done that in a while"
Watching this while in an EDS flare and I am so glad someone already said this because my hands hurt too much to type much. I was so excited about the representation but it’s the opposite of what it should be!
KrimsonRogue just did his review on Iron Flame and gathered an "EDS Council" to weigh in on a the representation of EDS in the series. Really, *really* good insight - highly recommend listening in.
Oh and the dragon apparently choose her for her wits. Which doesn't work when she is emotional, which she is more than half of the book and her emotional intelligence is -1
I was a 14 year old who wrote a full length novel in a Lisa frank binder!😆 I see so many similarities between this series and my little story… that I wrote with no experience, help, or an editor 🤦🏾♀️
Wait. The MC is wounded and she wakes up where a rebellion against the evil government is secretly based, which happens to be a place that was supposedly destroyed? This all sounds glaringly familiar...
Violet reads as very annoying unreasonable and immature, yet we are told she is also the most smartest wise empathetic and powerful girlboss slayyy hope for humanity like…
Ikr ? I really wish we could see (or I see read) her being clever. Like in book one maybe she maps out how to get across that one initiation point in a deft manner. But no ???
It's honestly a thankless job to write a clever character, because most authors haven't ever been in that position. Too many writers think that high intelligence just translates to "reads a lot" or "does math really quickly" and that's why every smart girl is just a whiny bookworm these days. IMO it could work if Violet actually being immature and ignorant was the point, but clearly it isn't. 😔
@@noga9895 i totally agree !!!! When the main character is a bookworm like that’s a hobbies not a sign of intelligence. Just bc they read doesn’t mean they think critically or analyze the text like ??? Ik plenty of readers, I’m studying to be a librarian, but this doesn’t mean they’re clever. Sometimes to be clever one must also be like ??? A bit ruthless and secretive - once again something violet isn’t. It is thankless work ironically until books like these appear and lead us back to our favorite characters and appreciate them more
She asks questions, but only conveniently the ones Rebecca wants her to in the scene. Not the questions she logically should be asking, because Rebecca needs Violet to only ask those at a certain point in the book so the plot can happen in a certain way. Violets happy to ask “how do you create a wardstone?” But not “hey xaden, how is it possible that brennan faked his death and who else knows?”
Weirdly one of the most realistic things about this book. People want to know about the sex lives of famous people, and if they're important enough in the history books scholars will write articles and even entire dissertations about said sex lives. The diaries of Queen Victoria, published and edited by _her own children_, talks extensively about her sex life and how well hung her husband was and how much she loved getting it on with him. The letters of James Joyce, also published and about which scholarly works have been written, include an incredible amount of smut written between him and his wife, and in addition to the more general sexting-but-in-letter-form, oh boy did the man LOVE farts, and not in the childish humor sense, in the sense that it got him very, _very_ "excited." Point being, this is absolutely something that would be transcribed, and given that the theme of this book seems to be government control of information, it being unexpurgated, unsanitized, and in full would actually be kinda important in universe.
@@maledictionwolf it is hilarious that its her friend who did it though. i'm trying to imagine my college roommate transcribing detailed accounts of my sex life and i think i would just die
I was gonna suggest that it's at least unrealistic that Vi would write down every thought she had about how sexy what'shisface is, but Vi's an idiot, so that's also probabky pretty valid
There's a criticism for books where people will say a book feels like its written by a frustrated screenwriter and I have a hard time articulating why exactly but I got a really distinct feeling "Fourth Wing" started as a movie or TV pitch like "Harry Potter/Divergent with dragons! :D" like something about the way the plot is unfolding feels really like a fantasy show for the CW or something. Even the development for "now this book is about anti-imperialism" feels like a show going into its new season like "stakes are high, alliances are formed. who can you trust?" Like even somehow the tryhard cringey millenial slang in the dialogue feels straight out of "Riverdale" or something.
@@thisisabookchannel It would have been a perfect character building moment if Violet recognized that this is what Xaden must have felt keeping away info.
potentially the most egregious thing, out of many egregious things, is her NEVER thinking about her dead-suddenly-not-dead brother. what was even the POINT of that
The second book appears to have more plot than the first but somehow feels less engaging. I think it largely has to do with the “drama” between Violet and Xaden in the second book. The misunderstandings between them, coupled with Violet’s emotional immaturity, are so contrived and ridiculous that it feels not only frustrating but insulting to me as a 20-something year old; were one of my girlfriends as immature about a situationship as Violet was, after an initial bout of sympathetic listening to her complaints, our other friends and I would sit her down and stage an intervention to let her know how unhealthy her relationship is for her. Also, that’s what Violet’s and Xaden’s relationship is: a situationship. They know each other as well as college f*ck buddies who’ve had inane pillow talk about “what’s your favorite food” to fill up the silence out of courtesy when one of them is too tired to go home. And because of the superficiality of their connection, it feels extra icky for Violet to lash out at Xaden and demand things from him that he really doesn’t owe her; why tf would he risk the lives of those he holds close and dear to him for a girl he barely knows enough to know whether or not she buys into government propaganda? Violet was certainly in need of character flaws that didn’t serve to make her look heroic, but her mind numbingly stupid inability to care about the feelings of a man who she supposedly loves devolves her from merely annoying to contemptible. If Rebecca Yarrows was trying to write realism or the passion of epic star-crossed lovers by widening the divide between between Xaden and Violet through trust issues, then she failed.
it makes absolutely no sense that someone raised by a General would not understand the concept and necessity of classified information. It's okay for Violets mother, the other superior's and even Dane to keep classified information from her and other students, that makes sense to her -- but she can't understand why that also might be necessary for her brother and boyfriend to do?
Linguistics/languages is one of my special interests, and whenever someone does something like conflating two endangered languages with a history of repression, it...does not make me happy. I have no issues with creators drawing heavily on existing languages for their conlangs, but only if they respect the real languages and know which ones they're using-not accidentally using a language because they thought it was the same as another one!
Eyyy language is one of my special interests too!! I've been studying Irish and Gàidhlig for ~10 years now, and seeing two languages I love get mashed together and twisted around like barbie dolls in a kid's hands is..... very painful, to say the least 🥲 I'm just glad someone else is annoyed by it too, it makes me feel so validated lol 😅 had to get up and walk away a few times, take breaks and listen to some of my fave Julie Fowlis songs to calm down. I'm all for each of the extant Celtic languages getting more recognition bc they're in various degrees of danger but like......maybe could we have some GOOD respectful representation pls? Maybe the author could take an online class or something? Duolingo? Or just do some solid research? Find a forum and ask ppl to translate or check names for you?? Something??? ANYTHING???? I feel a lil bad for fixating on this, but since Yarros used a REAL language, and there's multiple ways for her to have made sure that she was using it correctly, it's a lot harder for me to overlook than it would be if it were ONLY a matter of her needing to improve more subjective stuff like characterization or writing style. But we have the Internet! We have social media! Yarros could just reach out to the book community, I'm sure there are plenty of ppl who would be happy to help out. No man is an island, &etc etc. Maybe if she'd had a better editor, they could have caught the mistakes BEFORE publishing, and spared us all the discomfort 😅
The rules about the general not being able to see anything in groups of three or more is just...so arbitrary. I'd have loved to have witnessed him discover this. Did he have groups of people help him? Two people: I SEE YOU. Three people: WHERE'D YOU GO?!
@angelaahhh fr. it would make much more sense if it worked in the opposite way. like, the more people are involved the better he sees things. it would make it so the rebellion having a small number of people would have a solid reason AND be an excuse for the romantic leads to work together one on one
Fun fact this series is not classed as YA! I know it's great.... I think it's supposed to be new adult? But idk what that means it feels like a fake demographicto me
@@gizemunver6188Because these small classifications are made up for marketing purposes. I imagine it's so that adults in their 20s and beyond (who have more spending money than teenagers) don't feel bad about reading stuff aimed at teenagers, because this classification makes those books seem more "mature" (even if only in the amount of explicit content, but not themes or writing quality). I think that by doing this, publishing houses are also trying to appeal to people who may feel ashamed that they're reading "fiction for teenagers" when they're adults. By renaming it "Young Adult" instead of "Teen", it sounds a bit less "childish", for lack of a better word - even if the contents are the same. "Young Adult" is basically "Teen" with a different name. And I know that these books aren't technically "young adult", but if you toned down the sex scenes or took them out entirely, they'd be indistinguishable from YA in terms of writing quality and themes. "New Adult" is a thing, but it's basically what used to be known as "Adult" - not in terms of explicitness alone, but in writing quality and how themes are approached.
70% of this book is just Violet and Xaden having the same fight over and over again it really is exhausting and then when you think yay that’s over…. fake love triangle and then what was that? Oh right back to Violet and Xaden nonsense again… it’s also ridiculous that at no point during all the actual torture she went through did she think maybe she could ask her mother for help 🙄
Sometimes I wish authors would just unabashedly sell me their free-written manuscripts instead of trying to pretend it’s a well-thought out, edited story. Like, don’t piss on me and then try to tell me it’s raining.
Also, the nurses should have been called menders and the magical doctors should have been called healers. Mending comes off as “bandaging a wound” (i.e., patching a hole in fabric) whereas healers would heal the wound (reverse the tear entirely).
It's so strange to me that the climax of the last book was going AWOL to fight this unknown threat and then they just go back to school for so much of this book. It just seemed like a real "crossing the Rubicon/point of no return" and then they just... go back across the Rubicon. They return from the point of no return. I don't think it's impossible to pull that off, I'm not a strict adherent to "heroes journey" stuff, but it just makes me not interested in the events of the story because I don't trust that anything that happens will actually end up mattering.
