Onyx Storm (Chapter 20 & Spotlight on Theme)
STATS
Title: Onyx Storm
Series: The Empyrean (Book 3)
Author(s): Rebecca Yarros
Genre: Fantasy (Epic)
First Printing: January 2025
Publisher: Red Tower Books
Rating: 1.5 / 10
SPOILER WARNING
Heavy spoilers will be provided for the entirety of The Empyrean up through the end of the content covered in this part. Mild spoilers for elements later in Onyx Storm may be provided, but I will keep the first paragraph of each section as spoiler-free as possible. Heavy spoilers from later in Onyx Storm will be confined to clearly labelled sections.
STORY
Violet just … returns to class … for the next week, despite also having work to do for the task force. She also finds time to interrogate Jack again.
On the day of the next task force meeting, Ridoc persuades Violet to add him to her list of handpicked riders for the task for, appealing to her emotions and showing off that his ice wielding Signet has reached unprecedented power levels.
The task force meeting begins. Violet is told about the new officers assigned to command the squad. She responds by pitching a tantrum, including insulting the rider leadership and the crown prince of Navarre to their faces. They then roll over and give her everything she wants.
PLOT
Montage
Pacing
As frustrating as I find it that Violet keeps going right back to class, I much prefer how Yarros handled it this time over how she handled it in Chapters 13 through 18.
Yarros condenses the one-week period between the start of the chapter and when Violet heads to the task force meeting into four long paragraphs - maybe one page of text (as my e-reader measures it).
She tells us how exhausting Violet’s schedule is.
She tells us of the research she’s doing to find a cure for Xaden.
She tells us of Violet’s findings from another interrogation of Jack.
She tells us of Violet finishing reading through Asher’s research “for the third time” and drawing conclusions from it. She doesn’t tell us what the conclusions are, both so that she can withhold information from the audience and so that she can break the theme.
This is very efficient. Yarros is getting us the important information without losing the small amount of momentum she’s started to build. It puts me in the mind of those moments in Xenos where we were told about important events happening elsewhere in the galaxy, thereby pushing Eisenhorn’s investigation forward. None of the information here is so important that we needed to be Shown it for the story to be effective, so time isn’t being wasted on it.
… that being said, a thought did occur to me while writing this part of the review.
Looking over these four paragraphs, I could very easily see how various scenes of relationship drama, power fantasy, and sexual tension could be crowbarred in, bloating each of these paragraphs into their own chapters. I could also see how the bulk of Chapters 13 through 18, save the moments where Violet is given the fetch quest and reads the message from Asher, could be dehydrated into four paragraphs of similar length. What I’m getting at here is that both this montage and Chapters 13 through 18 likely started as bullet points on an outline, listing background information and expositional bits that Violet would acquire during brief timeskip, and that Yarros simply choose to pump Chapters 13 through 18 full of filler while leaving this time skip alone.
The fact that one of these time skips is bloated into multiple chapters while the other is left as a montage is another reason why I suspect Yarros is trying to hit a minimum page count in each of these books. She could have montaged past Chapters 13 and 18 (frankly, past everything from Chapters 5 through 18), but then this book would be about 10% shorter. Possibly the only reason that she didn’t bloat up this montage as well was that her editor told her that she’d already written enough pages.
Tension
On the other side of the coin, as much as I appreciate Yarros keeping the pace going, that doesn’t change the reality that Violet, arguably the most essential member of the task force, is being burdened with classes.
Why isn’t the rider leadership removing her from classes so that she can focus solely on aiding the endeavor to save them all from annihilation?
The fact that Violet is still going to school drains away the tension. Saving the Continent from the venin is being treated as a club activity that needs to come after her other commitments. Why should we be worried if Violet is happily going back to class, despite it contributing to her mounting exhaustion? Yarros has Violet throw her weight around to get her way all the time, so even if the rider leadership is so incompetent as to tell Violet she needs to overload herself with non-essential activities, surely Violet could get out of it if she wants to. Our protagonist is choosing to waste time in school while death bears down on her and everyone she loves.
It just makes it hard to take any of this seriously. I don’t know why Yarros is so entrenched in this school concept. A quick look at her past books shows that most don’t appear to be school stories. She’s also going to have Violet leave the school shortly for the rainbow dragon hunt. Why, then, is it so hard for her to wrap her head around Violet not having perfect attendance while on-site at Basgiath?
Interrogation
Yarros spends most of the paragraph about the interrogation telling us what Violet didn’t learn in the interrogation, with only one clause that vaguely implies that Violet learned something.