Tbf Caesar also had to go back across the Rubicon to fight Pompey ;) But your point is very well made, I was so confused when the great (and only)thing I remembered from video 1 was over just like that
It really felt like a marketing thing, especially when at the end of this book, they come up with ANOTHER contrived reason to go back to the school. She wants it to be Hogwarts so bad.
You should look into how Yarros basically ripped off the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard and basically copied everything but just added dragons. Her book wasn't 'inspired' by Red Queen it was copy pasted with dragons and other minor things added in but all the major things and important stuff is exactly the same. Even the main character Violet, looks exactly like the main character in the red queen series, Mare Barrow, down the the brown hair with silver ends. She has the exact same powers as that main character and *spoiler alert* the main plot point of her thinking her brother is dead and then finding out that he is actually alive and joined the resistance...exactly the same. It also had a love triangle and there is more but I want list every single thing she ripped off and poorly for that matter. She copied all the major things from this series and then sprinkled in some Sarah J Maas but didn't actually come up with anything original unless you count the awful attempt at dragons. And there is proof that she was aware of this book before fourth wing and it wasn't a coincidence because Yarros posted a picture on her social media of her bookshelf and Red Queen is prominently displayed, so she clearly read it since it was displayed with the front cover facing forward rather than the spine of the book which most people only do when its a favourite book of theirs. No one is really talking about this either and it really annoys me that she is getting a huge amount of hype and praise for a book that she didn't even come up with herself, not to mention I hate how this book came about because it wasn't a passion project, it wasn't something she wanted to do, her publisher wanted a new adult fantasy with dragons and before looking for new authors with stories like that they offered the chance to the authors they already had and Yarros decided that after years of writing military romances she was qualified to write a fantasy series like its not that hard. Sorry for the rant but the entire circumstances around how this book came about and the actual content of the book and how her and the publishers don't give a shit about creating and selling a quality product they just want to take peoples money really annoys me, not just as a reader but as a writer myself.
the awful attempt at dragons is just bad and awful remixing of dragonriders of pern! like it was done from half-remembered memories from her childhood!
it's hilarious how Yarros says she doesn't read romantasy or fantasy but like... somehow managed to do everything you said? it's absolutely insane just how similar Fourth Wing is to Red Queen and ACOTAR and even From Blood and Ash. Someone needs to do a deep dive
It's been like a decade since I read Red Queen but the second I heard about Brennan faking his death a leading the resistance, my first thought was "Shade?"
“Are the dragons in charge or the humans?” What I asked myself the whole time!! like, what do you mean the dragons wouldn’t just tell everyone to f*vk off and do what they want? Why would they allow humans to control how often they’d be able to see each other…
Your channel is literally the greatest thing to happen to me. I tried finishing Fourth Wing last week and DNFed at chapter 7. It was AWFUL! I immediately knew I couldn’t read book #2 😭. Then I found your 3 part deep dive and had WAYYY more fun listening to you brilliantly critique every single issue I had with this book more than I did reading the actual thing. I’m SO PUMPED to settle down with some food and tea to watch this one. Thank you for taking one for the team Rachel.
I'm sure I'll have more to say later, but 30 minutes in and Violet just sounds like a selfish and immature character. As it came across, she was giving Xaden an ultimatum of "either choose me or the rebellion." Which, miss ma'am, the rebellion is more important.
Why would- no, how COULD- the transcriber transcribe Violet's monologue about "Omg Xaiden he's soooooooo hot but I'm gonna cut my thoughts off right there!" 1- No one cares! This isn't history! 2- You can't transcribe someone cutting their thoughts off! You can't do that! It's completely illogical! I'm going to scream!!!
my guess? the author didn't think about that 'framing device' - for lack of a better term coming to mind at the moment - beyond "well tolkien (and likely other big fantasy authors) did this! see? my books are like theirs!" 😮💨
The thing about these books that absolutely slays me is that Yarros has managed to write such a huge Mary Sue while also making her one of the most idiotic heroines I've read in a long time. Zero common sense or ability to think ahead, no reasoning skills, totally unable to connect the dots on anything. It makes me want to write fan fiction where she just dies the first day and we're all spared this nonsensical story.
Rhiannon would be a better protagonist. Shes a genuinely nice person. Give her some flaws, like, I dunno, too headstrong or not headstrong enough, and she'd be a great protagonist! And no Xaden for the main love interest. Hate that guy, would work better as just a friend
@@balladofthegoddessRhiannon as the main protagonist and Catriona as the love interest. Kind, no-nonsense farm girl falls in love with the hot-headed princess that her country wants her to kill. Xaden dies because Catriona kills him and we all clap because she should. It would be so good if she did.
I feel like the dragons not actually being able to communicate clearly, like in httyd, would fix some of the plot holes about the dragons and what they know. Why didn't her dragon tell her about her brother? He couldn't. Why aren't the dragons on the same page about baby dragons? They are, the humans just don't know/don't care. Why is Violet's dragon not just eating all her enemies? He's not sure what's being said to her. 🐉
here from krimsonrogue dropping a mention about your dissection of the previous book in his critique, and what a godsend this channel is god bless keep doin this stuff its rocks
I knew I wouldn’t like this book based on your review of the first one, but man as someone with EDS it’s so sad seeing this be touted as good rep. I should have known it was going to be bad as soon as she got silver hair tips out of the deal. I wish Yarros had done her research on disability advocacy before writing Violet (or the whole series, I guess). I know she also has EDS but man, you would not be able to tell based on how she writes it.
this 💯 and I hate that her fans defend her by saying "but she has EDS" as though it means she can't perpetuate ableist stereotypes and rhetoric. she literally wrote a disabled character pushing through and transcending her pain, ignoring her symptoms and getting through stuff with ✨️the power of will✨️and yet I'm meant to find this to be "good" and "inspiring" rep? it's literally my nightmare as someone with EDS, and I live it basically all the time because this ideology is so common IRL. And it's even worst in Iron Flame when Violet is basically written as the super-crip trope 😭
@@whatareyousayinggirl exactly! It’s so frustrating, especially as disability continues to be an underrepresented axis in fiction and everywhere. I mean seriously, did she talk to like one other person with EDS? Anyone with other disabilities or chronic illnesses? I don’t think so. Her portrayal of EDS is as nauseatingly trite and shallow as everything else she’s written. It’s such a shame this schlock is what ends up popular just to perpetuate the same harmful beliefs we’ve been fighting against for centuries.
This book may not be good, but you pointing out why is not only entertaining, it's good because any reader that watches your video with an open mind will learn to read more critically. These kind of reviews can be extensive and consuming, but if anyone here is planning on writing a book this is basically a guide of what not to do. If I can ask something, could you please do a video about the editorial aspects of this series, such as how it was promoted from start, the many special editions, and the issues with the publishing of the second book (the printing errors, the lack of and editor, etc)?
I’d be happy to! In the meantime, my pal Esska did a video on this subject if you’re interested ua-cam.com/video/_Fxen1pS6JA/v-deo.htmlsi=ZTHhLmqgzxle4JXu
I think the thing I dislike about this romantasy genre with the books I've either read myself or watched long reviews for is that the focus on the romance takes the driver's seat in a setting where that type of centering actively harms the overall plot. The worldbuilding and actual story gets shoved into the background to the point that it ends up being underdeveloped or full of plot holes, and that's not something you can do with a fantasy (or a scifi) setting. It's hard to get invested in the characters we're even supposed to be focusing on when nothing they do within the setting makes sense because the worldbuilding is on the backburner. And with this series specifically it's SO obvious that the author just shoves in what little worldbuilding she does do solely to move the romance forward, thus nuking any previous worldbuilding almost every time she does it. Violet has no agency, the plot doesn't move because of her, it moves because the author is just shifting the chess pieces around to set up the next sex scene.
hey, I also have the same issue with the romantasy genre, but then I realised that's the point of the genre and they just aren't my kind of books. It's called Romantasy because the romance comes first. So now I make sure not to confuse Romantasy books with fantasy books that have a romantic subplot and have found way more success with that genre. I would recommend reading a few fantasy books with romantic subplots and see if you like them more. I'm way too much of a plot girlie to enjoy Romantasy where the relationship is the main plot point throughout and it's just a romance in a fantasy setting, where most of the time that setting isn't even built up enough to be distinctive it's just a general 'fantasy land'. I need there to be something outside of the relationship to be the main focus of the plot. I need it to be like 70% fantasy with a fantasy plot line and 30% romance but where the romance also feeds into and drives the plot forward. If you're similar to me then I would definitely recommend looking for fantasy books with a romantic subplot -- I think you would really enjoy them, or at the very least enjoy them a lot more than Romantasy.
The worst part romantasy is that every modern fantasy book is one, and it's not a real romance, it's just fucking. I'm ace, so I'm fine with a cute romance! I love a cute romance where both the characters become better people! But it's like romance authors think it's either a cute romance or just fucking. One or the other. And the fantasy takes a backseat, like you said. Drives me insane
I have no skin in this game because I'm not going to read these books, but I just want to say that due to the opening with the missing brother, I now just assume this book is that creepy folger commercial with the brother and sister who are a little too close, but if they had dragons.
The fact that I laughed when you said "So just another red shirt" As a little kid I would periodically joined my grandfather when he would watch anything Star Trek
As someone currently unable to work due to depression and avoiding people due to ginormous anxiety, I hate the trope of “power through” especially when the person has a disability. Powering through let to this stupid depression/burnout and I know that it will take so much time for me to even reach similar energy levels as before. If someone in a similar situation reads this please slow down and get help if possible. Who thought 🐉🌽 would make me dig so deep on UA-cam.
ok. so. if Xaden and Violet get horny when their dragons do because of the mate bond thing, does that mean Xaden ALSO had sex with the guy who was bonded to Tyr before Violet or nah? Or, at the very least, did they also have to stay close to each other like Xaden and Violet have to? Somehow, I feel like Rebecca didn't actually think of that question when she made that decision and was only thinking about how to make Xaden and Violet have sex even though they were still """enemies""" at that point..... Unless they WEREN'T still considered enemies at that point and I forgot just because I don't care enough to remember, lol
Tairn's previous rider was Brennan’s "close friend" who died three years prior to Xaden’s initiation into Bàsgiath so Tairn hadn't chosen any other human before Violet’s arrival.
@Jeyfeather-iv4ol OH! Okay. Thank you. Honestly had no clue and didn't/wouldn't care to look it up, so I'll take your word for it. haha Edit: And for the correct spelling of Tairn's name because I really didn't wanna look that up, either.
I had a good ol' blast laughing at Fourth Wing when I read it. Iron Flame, I couldn't bring myself to read past chapter 5. I don't even think I finished the fifth chapter. Thank god for libraries.
Re: the accusations of misogyny because of criticising a book a woman wrote... I feel like it's misogynistic to act like women are too fragile to have any kind of genuine criticism levelled against them. But that's just me 🤷🏻♀️
I dont think its about that either which is crazy, cause from what I've personally seen? Its less about the author and more about the readers, because I dont remember the last time I've seen this type of accusation thrown around without someone personally offending the reader-base
“DO NOT CITE THE DEEP MAGIC TO ME, *WITCH*” GIRL WHEN I TELL YOU I WAS HOLLERING SKSKSKSKSKKSKSSKSKS Also seeing Rachel become more and more unhinged in the editing and herself as she breaks down this nonsensical book-this is so much better than the “Love is Blind” reunion, I’m on the ground bloody duck-walking like Anetra HELP MEH 😂You and withcindy have the BEST "snark" voices with truly BAD, OTT dialogue. Y'all are great. Thank you for your service, *Officer Rachel*. RIP your therapy bills after this video though 😭
I don’t remember where exactly this was mentioned in the book, so maybe you haven’t seen these parts yet. Buuut there were a handful of parts where Violet is basically saying “oh my god” “where/what in gods name” or something along those lines - but she uses different names of gods that weren’t even mentioned or explained. I think one was dunne and I remember asking “who the fuck is dunne?!” Like we know who Malik is, that god is mentioned constantly. But they are other gods she randomly started mentioning in this book, but not in the first book (maybe once in the first book but that’s it) but then never explains who they are - was suuuper annoying. It took me out of the story every single time.
@@mbs.writes yes!!!!! I just finished 4th wing and I forced myself to because I did not like Violet! The god lore would’ve been great to add, we needed a lot more world building and a deeper dive into violet and make her LESS thirsty for X 🫣
I'm just lost on the general and his ability to see the outcome of any battle. Does that mean no one in the revolution has ever fought or argued with each other? At what point does an argument become a battle? Is it when they start screaming at each other or is it when the fists and/or weapons come out? I am so confused
Hey Rachel! I've found your channel recently and you got me to pick up "The Will to Change", by Bell Hooks! Haven't read for myself in ages as the only thing I read are assigned scientific articles sand textbook chapters ( by read i mean skim through asksjhfkasjhdfkl). And now I've been picking up more books to read and learn from because of you!
@@ReadswithRachel You have been an inspiration to read more! I used to be a big reader as a kid and my teachers encouraged me to continue that. I rmbr my 5th grade teacher giving me a copy of "fatty red socks" to keep after I asked about residential schools and wanted to learn more. And I went home to read it and it gave me the fire to learn more and educate myself. And now I'm in uni and you've made me want to start a reading club!! I joked to my friends if the school will allow me to start a marxism club but im not sure its a joke anymore hahaha. Thank you so much for the work you do, your yt videos introduced me to reading again!
Tairn was my favorite which is confusing because Yarros could write great characters but chose to make the FMC unlikeable , I was thinking after reading 4th wing that Jack Barlow may have a point 🤔
Irish is part of the Celtic language family, but is typically referred to as Irish, or Gaeilge, the (I hope correctly spelled) word for the language in Irish. I think people make the distinction of Scottish Gaelic because Scots, a Germanic language, is also native to Scotland. Scottish Gaelic was spoken in the highlands and islands, while Scots was spoken in the lowlands. Interesting fun fact: Irish has accents on vowels that go right (á), whereas Scottish Gaelic has accents going left (à). To someone who doesn't speak either, this is a way you can tell them apart in writing.
@ReadswithRachel yes! It felt like 1/3 of the book was just about if violet and xaden should trust each other and be together or not. This book dragged and it shows since it was written in just 6 months or less.
2:01:35 So I don’t think anyone has ever pointed it out, but as I’m an engineer and kind of a metals nerd, so when I got to this part of the book I looked it up if Talladium was an actual thing, and it does exist! However, it looks to be the name of a company that makes Nickel-Chromium alloys for dental fillings. I’m not sure if this was intentional becuse caps = protection , or RY made it up or saw the name somewhere and it it sounded cool.
As somebody who was the target audience during peak Divergent/Hunger Games/Uglies I am exhausted by the “my government is corrupt and the last line in a trilogy is ‘welcome to the resistance’” trope, especially when it is as heavy handed as this series is. There is a way it can be done well and this is just not it
You can inspire thoughts of social change and political corruptness in young adults without making your villains an obvious cliche and your protagonist completely oblivious. But also I probably would have ate this shit up when I was in ninth grade sooo 😅
@@quinnf8734I think one of the problems with this series is that it is written very immaturely but then is adult in the sex scenes so it feels like it's not meant for 9th graders but is relying on tropes from books that are
All in one go baby! 🐲🐉 On one hand the people who were fans of 4th Wing deserve better, but on the other hand I'm not surprised (and a little vindicated) in how right the predictions saw the writing on the wall for the fast fashion like production process of Red Tower (and the author's seemingly lack of thought and care of the fantasy genre from what I could glean from interviews) would churn out the worst version of an already subbar romance with barely any fantasy book.
@@ms.moronic9165 Absolutely. Wings of Fire is leagues above this series in terms of writing and it's supposed to be a children's series. How are books meant for an adult audience more childish than children's books?
This was EXHAUSTING, I cannot believe we're only 35% through... (Also people crying "internalized misogyny" towards those criticizing this book...idk who needs to tell you this but anyone of ANY gender is capable of shoddy writing. Sometimes a bad book is just a bad book!)
The kaleidoscope thing must come from hearing 'kaleidoscope of colours' more than ever hearing the context of what a kaledoscope is, as an actual object, so people just assume it means 'a collection of many variations on a thing/theme' - which means that there are people who don't obcessively google even basic words they've used all their lives just to make sure they're using it right - which is boggling to me 😂 i WISH i had that kind of confidence
I’m honestly appalled that something like this was professionally published. It reads like a twelve year old just learned about the classic narrative structure.
Yeah I remember people talking about the Romantasy aspect and I feel like it’s not the Romantasy or the genre, it’s why I try not to read YA. Not because the writing or scenarios are too immature or child like it’s not how it’s written it’s the characters and their actions and reactions as teenagers they all think the world revolves around them and that a hot boy is the most important thing .. to a teenager .. but I just don’t care about the teen-ness of the characters were more mature or were not basically all (ftw or awesome, cool, whatever) like if the characters were older but then remembering that these characters are supposed to be 19-21 and I’m like no way these read like 14 year olds. Idk this book series had issues (this one feels less like a rip off tho) but now do adult people read this or even (people 19-29) and go yep this is good give me more of this, really tho HOW ..??
One could pick out nearly every aspect of this series and figure out without much issue what book/movie/show Yarros yoinked it from and that is truly something. It’s not the first series that’s done this patchwork style of writing but it’s definitely one of the ones that does it so obviously.
I dropped this book for a lot of reasons but the endless repetition of the same fight is definitely number one. How can a writer recycle the same argument that many times and never come to the realisation that Violet is WRONG? Literally all she has to do is train her shields and she can get what she wants, but she doesn't. Then she complains about how everyone is keeping things from her. Then they say to train her shields and they will. And then she doesn't. Then the same argument occurs. Ohhhh my god.
This book is so frustrating because literally every interpersonal problem seems easily solvable by her giant fucking dragon eating them but he only occasionally threatens someone and it's never someone who's like. AN ACTUAL THREAT
I have read both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. I personally rate the former 8/10, and the latter 6/10. I enjoyed Fourth Wing. It's not one of my all-time favourites, but I loved the familial relationships, and the dragons, and especially the fact that the dragons were not a unified force. I liked the shifting perspectives on whether all the death was really necessary - because it wasn't, but the weight of precedent lies heavy on all of them, and it's hard to escape. What I didn’t like was the romantic relationship. It was completely unbalanced. I was shocked when I saw it described as "enemies to lovers", because it could not be further from my interpretation of that! Xaden was Violet's enemy, true, but she was never his. The only problems he had with her were born out of seeing her as an extension of her mother. General Sorrengail is his enemy, not Violet. She isn't a threat to him. This is fine for a love story, but don't try and sell it to me as "enemies to lovers". The inequality between them poisoned a lot of the relationship dynamic for me, I think. I find Violet vaguely irritating sometimes, and Xaden boring, and the spicy scenes always had him taking the lead. Always. In a relationship where he was in the position of power. The last thing I want to do is shame anyone, but - isn't it boring? It's a lot more noticable in Iron Flame. Sure, the scenery changes, but it felt so repetitive to me. Iron Flame could have been a fun book. Unravelling the lies of their forefathers and forging peace with historical enemies? I live for that. Especially with the cultural dissonance between them. They are choosing to reach out, even though it's hard, even though they have to make sacrifices and compromises. I must have read hundreds of books about that, and I'll read hundreds more. However, the lead couple is a millstone about its neck, and I can't in good conscience give it more than a "pretty good, I guess".