He’s all too happy to tell me about asim progression …
Much like with the interrogation in Chapter 12, I find myself wondering why Violet is asking such a basic question if she already interrogated Jack multiple times prior to Chapter 12. The new information she learns seems to be the sort of thing one would ask in the second round of interrogations. As for the other questions she is implied to have asked - strategic information about his superiors, how Theophanie knew where and when Violet would go on the MacGuffin quest, etc. - while it does make sense to ask these questions in later interrogations, it only does in the sense that Violet would ask the same questions each time she visits to see if she catches Jack in a good mood.
I starting suspect that Yarros didn’t actually have a plan in mind for Violet interrogating Jack multiple times. Seems like the interrogation in Chapter 12 should have been reframed to be the first one, with that being the first window of opportunity that Violet and Imogen had to get to Jack.
Also … Violet is once again visiting Jack. We can assume she is again bribing him by feeding him, since he has no other reason to talk to her. How is no one noticing that he’s been fed yet again?
Power Fantasy
This scene.
This … infuriating … scene.
Yarros did not need to write this scene for the plot to progress. She could have had Violet gather up her accessories and Xaden and set out on the rainbow dragon hunt on their own, without waiting for the blessing of the rider leadership. After all, a big deal has been made about how awesome Violet is for rebelling. Violet also defied orders in Chapter 10 by going into Poromiel, and she will defy orders again during the rainbow dragon hunt by not returning to Navarre between islands. Why not have her rebel this time as well?
But no. We couldn't get that. Yarros has a grudge against the American military leadership for not groveling before her (and I will explain how I know that shortly). We therefore need to sit through her fantasy of browbeating their stand-ins into acknowledging the authority of her self-insert Mary Sue, regardless of how little sense it makes within the narrative and how it further erodes the credibility of her antagonists. It is more of our time wasted on masturbation.
Let’s get into it. I will go over the scene first, then double back to explain how I know what Yarros is actually doing here.
The Scene
Before the scene even starts - before Ridoc even makes his argument - we get this.
Presenting to Halden is bad enough, but I skipped breakfast knowing the entire Senarium waits for me, most likely to assign a new commander.
And I’m not accepting one.
In other words … Yarros told us the outcome of this scene before it started. Her self-insert Mary Sue always gets what she wants. All tension is out the window.
The meeting starts with Violet being told the new command assignment for the squad. She counters it by projecting full blame for a problem she contributed to onto Grady and the rider leadership, while also making the salvation of the Continent all about her with the heavy use of first-person pronouns.
“We lost two riders out there because you saddled me with a squad full of people who don’t know or trust one another. Yes, I have the artifact, and I’ll take it to Deverelli, but only with a squad of my choosing.
Remember how Violet's reasoning for hating the original squad was that she had trust issues? Did Yarros forget that she established that while failing to show mistrust in the opposite direction?
When Markham tries to apply logic to Violet’s objections, her response is:
“You don’t speak,” I snap, meeting his gaze for the first time in months. “Not to me. As far as I’m concerned, you have the credibility of a drunkard and the integrity of a rat. You dare complain about missing six years of information on Aretia when you’ve hidden centuries of our continent’s history from public knowledge?”
I will be coming back to this line in the spotlight. For now, let’s skip ahead to his response.
“You cannot speak to a superior officer, let alone command of a quadrant, with such disrespect!” Markham roars, coming out of his chair.
“In case you missed it when I cross the parapet, I am not in your chain of command,” I fire back.
This is nonsense. Not being in the chain of command does not grant carte blanche for unprofessional behavior in any setting, let alone in a military. Sure, this is a fictional world where the military can have its own rules, but the fact that respect is expected towards a superior officer makes it clear that this much is the same as in our own world.
Moving right along:
“But you are in mine,” Aetos warns. “And I speak with the authority of Melgren.”
Fury gets the best of me. “And I speak with the authority of Tairn, Andarna, and the Empyrean. Or did you forget that two dragons also lost their riders?”
Since WHEN does Violet speak for the entirety of the Empyrean? And if that’s true, why would Melgren’s and Aetos’s dragons not order them to bend knee before now? This is such nonsense that Violet might as well have screamed, “I have the power of God and anime on my side!”
Then Halden intervenes.
“Sit, Markham,” Halden orders, a note of surprise in his tone. “You tried and failed.”
Markham sinks into his chair.
“We’ll give this one shot. Name your squad for the Deverelli mission, Cadet Sorrengail,” Halden says. “But know that if you fail, we’ll assign another commander, and refusing to continue will negate the terms of the Second Aretia Accord.
The one that gave Xaden back his title.
I swallow the lump in my throat. No pressure or anything.
In other words, because Violet pitched this tantrum, her ex-boyfriend flexed his authority and gave her everything she wanted.
This begs the question: why was this scene necessary? Remember, in Chapter 17, Halden was already willing to flex to give Violet what she wanted. If he already thought Markham and the rider leadership had failed, why did he not do so again immediately, rather than waiting until Violet behaved like a spoiled child in front of all these high-ranking officials?
Also, since negating the terms of the Second Aretia Accord is on the table, how is it that the Accord did not fall apart the instant Violet’s treason with the wardstone was revealed? More presently, how is it that Halden and the rider leadership can’t simply tell her, “Shut up, if you don’t comply with our orders, than the Second Aretia Accord is nullified?” The fact Halden can so casually threaten future action means he has the authority to execute that threat now. There’s no way the Second Aretia Accord had a provision for a scenario this specific, so he clearly has some broader authority to do this that is simply being applied to a specific situation. If he’s going to apply it for this threat, he has the means to do more, and he certainly has the motive to do more as well.
The remainder of the scene sees Violet argue for specific members for her squad members, aided by Xaden. Both show their appreciation for Halden’s intervention by verbally abusing him to his face, with Xaden further acting like an egotistical asshole who thumbs his nose at the king’s authority (which, again, seems like something that should get his position revoked). Xaden is also dumb enough to utter this line:
“My father led a rebellion,” Xaden says without taking his eyes off me. “I took part in a revolution. There’s a difference in the words, from what I’m told.”
Setting aside the obvious fact that these idiots (and the woman who wrote them) still don’t understand what either of those words mean, why is THIS not enough to sanction Xaden or nullify the Second Aretia Accord? He is proudly brandishing his defiance, despite having signed a treaty to cooperate in the name of peace and mutual survival. Couple that with his general disrespect of the king’s heir, and he’s clearly not someone who can be trusted with as much power as he currently has.
The Takeaway
This scene was an utterly embarrassing exercise in self-indulgent power fantasy.
Within the narrative, there was no reason for events to play out this way. If the rider leadership wanted to do things their way before Violet showed up, they had all the leverage they needed to immediately shut her up when she started raving. If Halden wants to intervene on her behalf, he had everything he needed to do so before the meeting.
The only reason that the meeting plays out the way that it did is that Yarros wanted to showcase her self-insert Mary Sue putting the mean military men in their place. She wanted to rage and hurl insults and generally conduct herself in a manner that would be humiliating for a small child, yet be rewarded for it.
It would have been so easy to avoid this scene and arrive at the same narrative position. The rider leadership could have shut Violet down, thereby forcing her to go rogue and sneak out Navarre with their chosen squad (perhaps making use of Garrick’s Signet for their escape). Halden could have handed her the power she craved without the meeting. Violet could have even made her complaints, been ignored, and then been proven right during the Deverelli excursion, thereby providing cause for Halden and the rider leadership to hand her what she wanted as a result of being proven right.
If Yarros really wanted to go with the power of God and anime, she could have given us a scene to show how Violet got that power. Violet could have gone behind the leadership's backs to talk directly to the Empyrean, thereby winning the support of the dragons so that she could make this power play. Sure, such a scene has every chance as going as horribly wrong as this one did, but if executed well, it would be power that Violet earned. At least then this farce with the rider leadership would serve as a triumphant payoff of sorts.
But no. We can’t have good storytelling. Yarros’s self-indulgence must always come first.
The Letter
I read this scene before looking into this letter, but I had heard of it. It’s one of the things that keeps getting casually mentioned in the various articles meant to market Yarros. Having looked into the matter, it’s now clear to me that this particular power fantasy was one Yarros had brooded upon for half a decade.
The letter in question was posted in Rebecca Yarros’s blog on February 21st, 2019. Much like the blog itself, the letter had since been taken down. However, articles regarding it, such as the one written for Task & Purpose on March 2nd, 2019 (and reposted on Military.com on March 4th, 2019) still exist.
The short version is that, in 2019, Yarros’s husband finished up an enlistment contract and was offered a $105,000 bonus to re-enlist. Yarros did not appreciate this. After multiple deployments, one of which involved her husband’s face being partially blown off, she was quite sick of supporting combat operations in the Middle East and felt her husband “deserves peace”.