I felt it in my bones when you said this book is exhausting. I was fighting for my life through the whole 2nd half. Such a slog. I didn't love FW but in my review, I said I can only recommend it to someone looking for fun trash. In my IF review, I said I can't even recommend it as that. You're doing the (figurative) lord's work making these videos for us. 😂 I can't imagine reading this book again, but I absolutely love hearing you rip it to shreds.
ETA: oh Kronk, what would we do without you ……legit the whole alloy macguffin feels like it was copypasted from how mobile gacha games have weapon ascension work. And those games design it that way so you have a thousand things and confusing systems to grind to incentivize paying or at least daily login to be advertised at
in book 3 she finds out she needs to feed other black dragon units to Andarna to evolve her to her final growth stage. after an epic battle, they kill Melgren's dragon and use him for this purpose. but their celebrations are cut short when they realize...it wasn't enough. a single tear falls down Violet's face. "I'm sorry, Tairn...but Andarna is S-tier."
nothing to do with the content but I really appreciate the use of pictures! I'm not sure if they're intended mostly as a joke but they make it so useful to keep track of what's going on! so thanks for including those Rachel
So my choices of who gets casted is usually a joke but the use of them is to help everyone keep track! I’m a visual learner, wanted to make it easier on everyone else who is
I am honestly tempted to write fanfiction about my theories I had after the first book because I think they arent even that bad after writing them down in the middle of the night after finishing it. Like I thought we are gonna have a big confrontation because she was so close to her dad that she blames her brother for his death and a Situation were we will have a fight and then suddenly her firends are the people they fight against and they have to see where their loyalties lay. But no they just go back to school like nothing happend.... But I was right about the mom sacrificing herself for her kids😂
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I think the worst part about this series is that there's a good story in there somewhere but the author is two busy making her dolls kiss to notice it.
she's not even making them kiss just having pretend arguments smh my head. Also for as much as the author talks about wanting to provoke discussions about knowledge and censorship she clearly doesn't know how to effectively tie it into the story. This would have been so much more tolerable if she'd just stuck with the romance and forgotten all the 'important' stuff.
It even could be an indoctrinated person deconstruct their beliefs about the empire story and that her mom tries to kill her. And she be way too patriotic while her dad, and the scribes, and xaden do the best to hint her and he makes her crack, or something.
That way she could be smart, but also buy the empire propaganda, and see him as enemy when he really isnt.
Ther could be a good story. several even probably.
Hmph, I think it would be better if she completely gave up on the story and just wrote erotica at this point tbh
that’s the issue with literally every booktok book
The more I learn about this book, the more it feels like just a different fantasy version of house of night. It's just missing the hugely stereotypical best friends and maybe two less boyfriends. The story in there is interesting but God the writing and the characters are insufferable.
The bar was so low and somehow Rebecca Yarros limboed under it
WITH A SHIMMY AND A PRAYER
My Grandpa always loves to say
„It doesn‘t matter how low we lay the bar - Some idiot will walk beneath it. Head high and proudly.“
the bar was in hell and she brought out a shovel
She dug a tunnel beneath the line.
The bar was in hell and she had a limbo competition with Satan
Jesinia over here transcribing the same argument between Violet and Xaden 500 times... plus on top of that, documenting all of Violet's thirsty thoughts and then going into explicit detail about them having s3x ...girl I know they' ain't paying you enough for that sh!t
Imagine how much better this book could be if the story was periodically interrupted by a sarcastic transcriber commenting on the teenage nonsense or ignorance of the characters. I'm thinking footnotes like from the Ciaphus Cane series, or Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
It is unbelievably repetitive isn't it. We get it - you're hot, you're arguing, you want to fuck, you don't trust each other, you're fucking. Something something Xaden's muscles.
@@Sistertotherain9god if Rebecca actually committed to the harm that censorship causes she could’ve started off the first book with Jesinia writing a introductory note that’s says something like,”Hello, if you are reading this it means we’re all dead. Maybe there are gods out there.” And the story probably could’ve been told in this journalistic way with random annotations as she gets new information and the scribe has honestly always known that there was something wrong with her country but the more she scribes Violet’s story the more she realizes just how bad it is.
@@Sistertotherain9 if you like that idea you should totally read a natural history of dragons. Its a woman who as an adult is writing down her experiences from when she was 19. insanely good fantasy but also so funny to have her adult self chime in.
@@percy1081 I've read that series, and enjoyed it a lot! It's been a few years now, might add it to my rereads list.
The Rebellion? The Separatists? The Empire? Pack it up George Lukas
She is even trying to pull an Anakin Skywalker with Xaden
@@javierlopez9789 LMAOO at least Anakin slayed
At least Lucas actually showed the politics
Anakin definitely slayed… the younglings 😉
honestly, the idea of violet not caring about the prince/the royal family would be cool if it showed how disconnected the military was from the monarch. it would show how much they were secretly in control and the king was a puppet. but no, violet just doesn't care.
I agree. Making her apathetic makes WAY more sense than her just being aloof.
More like she’s too busy thirsting over how hot Xaden is 💀
@@laraminroe7545his name is spelled with an X??? All I hear is Zeyden or Zayden
@@asobimo5532 LOL yeah it’s spelled with an X! Rachel made it clear in the first video when she said “it’s Xaden with an X” 😂
@@laraminroe7545 it's been so long since I watched the video of the first book. Sometimes I put it in the backround like a podcast while I do chores 😂
the worst part of the book for me was the complete erasure of Violet's disability outside of Yarros using it like a disability super power 🤢 So now it is not only that she pushes through all her pain and symptoms (which is toxic and unhealthy but doesnt seem to affect her), she is now the poster child for the super-crip trope. For an author to allegedly want to "represent EDS and all its subtypes" and to inspire people, to put a foreword to Zebras (people with EDS) saying "not all strength is physical", and then go about writing these books where Violet's strength very much IS her physical prowess and ability to transcend her pain....
Violet has a super-human pain tolerance and can apparently take being tortured so much better than everyone else. She is never doing realistic pain management or anything and I have to wonder why the rep is being held up like some amazing achievement when it's so shallow and neglects even basic EDS logic?
I LOATHED how she was "still healing" from said torture and then that was only mentioned because Xaden was so horny and he wanted to be rough with her, and she just goes "give it to me" and there is once again ZERO consideration of her body's needs in relation to her EDS. The rep at this point is problematic af
She even erases the chronic pain that Violet and Xaden's dragons allegedly experience from bring so seperated for so long; It's mentioned when the rule is instituted by the evil guy Varrish, and then it's mentioned once or twice more with throw-away lines, but is never actually an active part of the narrative. It's there for tension, but has no bearing. We never see anything meaningful done with it, it's just established and then forgotten.
While I could get behind a character's chronic pain being just a casual part of a narrative, something that is just a constant underlying element, in this book with already near-constant forgetting and pushing through disability symptoms and pain, this feels even more questionable and frustrating. We could have *actually* had Tairn live by his performative "strength isn't only physical" line from book 1 by having him model to Violet how you can and SHOULD rest or treat yourself to a hot bath when you're low on spoons, but that would mean Yarros actually thought about things 🙄
This, this and this!!!🔥👏
god i feel all of this so hard. as someone with EDS, Violet does not strike me as a fellow sufferer. like i get that disabilities effect everyone differently, but atp it just doesn't even make any sense. instead of being a character with EDS, it comes off as rebecca writing everything and then occasionally remembering "oh yeah i should stick in a line about pain or dislocation again, i haven't done that in a while"
Watching this while in an EDS flare and I am so glad someone already said this because my hands hurt too much to type much. I was so excited about the representation but it’s the opposite of what it should be!
KrimsonRogue just did his review on Iron Flame and gathered an "EDS Council" to weigh in on a the representation of EDS in the series. Really, *really* good insight - highly recommend listening in.
A book that explores the question, "What if the Chosen One was an idiot? And also there's 🐉"
Are there chosen ones who aren't idiots? All the ones in YA books I read are morons
😂😂😂
I CACKLED
Dragons are too good for this series...
Oh and the dragon apparently choose her for her wits. Which doesn't work when she is emotional, which she is more than half of the book and her emotional intelligence is -1
This book gives a 14 year old’s passion project that lives in a Lisa frank notebook and never should have seen the light of day
THAT IS SO FUCKING FUNNY 🤣🤣
This is my favorite comment.
Not Lisa Frank 😭
They way you absolutely violated Lisa Frank😭
I was a 14 year old who wrote a full length novel in a Lisa frank binder!😆 I see so many similarities between this series and my little story… that I wrote with no experience, help, or an editor 🤦🏾♀️
Wait. The MC is wounded and she wakes up where a rebellion against the evil government is secretly based, which happens to be a place that was supposedly destroyed? This all sounds glaringly familiar...
Yeah I heard the description of this supposedly burned district and immediately thought of District 13
I've never read, and just read really short summaries of the Hunger Games, and even I immediately thought of that.
I thought of the red queen trilogy
@@DevilBeDamned Me too!
@@bib4eto656 Same-ish! I know like 5 things about Hunger Games and I still thought of that.
Violet reads as very annoying unreasonable and immature, yet we are told she is also the most smartest wise empathetic and powerful girlboss slayyy hope for humanity like…
Ikr ? I really wish we could see (or I see read) her being clever. Like in book one maybe she maps out how to get across that one initiation point in a deft manner. But no ???
It's honestly a thankless job to write a clever character, because most authors haven't ever been in that position. Too many writers think that high intelligence just translates to "reads a lot" or "does math really quickly" and that's why every smart girl is just a whiny bookworm these days.