I applaud Yarros for writing this letter. It is the right of every American citizen to criticize the military that protects them. While I doubt the letter had the slightest impact on the American military’s decisions, the article states that it provided a rallying point for other military spouses with shared grievances, so it can at least be argued that Yarros helped people by posting it. I do find it slightly suspicious that the Task & Purpose article used photographs that look like they came from an author press package, and I can’t help but notice that Yarros’s novel The Last Letter was released on February 26th of that same year (so a week after her letter to the military and a week before the article). Still, the former is a matter of convenience, and the latter could genuinely be a coincidence. I’m willing to extend Yarros the benefit of the doubt here and take this letter at face value.
Here’s the problem: there’s is a massive difference between taking a stand on something in real life and detailing your fantasized outcome for that stand in a fictional narrative. The former is often aspirational. The latter needs to be handled incredibly carefully to avoid disrespecting the audience. Readers come to fiction, particularly escapist fiction like Romance and Fantasy, to be entertained by a good story and potentially to read something thought-provoking in the process. Forcing the audience to stand by while one raves about what one “deserves” is just embarrassing.
This power fantasy filler was insufferable enough on a first read, and it’s even worse on a second. However, with the added knowledge of this letter’s existence, plus Yarros’s previous statement about Romance being “beautiful” because woman can say what they “deserve”, it is disgusting. I’d go so far as to say that it retroactively poisons the act of writing that letter.
With this one scene, Yarros demonstrates that she wasn’t content with exercising her right to free speech or with providing a rallying cry for others who shared her stated grievances. What she truly desired was submission. She wanted power over the people running the military, for them to bow down before her, for her to do things her way. That would be fine if it was something she kept to herself or posted for free on her blog. Better yet, it could have been fantastic if Yarros used her voting power as a citizen to elect official with the power to apply the necessary pressure to the military. For her to ram this into her fiction, with zero care as to the damage it does to the narrative, just demonstrates that she puts vomiting up her entitlement before entertaining her audience. We are secondary to her own self-gratification.
CHARACTER
Violet
Most of what I need to evaluate for Violet was already covered while discussing the power fantasy or will be covered while discussing the Theme. However, I think her reaction to learning that Ridoc can freeze the water in someone’s body is … something.
Well, that’s unsettling. And glorious. And horrific. All of the above, really.
It is “glorious” that Violet’s friend can murder people by freezing the water in their bodies. Sure, she says it is “unsettling” and “horrific”, but she makes sure to hammer it that it is “glorious” with the “all of the above” conclusion.
I mean … I guess it is consistent. Violet values power above all else. Her accessory having the power to horrifically kill those who oppose her is absolutely something she would appreciate.
Ridoc
I really want to like the scene where Ridoc convinces Violet to add him to her quest squad.
This is one of those moments which could have been great if Onyx Storm did not share continuity with Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. If I had not read those previous books, and thus could be left to imagine Ridoc’s role prior to Onyx Storm, this could be quite satisfying.
Even in the larger continuity, this moment somewhat works as character development for Ridoc. We see him drop his usually quippy, carefree demeanor and speak from the heart. This is a good step on his personal arc.
The problem is that, as presented, this scene not merely a step on an arc. It is presented as a payoff, and it’s not going to be advanced within this book. So much of the emotion tied into this scene depends upon the past relationship between Violet and her accessories. Much like in Iron Flame, this relationship does not exist.
Ridoc’s plea is broken down into two parts: a moment of pathos to convince Violet and a rebuke to Sawyer (and, I suspect, the audience) for not taking him seriously. This is followed by the reveal of his ice wielding reaching new heights of power.
Pathos
Ridoc's argument to Violet consists of two large paragraphs. I’m just going to show the first one, since that’s where the actual pathos is. The second paragraph is just him explaining why none of the other accessories could go in his place, so there’s nothing worth breaking down there.
“What’s this really about?” I reach for his upper arm, and the four of us pause ten feet shy of the door.
“I just…need to go.” He looks away and grips the orange in both hands. “One of us needs to go with you. Ever since…” Pain flashes through his dark-brown eyes as he brings his gaze back to mine. “Ever since Athebyne, one of us has been by your side.” He lifts his finger. “Except the time you snuck out on your little siblings-only trip to Cordyn. The school splits, and we go with you. Basgiath falls under attack, and we’re there. Heading into Poromiel for Maren’s brothers? It’s us. We get separated, and you either get dragged into an interrogation chamber and tortured for days or nearly roasted by Aura’s fire, and I know I can’t be the only one who thought, if Liam had been here, keeping watch over you, it never would have happened.” He swing sthat finger toward Rhiannon and Sawyer. “You both know it crossed your minds.”
I find myself right back where I was during the climax of Iron Flame. This is a character moment that would have worked … if it came from Liam. Liam was a character. The accessories are cutouts.
As Yarros herself points out with her comment about the trip to Cordyn (Chapters 40 through 42 of Iron Flame), Violet’s story proceeds independently of her accessories. Yes, they are physically present in scenes such as the defection, the battle in the climax of Iron Flame, and the Archives heist, but they interchangeable background characters in all of these instances. Violet’s dynamics with Imogen, Bodhi, and Garrick are all stronger than her bonds with these supposedly inseparable friends of hers, because at least those three operate in the same narrative space at her.
When Violet does spend time with her accessories, it is filler. It’s relationship drama that doesn't impact the narrative, it’s weightless power fantasy, and it's … I was going to give three things here, but honestly, that's it. The singular scene where Violet’s accessories felt like characters of their own, where they shared in her journey and were narratively relevant, was the second RSC exercise. That's a start, but only a start. It is not nearly enough to support what Ridoc is laying out here.
Imagine if Yarros gave the accessories the same characterization and relevance that Liam got. If she had done this, this scene would be an incredible payoff. As it is, it just feels limp.
Rebuke
Ridoc’s eyes narrow. “I’m just as good of a fighter as any of you, and while you’ve been focused on rehab and Rhiannon is chasing first-years to keep them in line, I’ve been the one reading every fucking book Jesinia shoves at me and spending extra hours training—” The skin on the orange splits. “It really pisses me off when you guys act like my sense of humor somehow lessens my ability to show up for our squad.”
There’s two angles to consider here: what's on the page, and whether Yarros may be addressing the audience.
I want to like this as a development for Ridoc, but it comes out of nowhere. When has anyone acted like Ridoc’s humor lessens his ability to contribute? All I can think of was people brushing off that he could have saved Violet in Chapter 2, but that was because of practical realities of the situation, not because of his sense of humor. If anything, him insisting he be taken seriously in such of a situation hurt his credibility more than any joke he could have told. Ridoc’s earlier efforts to be put onto the quest squad were brushed off as well, but that was because he didn’t sound like he was being serious, not because people were challenging his competence.
This is why I think this moment may be directed at the audience, rather than the other characters. Yarros wants Ridoc to go on this mission. However, she must also realize that she has characterized him in a way that makes it impossible for us to take him seriously. Rather than write a conflict by which Ridoc tries to earn the group’s respect (thereby earning ours through his effort), she is just having him complain about the corner she wrote him into.
Power
I’m going to get into the worldbuilding implications of Ridoc’s Signet in a moment. For now, let’s just consider why Yarros revealed it right now.
Immediately following Ridoc rebuking Liam, we get the reveal.
“Ridoc,” I whisper, staring at the orange. “What did you do?”
“I’ve been trying to tell you.” He hands me the fruit, and it immediately chills my hands. “You aren’t the only one who’s been spending hours honing their signet.”
Using my thumb, I peel back the rind. The fruit of the orange is frozen solid beneath it. “How did you do it?”
“I’ve always been able to draw water out of the air,” he says. “Plus, I get bored waiting for Sawyer to wake up when he rests—no offense—and if there’s one thing healers are good at, it’s leaving fruit lying around. I realized I could freeze the water in the fruit.”
My lips part as my mind spins through the implications.
The “implications” are that he can freeze the water inside someone’s body, something that is apparently unprecedented. After processing this, Violet agrees to bring Ridoc along, though she insists it is because of his pathos rather than his power.
I strongly suspect that Yarros did this to convince the audience that Ridoc was worth bringing along. We previously were never told the typical limits of ice wielders. Now, Yarros is slapping limits onto other ice wielders so that Ridoc seems more impressive by comparison.
“Holy shit, man.” Sawyer moves in closer. “Can other ice wielders do that?”
“I don’t think so?” Ridoc shakes his head. “Turns out there’s only a few of us who can even pull the water from the air.”
We were previously made to believe that Ridoc was nothing special. The fact he suddenly becomes special immediatelt after rebuking people for not taking him seriously is oddly convenient.