IMO it could work if Violet actually being immature and ignorant was the point, but clearly it isn't. 😔
@@noga9895 i totally agree !!!! When the main character is a bookworm like that’s a hobbies not a sign of intelligence. Just bc they read doesn’t mean they think critically or analyze the text like ??? Ik plenty of readers, I’m studying to be a librarian, but this doesn’t mean they’re clever. Sometimes to be clever one must also be like ??? A bit ruthless and secretive - once again something violet isn’t. It is thankless work ironically until books like these appear and lead us back to our favorite characters and appreciate them more
This whole second book felt like the = of "somehow Palpatine has returned!"
True!
I still can't look at the book cover without reading it as Iron Flamf
Lmao
That’s what it says!
Omg! I never noticed that!!! Hahaha! 😂😂
hELP
Lmao
I think Iron Flame could be called A Book of Endless Arguments and Frustrations.
Facts
Violet’s failure to ask questions or think about the implications of anything is a real indictment of Scribal training, when you think about it.
She asks questions, but only conveniently the ones Rebecca wants her to in the scene. Not the questions she logically should be asking, because Rebecca needs Violet to only ask those at a certain point in the book so the plot can happen in a certain way. Violets happy to ask “how do you create a wardstone?” But not “hey xaden, how is it possible that brennan faked his death and who else knows?”
@@ReadswithRachelso Scribes actually have the power to read ahead!
@@mst3kharris Lol!
god the whole time i was like WHY in gods name is this librarian translating violet's smut journals
Weirdly one of the most realistic things about this book. People want to know about the sex lives of famous people, and if they're important enough in the history books scholars will write articles and even entire dissertations about said sex lives.
The diaries of Queen Victoria, published and edited by _her own children_, talks extensively about her sex life and how well hung her husband was and how much she loved getting it on with him.
The letters of James Joyce, also published and about which scholarly works have been written, include an incredible amount of smut written between him and his wife, and in addition to the more general sexting-but-in-letter-form,
oh boy did the man LOVE farts, and not in the childish humor sense, in the sense that it got him very, _very_ "excited."
Point being, this is absolutely something that would be transcribed, and given that the theme of this book seems to be government control of information, it being unexpurgated, unsanitized, and in full would actually be kinda important in universe.
@@maledictionwolf it is hilarious that its her friend who did it though. i'm trying to imagine my college roommate transcribing detailed accounts of my sex life and i think i would just die
I was gonna suggest that it's at least unrealistic that Vi would write down every thought she had about how sexy what'shisface is, but Vi's an idiot, so that's also probabky pretty valid
There's a criticism for books where people will say a book feels like its written by a frustrated screenwriter and I have a hard time articulating why exactly but I got a really distinct feeling "Fourth Wing" started as a movie or TV pitch like "Harry Potter/Divergent with dragons! :D" like something about the way the plot is unfolding feels really like a fantasy show for the CW or something. Even the development for "now this book is about anti-imperialism" feels like a show going into its new season like "stakes are high, alliances are formed. who can you trust?" Like even somehow the tryhard cringey millenial slang in the dialogue feels straight out of "Riverdale" or something.
The riverdale comment 😂 true
The whole time I was reading this it felt like I was watching a tv show!
Yeah there's already a show in development for Amazon so you are right
Your use of Kronk for these reviews is iconic tbh
no matter how many times it plays it cracks me up every time
Kronk, the gift that keeps on giving o7
Ikr and the yugioh cards had me dying
i love that she is putting Rhiannon in the same position she was in with regards to info about what’s going on and can’t see the hypocrisy
@@thisisabookchannel It would have been a perfect character building moment if Violet recognized that this is what Xaden must have felt keeping away info.
Also the way I laughed out loud at my job over “DO NOT CITE THE DEEP MAGIC TO ME WITCH, I WAS THERE WHEN IT WAS WRITTEN”
potentially the most egregious thing, out of many egregious things, is her NEVER thinking about her dead-suddenly-not-dead brother. what was even the POINT of that
When she discovered her brother is alive:
- oh cool, let's me check how zaiden is so freaking hot today. 😂
The second book appears to have more plot than the first but somehow feels less engaging. I think it largely has to do with the “drama” between Violet and Xaden in the second book. The misunderstandings between them, coupled with Violet’s emotional immaturity, are so contrived and ridiculous that it feels not only frustrating but insulting to me as a 20-something year old; were one of my girlfriends as immature about a situationship as Violet was, after an initial bout of sympathetic listening to her complaints, our other friends and I would sit her down and stage an intervention to let her know how unhealthy her relationship is for her. Also, that’s what Violet’s and Xaden’s relationship is: a situationship. They know each other as well as college f*ck buddies who’ve had inane pillow talk about “what’s your favorite food” to fill up the silence out of courtesy when one of them is too tired to go home. And because of the superficiality of their connection, it feels extra icky for Violet to lash out at Xaden and demand things from him that he really doesn’t owe her; why tf would he risk the lives of those he holds close and dear to him for a girl he barely knows enough to know whether or not she buys into government propaganda?
Violet was certainly in need of character flaws that didn’t serve to make her look heroic, but her mind numbingly stupid inability to care about the feelings of a man who she supposedly loves devolves her from merely annoying to contemptible. If Rebecca Yarrows was trying to write realism or the passion of epic star-crossed lovers by widening the divide between between Xaden and Violet through trust issues, then she failed.
It suffers from Middle Trilogy Syndrome, really
@@teslashark but it’s not going to be a trilogy. This is supposed to be a five book series
@@Moony1568 That's the pacing issue
@@Moony1568
God help us
@@Moony1568 FIVE?!! DEAR LORD WHHHHHHY!!! 😭😭😭😭😭
it makes absolutely no sense that someone raised by a General would not understand the concept and necessity of classified information. It's okay for Violets mother, the other superior's and even Dane to keep classified information from her and other students, that makes sense to her -- but she can't understand why that also might be necessary for her brother and boyfriend to do?
And the way she just goes around demanding the truth from everyone like a Fantasy Karen pissed me off so much
Linguistics/languages is one of my special interests, and whenever someone does something like conflating two endangered languages with a history of repression, it...does not make me happy. I have no issues with creators drawing heavily on existing languages for their conlangs, but only if they respect the real languages and know which ones they're using-not accidentally using a language because they thought it was the same as another one!
Eyyy language is one of my special interests too!! I've been studying Irish and Gàidhlig for ~10 years now, and seeing two languages I love get mashed together and twisted around like barbie dolls in a kid's hands is..... very painful, to say the least 🥲
I'm just glad someone else is annoyed by it too, it makes me feel so validated lol 😅 had to get up and walk away a few times, take breaks and listen to some of my fave Julie Fowlis songs to calm down. I'm all for each of the extant Celtic languages getting more recognition bc they're in various degrees of danger but like......maybe could we have some GOOD respectful representation pls? Maybe the author could take an online class or something? Duolingo? Or just do some solid research? Find a forum and ask ppl to translate or check names for you?? Something??? ANYTHING????
I feel a lil bad for fixating on this, but since Yarros used a REAL language, and there's multiple ways for her to have made sure that she was using it correctly, it's a lot harder for me to overlook than it would be if it were ONLY a matter of her needing to improve more subjective stuff like characterization or writing style. But we have the Internet! We have social media! Yarros could just reach out to the book community, I'm sure there are plenty of ppl who would be happy to help out. No man is an island, &etc etc. Maybe if she'd had a better editor, they could have caught the mistakes BEFORE publishing, and spared us all the discomfort 😅
The rules about the general not being able to see anything in groups of three or more is just...so arbitrary. I'd have loved to have witnessed him discover this. Did he have groups of people help him? Two people: I SEE YOU. Three people: WHERE'D YOU GO?!
Why did this just remind me of playing peekaboo with a baby?
@angelaahhh
Maybe he does everything using a Map and Board pieces to signify Troop movements? Idk this is the dumbest weakness I have ever heard.
@angelaahhh fr. it would make much more sense if it worked in the opposite way. like, the more people are involved the better he sees things. it would make it so the rebellion having a small number of people would have a solid reason AND be an excuse for the romantic leads to work together one on one
A 2-hour video absolutely ripping this book to shreds?
...I'll clear my calendar. We MAKE time for trashy YA teardowns.
Fun fact this series is not classed as YA! I know it's great.... I think it's supposed to be new adult? But idk what that means it feels like a fake demographicto me
@@gizemunver6188It is lol, it's a marketing thing. These books are basically teenage-level but with explicit sex scenes.
@@pande1461 wait so new adult isn't a real thing? Why did reading books get so confusing😭
@@gizemunver6188Because these small classifications are made up for marketing purposes. I imagine it's so that adults in their 20s and beyond (who have more spending money than teenagers) don't feel bad about reading stuff aimed at teenagers, because this classification makes those books seem more "mature" (even if only in the amount of explicit content, but not themes or writing quality).
I think that by doing this, publishing houses are also trying to appeal to people who may feel ashamed that they're reading "fiction for teenagers" when they're adults. By renaming it "Young Adult" instead of "Teen", it sounds a bit less "childish", for lack of a better word - even if the contents are the same. "Young Adult" is basically "Teen" with a different name.
And I know that these books aren't technically "young adult", but if you toned down the sex scenes or took them out entirely, they'd be indistinguishable from YA in terms of writing quality and themes. "New Adult" is a thing, but it's basically what used to be known as "Adult" - not in terms of explicitness alone, but in writing quality and how themes are approached.
There are more!
70% of this book is just Violet and Xaden having the same fight over and over again it really is exhausting and then when you think yay that’s over…. fake love triangle and then what was that? Oh right back to Violet and Xaden nonsense again… it’s also ridiculous that at no point during all the actual torture she went through did she think maybe she could ask her mother for help 🙄
I’m very confused about her mom atp and I have a feeling Rebecca wasn’t sure when to use her and when not to, and for what
I just skipped over whenever they started that stupid argument
Sometimes I wish authors would just unabashedly sell me their free-written manuscripts instead of trying to pretend it’s a well-thought out, edited story. Like, don’t piss on me and then try to tell me it’s raining.
Also, the nurses should have been called menders and the magical doctors should have been called healers. Mending comes off as “bandaging a wound” (i.e., patching a hole in fabric) whereas healers would heal the wound (reverse the tear entirely).
Oh my God that makes so much sense
17:21 The circus is empty, and all the clowns are here
Maybe the real clowns are the friends Violet made along the way 😌
That’s certainly true in the case of Ridoc^
its incredible how little happened in a 2 hour synopsis of 30 percent of a book thank you so much for your service
Literally nothing happened and I went into great detail explaining just how little happened didn’t I 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This is why I DNF-ed this book at 50%. Nothing happens
It's so strange to me that the climax of the last book was going AWOL to fight this unknown threat and then they just go back to school for so much of this book. It just seemed like a real "crossing the Rubicon/point of no return" and then they just... go back across the Rubicon. They return from the point of no return. I don't think it's impossible to pull that off, I'm not a strict adherent to "heroes journey" stuff, but it just makes me not interested in the events of the story because I don't trust that anything that happens will actually end up mattering.
and atp we've established nothing in this world does in deed end up not mattering 💀
Tbf Caesar also had to go back across the Rubicon to fight Pompey ;) But your point is very well made, I was so confused when the great (and only)thing I remembered from video 1 was over just like that
It really felt like a marketing thing, especially when at the end of this book, they come up with ANOTHER contrived reason to go back to the school. She wants it to be Hogwarts so bad.
Kaz Brekker (Six of Crows) would have taken over the world by now. And he would have done it in style.
True.
Yes!!!
For real
You should look into how Yarros basically ripped off the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard and basically copied everything but just added dragons. Her book wasn't 'inspired' by Red Queen it was copy pasted with dragons and other minor things added in but all the major things and important stuff is exactly the same. Even the main character Violet, looks exactly like the main character in the red queen series, Mare Barrow, down the the brown hair with silver ends. She has the exact same powers as that main character and *spoiler alert* the main plot point of her thinking her brother is dead and then finding out that he is actually alive and joined the resistance...exactly the same. It also had a love triangle and there is more but I want list every single thing she ripped off and poorly for that matter. She copied all the major things from this series and then sprinkled in some Sarah J Maas but didn't actually come up with anything original unless you count the awful attempt at dragons. And there is proof that she was aware of this book before fourth wing and it wasn't a coincidence because Yarros posted a picture on her social media of her bookshelf and Red Queen is prominently displayed, so she clearly read it since it was displayed with the front cover facing forward rather than the spine of the book which most people only do when its a favourite book of theirs. No one is really talking about this either and it really annoys me that she is getting a huge amount of hype and praise for a book that she didn't even come up with herself, not to mention I hate how this book came about because it wasn't a passion project, it wasn't something she wanted to do, her publisher wanted a new adult fantasy with dragons and before looking for new authors with stories like that they offered the chance to the authors they already had and Yarros decided that after years of writing military romances she was qualified to write a fantasy series like its not that hard. Sorry for the rant but the entire circumstances around how this book came about and the actual content of the book and how her and the publishers don't give a shit about creating and selling a quality product they just want to take peoples money really annoys me, not just as a reader but as a writer myself.
the awful attempt at dragons is just bad and awful remixing of dragonriders of pern! like it was done from half-remembered memories from her childhood!
it's hilarious how Yarros says she doesn't read romantasy or fantasy but like... somehow managed to do everything you said? it's absolutely insane just how similar Fourth Wing is to Red Queen and ACOTAR and even From Blood and Ash. Someone needs to do a deep dive
holy shit you're so right
It's been like a decade since I read Red Queen but the second I heard about Brennan faking his death a leading the resistance, my first thought was "Shade?"
Frrr the ML is a king just like Cal. I had seen some similarities but hadn’t really thought of it any further.
“Are the dragons in charge or the humans?” What I asked myself the whole time!! like, what do you mean the dragons wouldn’t just tell everyone to f*vk off and do what they want? Why would they allow humans to control how often they’d be able to see each other…
Like couldn’t Tairn just leave and go de Sgaeyl whenever the fuck? What’s stopping him?
Your channel is literally the greatest thing to happen to me. I tried finishing Fourth Wing last week and DNFed at chapter 7. It was AWFUL! I immediately knew I couldn’t read book #2 😭.
Then I found your 3 part deep dive and had WAYYY more fun listening to you brilliantly critique every single issue I had with this book more than I did reading the actual thing. I’m SO PUMPED to settle down with some food and tea to watch this one. Thank you for taking one for the team Rachel.
Thank YOU for being here!
@@ReadswithRachelIt’s my absolute pleasure 🤣🙌🏽
Violet wants to be part of a secret society but sucks at keeping secrets. Cool. Cool cool cool cool cool. Makes sense.
Right?! I wish there had been some consequence or she cause something bad by not keeping her mouth shut, just for the sake of complexity.
Also she doesn't want to kill people in a society where murder is just a normal Tuesday and at times encouraged and necessary
I'm sure I'll have more to say later, but 30 minutes in and Violet just sounds like a selfish and immature character. As it came across, she was giving Xaden an ultimatum of "either choose me or the rebellion." Which, miss ma'am, the rebellion is more important.
Why would- no, how COULD- the transcriber transcribe Violet's monologue about "Omg Xaiden he's soooooooo hot but I'm gonna cut my thoughts off right there!"
1- No one cares! This isn't history!
2- You can't transcribe someone cutting their thoughts off! You can't do that! It's completely illogical!
I'm going to scream!!!
my guess? the author didn't think about that 'framing device' - for lack of a better term coming to mind at the moment - beyond "well tolkien (and likely other big fantasy authors) did this! see? my books are like theirs!" 😮💨
@@LorewithouttheE I feel like the author didn't think about a LOT of things XD
This review is 15 minutes short of being as long as Dune Part 1.
Perfect.
lmao
The thing about these books that absolutely slays me is that Yarros has managed to write such a huge Mary Sue while also making her one of the most idiotic heroines I've read in a long time. Zero common sense or ability to think ahead, no reasoning skills, totally unable to connect the dots on anything.
It makes me want to write fan fiction where she just dies the first day and we're all spared this nonsensical story.
Yeah and Rhianon takes over 😊
Ikr 😂
Rhiannon would be a better protagonist. Shes a genuinely nice person. Give her some flaws, like, I dunno, too headstrong or not headstrong enough, and she'd be a great protagonist! And no Xaden for the main love interest. Hate that guy, would work better as just a friend
@@balladofthegoddessRhiannon as the main protagonist and Catriona as the love interest. Kind, no-nonsense farm girl falls in love with the hot-headed princess that her country wants her to kill. Xaden dies because Catriona kills him and we all clap because she should. It would be so good if she did.
Zaiden Ryderson is the most Disney name I’ve ever heard
It’s also “Xaden with an X” so yeah😂🤡
Right?! The worst name ever
@@26349 that somehow makes it worse lol 😂
also Ryderson...? really? in the context of him being a dragon rider? that's so silly
@@annabeatrizzimmermann7708the funniest part is his dad isn't even a rider it's so dumb I love it
I feel like the dragons not actually being able to communicate clearly, like in httyd, would fix some of the plot holes about the dragons and what they know. Why didn't her dragon tell her about her brother? He couldn't. Why aren't the dragons on the same page about baby dragons? They are, the humans just don't know/don't care. Why is Violet's dragon not just eating all her enemies? He's not sure what's being said to her. 🐉
I agree
90% certain the dragons were feral beasts at first, then Yarros changed it late in development tbh
@@RTDice11She rode Paolini and said to herself "Great idea"
the pictures you use to depict the characters never fails to have me weakkkk.
here from krimsonrogue dropping a mention about your dissection of the previous book in his critique, and what a godsend this channel is god bless keep doin this stuff its rocks
I had no idea krimsonrogue mentioned me whaaaaaat that was nice of him! Glad you found your way here! ❤️❤️
thank you for the character photos, it is both helping me keep track and also sending me into orbit
In that case, my work here is done
I was gonna stop crocheting for tonight, but I guess I can do some more 🤷
ONE OF US ONE OF US
Omg fellow reads with rachel background noise user
I’m also listening to this joining all my granny squares for a blanket lol
Not me, crocheting right now. 😅
@@Mushroomelixir I listen while drawing. It's the best.
I knew I wouldn’t like this book based on your review of the first one, but man as someone with EDS it’s so sad seeing this be touted as good rep. I should have known it was going to be bad as soon as she got silver hair tips out of the deal. I wish Yarros had done her research on disability advocacy before writing Violet (or the whole series, I guess). I know she also has EDS but man, you would not be able to tell based on how she writes it.
this 💯 and I hate that her fans defend her by saying "but she has EDS" as though it means she can't perpetuate ableist stereotypes and rhetoric. she literally wrote a disabled character pushing through and transcending her pain, ignoring her symptoms and getting through stuff with ✨️the power of will✨️and yet I'm meant to find this to be "good" and "inspiring" rep? it's literally my nightmare as someone with EDS, and I live it basically all the time because this ideology is so common IRL. And it's even worst in Iron Flame when Violet is basically written as the super-crip trope 😭
@@whatareyousayinggirl exactly! It’s so frustrating, especially as disability continues to be an underrepresented axis in fiction and everywhere. I mean seriously, did she talk to like one other person with EDS? Anyone with other disabilities or chronic illnesses? I don’t think so. Her portrayal of EDS is as nauseatingly trite and shallow as everything else she’s written. It’s such a shame this schlock is what ends up popular just to perpetuate the same harmful beliefs we’ve been fighting against for centuries.
This book may not be good, but you pointing out why is not only entertaining, it's good because any reader that watches your video with an open mind will learn to read more critically. These kind of reviews can be extensive and consuming, but if anyone here is planning on writing a book this is basically a guide of what not to do.
If I can ask something, could you please do a video about the editorial aspects of this series, such as how it was promoted from start, the many special editions, and the issues with the publishing of the second book (the printing errors, the lack of and editor, etc)?
I’d be happy to! In the meantime, my pal Esska did a video on this subject if you’re interested
ua-cam.com/video/_Fxen1pS6JA/v-deo.htmlsi=ZTHhLmqgzxle4JXu
@@ReadswithRachel thank you, I will watch now!
I think the thing I dislike about this romantasy genre with the books I've either read myself or watched long reviews for is that the focus on the romance takes the driver's seat in a setting where that type of centering actively harms the overall plot. The worldbuilding and actual story gets shoved into the background to the point that it ends up being underdeveloped or full of plot holes, and that's not something you can do with a fantasy (or a scifi) setting. It's hard to get invested in the characters we're even supposed to be focusing on when nothing they do within the setting makes sense because the worldbuilding is on the backburner. And with this series specifically it's SO obvious that the author just shoves in what little worldbuilding she does do solely to move the romance forward, thus nuking any previous worldbuilding almost every time she does it. Violet has no agency, the plot doesn't move because of her, it moves because the author is just shifting the chess pieces around to set up the next sex scene.
hey, I also have the same issue with the romantasy genre, but then I realised that's the point of the genre and they just aren't my kind of books. It's called Romantasy because the romance comes first. So now I make sure not to confuse Romantasy books with fantasy books that have a romantic subplot and have found way more success with that genre. I would recommend reading a few fantasy books with romantic subplots and see if you like them more. I'm way too much of a plot girlie to enjoy Romantasy where the relationship is the main plot point throughout and it's just a romance in a fantasy setting, where most of the time that setting isn't even built up enough to be distinctive it's just a general 'fantasy land'. I need there to be something outside of the relationship to be the main focus of the plot. I need it to be like 70% fantasy with a fantasy plot line and 30% romance but where the romance also feeds into and drives the plot forward. If you're similar to me then I would definitely recommend looking for fantasy books with a romantic subplot -- I think you would really enjoy them, or at the very least enjoy them a lot more than Romantasy.
The worst part romantasy is that every modern fantasy book is one, and it's not a real romance, it's just fucking. I'm ace, so I'm fine with a cute romance! I love a cute romance where both the characters become better people! But it's like romance authors think it's either a cute romance or just fucking. One or the other. And the fantasy takes a backseat, like you said. Drives me insane
I have no skin in this game because I'm not going to read these books, but I just want to say that due to the opening with the missing brother, I now just assume this book is that creepy folger commercial with the brother and sister who are a little too close, but if they had dragons.
JENNY WHY WOULD YOU BRING THIS CURSE UPON ME
@@ReadswithRachel Look me in the eye and tell me that wouldn't better than what you read. 😂
I love the skit of that commercial where it was confirmed
I laughed out loud when the dragon said "don't they teach you anything" because No. Yaros does not.
The fact that I laughed when you said "So just another red shirt"
As a little kid I would periodically joined my grandfather when he would watch anything Star Trek
As someone currently unable to work due to depression and avoiding people due to ginormous anxiety, I hate the trope of “power through” especially when the person has a disability. Powering through let to this stupid depression/burnout and I know that it will take so much time for me to even reach similar energy levels as before.
If someone in a similar situation reads this please slow down and get help if possible.
Who thought 🐉🌽 would make me dig so deep on UA-cam.
I watched the last video but hearing the recap, i realized that i still have no idea wtf happened
A whole buncha NOTHING happened
I feel like the author was like take every trope rthat fantasy has blended it all together and the sneeze in the smoothie
Rebecca said "if i cant write divergent fanfic, i will write so much worse"
The “Ma’am, that was several sentences long” at 9:00 was so visceral I felt it in my soul
ok. so. if Xaden and Violet get horny when their dragons do because of the mate bond thing, does that mean Xaden ALSO had sex with the guy who was bonded to Tyr before Violet or nah? Or, at the very least, did they also have to stay close to each other like Xaden and Violet have to? Somehow, I feel like Rebecca didn't actually think of that question when she made that decision and was only thinking about how to make Xaden and Violet have sex even though they were still """enemies""" at that point..... Unless they WEREN'T still considered enemies at that point and I forgot just because I don't care enough to remember, lol
Tairn's previous rider was Brennan’s "close friend" who died three years prior to Xaden’s initiation into Bàsgiath so Tairn hadn't chosen any other human before Violet’s arrival.
@Jeyfeather-iv4ol OH! Okay. Thank you. Honestly had no clue and didn't/wouldn't care to look it up, so I'll take your word for it. haha
Edit: And for the correct spelling of Tairn's name because I really didn't wanna look that up, either.
@@pixelsbykris5494 You're welcome!
As a brazilian portuguese native speaker, i think translating Iron Flame( Chama de Ferro) results in a prety cool name
I regret not translating it, it sounds way better
continua um pouco redundante migo kkkkk quarta asa então kkkkkk mas só um tradutor bom pra salvar esse livro se um dia for publicado em pt br
@@grlwnder7343um tradutor pra reescrever o plot, que nem aqueles que fazem "ah, não gostei desse parágrafo, não vou traduzir"
Já vi gente traduzir para ferro e fogo, o que é um pouco melhor na minha opinião@@grlwnder7343
@@grlwnder7343então kkk, quarta asa é de fodwr
"What's stopping them!!!!!!?"
Literally Yarros's imagination... or lack there of...
I had a good ol' blast laughing at Fourth Wing when I read it. Iron Flame, I couldn't bring myself to read past chapter 5. I don't even think I finished the fifth chapter. Thank god for libraries.
Re: the accusations of misogyny because of criticising a book a woman wrote... I feel like it's misogynistic to act like women are too fragile to have any kind of genuine criticism levelled against them. But that's just me 🤷🏻♀️
I dont think its about that either which is crazy, cause from what I've personally seen? Its less about the author and more about the readers, because I dont remember the last time I've seen this type of accusation thrown around without someone personally offending the reader-base
“DO NOT CITE THE DEEP MAGIC TO ME, *WITCH*”
GIRL WHEN I TELL YOU I WAS HOLLERING SKSKSKSKSKKSKSSKSKS
Also seeing Rachel become more and more unhinged in the editing and herself as she breaks down this nonsensical book-this is so much better than the “Love is Blind” reunion, I’m on the ground bloody duck-walking like Anetra HELP MEH 😂You and withcindy have the BEST "snark" voices with truly BAD, OTT dialogue. Y'all are great.
Thank you for your service, *Officer Rachel*. RIP your therapy bills after this video though 😭
Putting the character visualizers in there is EXTREMELY helpful, hard to tell what the fuck is going on at any time and those help a lot
If the author had less unnecessary side characters it would be easier
This is peak Sunday entertainment and I'll die on this hill
Thank you
RIP Nadine, I didn't know you, I don't understand why you piped up, and I will not remember your name tomorrow 🙏🤷♂️🕊️
*grabs tea and settles in*
Welcome, please share the tea if its green tea
Green tea can be arranged, I made black tea for myself, but I have a stash of different kinds.
I did make some iced tea from green tea if that works
I will take it!
Can I also sit in your corner? Also made a tea right before watching the video
*tries to figure out how to send home made iced tea through the interwebs*
And there's always room to chill in my little corner!
I don’t remember where exactly this was mentioned in the book, so maybe you haven’t seen these parts yet. Buuut there were a handful of parts where Violet is basically saying “oh my god” “where/what in gods name” or something along those lines - but she uses different names of gods that weren’t even mentioned or explained. I think one was dunne and I remember asking “who the fuck is dunne?!” Like we know who Malik is, that god is mentioned constantly. But they are other gods she randomly started mentioning in this book, but not in the first book (maybe once in the first book but that’s it) but then never explains who they are - was suuuper annoying. It took me out of the story every single time.
@@mbs.writes yes!!!!! I just finished 4th wing and I forced myself to because I did not like Violet! The god lore would’ve been great to add, we needed a lot more world building and a deeper dive into violet and make her LESS thirsty for X 🫣
An over 2 hour long vodeo?! Is it my birthday?! Yay!!!
I'm just lost on the general and his ability to see the outcome of any battle. Does that mean no one in the revolution has ever fought or argued with each other? At what point does an argument become a battle? Is it when they start screaming at each other or is it when the fists and/or weapons come out? I am so confused
Or a heated Convo ??
I did not have the mental fortitude to even read Iron Flame after the hot mess of Fourth Wing.
I cannot blame you at all
Hey Rachel! I've found your channel recently and you got me to pick up "The Will to Change", by Bell Hooks! Haven't read for myself in ages as the only thing I read are assigned scientific articles sand textbook chapters ( by read i mean skim through asksjhfkasjhdfkl). And now I've been picking up more books to read and learn from because of you!
This made my entire day! I'm so happy to hear this!!
@@ReadswithRachel You have been an inspiration to read more! I used to be a big reader as a kid and my teachers encouraged me to continue that. I rmbr my 5th grade teacher giving me a copy of "fatty red socks" to keep after I asked about residential schools and wanted to learn more. And I went home to read it and it gave me the fire to learn more and educate myself. And now I'm in uni and you've made me want to start a reading club!! I joked to my friends if the school will allow me to start a marxism club but im not sure its a joke anymore hahaha. Thank you so much for the work you do, your yt videos introduced me to reading again!
Yeah, no. The orange cat/orange dragon thing also doesn't grok for me, and I have an orange cat who holds the brain cell.
I hear OSP scream in the background:
HEINLEEEEIIN
Violet’s dragon saying, “don’t they teach you anything??”😂 I love when authors unintentionally critique themselves in their work
Tairn was my favorite which is confusing because Yarros could write great characters but chose to make the FMC unlikeable , I was thinking after reading 4th wing that Jack Barlow may have a point 🤔
Irish is part of the Celtic language family, but is typically referred to as Irish, or Gaeilge, the (I hope correctly spelled) word for the language in Irish. I think people make the distinction of Scottish Gaelic because Scots, a Germanic language, is also native to Scotland. Scottish Gaelic was spoken in the highlands and islands, while Scots was spoken in the lowlands. Interesting fun fact: Irish has accents on vowels that go right (á), whereas Scottish Gaelic has accents going left (à). To someone who doesn't speak either, this is a way you can tell them apart in writing.
I love how we’re constantly told how intelligent and different Violet is when she’s shown to have all the intelligence of a doorknob
This book needed to be divided into 2 books. There was too much happening and at the same time nothing happening and it felt like it dragged on.
would've been a short story if we hadn't done the same three arguments OVER AND OVER AND OVER
@ReadswithRachel yes! It felt like 1/3 of the book was just about if violet and xaden should trust each other and be together or not. This book dragged and it shows since it was written in just 6 months or less.
This book constantly tells us how smart Violet is but never shows it…
The fact that this series had SO much potential in theory and turned into this is sad
It’s the wasted potential that hurts the most. 😞
@@haggisa exactly, if I were creative and smart enough to do fantasy world building I would right my own version 😂
2:01:35 So I don’t think anyone has ever pointed it out, but as I’m an engineer and kind of a metals nerd, so when I got to this part of the book I looked it up if Talladium was an actual thing, and it does exist! However, it looks to be the name of a company that makes Nickel-Chromium alloys for dental fillings. I’m not sure if this was intentional becuse caps = protection , or RY made it up or saw the name somewhere and it it sounded cool.
You are a genius to use Yugioh cards to represent the dragons. Makes every so much better.
Thank you 😂
when i saw red eyes i felt more excitement than i felt reading any of fourth wing
As somebody who was the target audience during peak Divergent/Hunger Games/Uglies I am exhausted by the “my government is corrupt and the last line in a trilogy is ‘welcome to the resistance’” trope, especially when it is as heavy handed as this series is. There is a way it can be done well and this is just not it
You can inspire thoughts of social change and political corruptness in young adults without making your villains an obvious cliche and your protagonist completely oblivious. But also I probably would have ate this shit up when I was in ninth grade sooo 😅
@@quinnf8734I think one of the problems with this series is that it is written very immaturely but then is adult in the sex scenes so it feels like it's not meant for 9th graders but is relying on tropes from books that are
All in one go baby! 🐲🐉
On one hand the people who were fans of 4th Wing deserve better, but on the other hand I'm not surprised (and a little vindicated) in how right the predictions saw the writing on the wall for the fast fashion like production process of Red Tower (and the author's seemingly lack of thought and care of the fantasy genre from what I could glean from interviews) would churn out the worst version of an already subbar romance with barely any fantasy book.
Empyrean: "Face it. You're. Never. Gonna. Get. My. Power."
Wings of Fire, holding an uncancelled Netflix deal: "Do I look like I need *your* power?"
@@ms.moronic9165 Absolutely. Wings of Fire is leagues above this series in terms of writing and it's supposed to be a children's series. How are books meant for an adult audience more childish than children's books?
This was EXHAUSTING, I cannot believe we're only 35% through...
(Also people crying "internalized misogyny" towards those criticizing this book...idk who needs to tell you this but anyone of ANY gender is capable of shoddy writing. Sometimes a bad book is just a bad book!)
this series was supposed to be 3 books but yarros had to extend it to 5... i understand now... she cant pace...
The kaleidoscope thing must come from hearing 'kaleidoscope of colours' more than ever hearing the context of what a kaledoscope is, as an actual object, so people just assume it means 'a collection of many variations on a thing/theme' - which means that there are people who don't obcessively google even basic words they've used all their lives just to make sure they're using it right - which is boggling to me 😂 i WISH i had that kind of confidence
I’m honestly appalled that something like this was professionally published. It reads like a twelve year old just learned about the classic narrative structure.
Yeah I remember people talking about the Romantasy aspect and I feel like it’s not the Romantasy or the genre, it’s why I try not to read YA.
Not because the writing or scenarios are too immature or child like it’s not how it’s written it’s the characters and their actions and reactions as teenagers they all think the world revolves around them and that a hot boy is the most important thing .. to a teenager .. but I just don’t care about the teen-ness of the characters were more mature or were not basically all (ftw or awesome, cool, whatever) like if the characters were older but then remembering that these characters are supposed to be 19-21 and I’m like no way these read like 14 year olds.
Idk this book series had issues (this one feels less like a rip off tho) but now do adult people read this or even (people 19-29) and go yep this is good give me more of this, really tho HOW ..??
One could pick out nearly every aspect of this series and figure out without much issue what book/movie/show Yarros yoinked it from and that is truly something. It’s not the first series that’s done this patchwork style of writing but it’s definitely one of the ones that does it so obviously.
I dropped this book for a lot of reasons but the endless repetition of the same fight is definitely number one. How can a writer recycle the same argument that many times and never come to the realisation that Violet is WRONG? Literally all she has to do is train her shields and she can get what she wants, but she doesn't. Then she complains about how everyone is keeping things from her. Then they say to train her shields and they will. And then she doesn't. Then the same argument occurs. Ohhhh my god.
This book is so frustrating because literally every interpersonal problem seems easily solvable by her giant fucking dragon eating them but he only occasionally threatens someone and it's never someone who's like. AN ACTUAL THREAT
This book is longer than Crime and Punishment btw.
hahah wowwww
The book was a crime and a punishment to read 😂
@@amara560 lmaoooo nice one
I have read both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. I personally rate the former 8/10, and the latter 6/10.
I enjoyed Fourth Wing. It's not one of my all-time favourites, but I loved the familial relationships, and the dragons, and especially the fact that the dragons were not a unified force. I liked the shifting perspectives on whether all the death was really necessary - because it wasn't, but the weight of precedent lies heavy on all of them, and it's hard to escape.
What I didn’t like was the romantic relationship. It was completely unbalanced. I was shocked when I saw it described as "enemies to lovers", because it could not be further from my interpretation of that! Xaden was Violet's enemy, true, but she was never his. The only problems he had with her were born out of seeing her as an extension of her mother. General Sorrengail is his enemy, not Violet. She isn't a threat to him.
This is fine for a love story, but don't try and sell it to me as "enemies to lovers".
The inequality between them poisoned a lot of the relationship dynamic for me, I think. I find Violet vaguely irritating sometimes, and Xaden boring, and the spicy scenes always had him taking the lead. Always. In a relationship where he was in the position of power. The last thing I want to do is shame anyone, but - isn't it boring? It's a lot more noticable in Iron Flame. Sure, the scenery changes, but it felt so repetitive to me.
Iron Flame could have been a fun book. Unravelling the lies of their forefathers and forging peace with historical enemies? I live for that. Especially with the cultural dissonance between them. They are choosing to reach out, even though it's hard, even though they have to make sacrifices and compromises. I must have read hundreds of books about that, and I'll read hundreds more. However, the lead couple is a millstone about its neck, and I can't in good conscience give it more than a "pretty good, I guess".
I think a lot would be solved if we just removed the romance and used the time we save there to work on worldbuilding
@@ReadswithRachelah but then there would be no smut to get everyone to love this book 😂
I felt it in my bones when you said this book is exhausting. I was fighting for my life through the whole 2nd half. Such a slog. I didn't love FW but in my review, I said I can only recommend it to someone looking for fun trash. In my IF review, I said I can't even recommend it as that.
You're doing the (figurative) lord's work making these videos for us. 😂 I can't imagine reading this book again, but I absolutely love hearing you rip it to shreds.
ETA: oh Kronk, what would we do without you
……legit the whole alloy macguffin feels like it was copypasted from how mobile gacha games have weapon ascension work. And those games design it that way so you have a thousand things and confusing systems to grind to incentivize paying or at least daily login to be advertised at
in book 3 she finds out she needs to feed other black dragon units to Andarna to evolve her to her final growth stage. after an epic battle, they kill Melgren's dragon and use him for this purpose. but their celebrations are cut short when they realize...it wasn't enough. a single tear falls down Violet's face. "I'm sorry, Tairn...but Andarna is S-tier."
As someone called violet, I speak on behalf of all violets when I say that we don’t claim her.
For someone who just had her older brother come back from the dead, she really doesn't give a fuck aboht keeping him alive
47:15 LMAAAO! 🤭🤭
and, “wait a fuckin’ minute.” sksksksk i needed that chuckle. thank you. 😂
nothing to do with the content but I really appreciate the use of pictures! I'm not sure if they're intended mostly as a joke but they make it so useful to keep track of what's going on! so thanks for including those Rachel
So my choices of who gets casted is usually a joke but the use of them is to help everyone keep track! I’m a visual learner, wanted to make it easier on everyone else who is
Rachel: This is the first of a three-parter
Me: *rubs hands together in preparation
I am honestly tempted to write fanfiction about my theories I had after the first book because I think they arent even that bad after writing them down in the middle of the night after finishing it. Like I thought we are gonna have a big confrontation because she was so close to her dad that she blames her brother for his death and a Situation were we will have a fight and then suddenly her firends are the people they fight against and they have to see where their loyalties lay. But no they just go back to school like nothing happend....
But I was right about the mom sacrificing herself for her kids😂