Mira
Why is Yarros so desperate to make me hate this bitch? Is she tired of her self-insert Mary Sue being the worst person in the series?
Let’s take a moment to consider all the emphasis put on rider and fliers working together. It was a pivotal part of the peace treaty. Violet was complaining about fliers not being represented at the meeting in Chapter 14. In this very meeting, she blamed Markham for assembling a squad of people who didn’t trust each other.
So, what does Mira do when she recognizes a flier who Violet hand-picked for the squad in the name of building trust?
“You were instrumental in bringing the wards down in the Montserrat offensive last year.” Her eyes narrow.
“I was.” His grin expands.
She knees him straight in the groin.
Hey, remember Chapters 5 and 6, when only the bad people had any issues with fliers?
WORLDBUILDING
Ridoc’s Ice Wielding Signet
Just a quick refresher on what Yarros said to amplify Ridoc’s power level by nerfing every other ice wielder.
“Ridoc,” I whisper, staring at the orange. “What did you do?”
“I’ve been trying to tell you.” He hands me the fruit, and it immediately chills my hands. “You aren’t the only one who’s been spending hours honing their signet.”
Using my thumb, I peel back the rind. The fruit of the orange is frozen solid beneath it. “How did you do it?”
“I’ve always been able to draw water out of the air,” he says. “Plus, I get bored waiting for Sawyer to wake up when he rests—no offense—and if there’s one thing healers are good at, it’s leaving fruit lying around. I realized I could freeze the water in the fruit.”
…
“Holy shit, man.” Sawyer moves in closer. “Can other ice wielders do that?”
“I don’t think so?” Ridoc shakes his head. “Turns out there’s only a few of us who can even pull the water from the air.”
What Yarros has effectively done here is retroactively reduced the power level of every other ice wielder to make Ridoc seem more powerful. We never had any understanding of what the limits of ice wielding were. If anything, her little editing error with Liam made hurling ice spears seem like the norm.
Now, ice wielding is apparently one of the weakest Signets in existence, save for the lucky few.
This is not how one establishes a power as being special.
Comparison to Bloodbending
Given the power to manipulate water inside a human body, I think the most relevant comparison here is bloodbending from the Avatar franchise. In all of The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, only five bloodbenders were ever established:
Hama, the original creator of the technique. She developed it out if desperation while imprisoned in inhumane conditions for several years. When she realized she could sense the water inside the bodies of rats during the full moon, she practiced bending said water, eventually progressing to the point she could attack her guards and force them to release her.
Katara, the first waterbender Hama had the chance to pass the technique to. Katara is undeniably a powerful waterbender, able to overpower Hama’s bloodbending grip on her first try. However, she’s not special. We saw her work her way up to that power level through sheer dedication over the course of the previous two and a half seasons. Katara herself knows she is not special, as she was the one who led the effort to have bloodbending outlawed. She knew other waterbenders could and would master and abuse the technique once knowledge that it was possible spread to the wider world.
Yakone, a waterbenders who mastered and abused the technique once people learned it was possible. Now, Yakone was a prodigy. Not only did he advance bloodbending to the point that he could use it without the full moon, but he was a psychic bender, able to manipulate water without any of the accompanying martial arts. He also trained his son's after losing his bending, demonstrating a deep level of knowledge to compensate for a lack of practical demonstration. Even so, the immense dedication shown to training Noatak and Tarrlok as bloodbenders, along with their own successes in the technique, demonstrate that work ethic was ultimately more important than raw power.
Noatak mastered his Yakone’s teachings, including bloodbending without a full moon and psychic bloodbending. He further advanced the art to the point that he could subtly use it while pretending to be a mundane martial artist and could strip others of bending if he could get his hands on their heads. Again, though, he had the benefit of his father’s training, along with a strong ideological motivation to obliterate all other benders. His abilities are fully explained by decades of additional study and training.
Tarrlok was deemed a failure on the eyes of both his father and Noatak (and, indeed, in a flash of bloodbenders, Noatak utterly destroyed him). However, this was not an issue of power. Tarrlok did not enjoy the training and didn’t want to inflict the pain of being bloodbent onto others. He lacked the motivation to reach their power levels. This, while he did achieve the skill necessary to bloodbend without the full moon, his skills plateaued the instant Yakone stopped training him.
Also this is to say that, while bloodbenders are incredibly powerful among waterbenders, this is not because they are inherently special. These abilities are earned. The only reason the setting is not overrun with bloodbenders is for reasons that are fully explained by external factors within the setting.
If the creators of Avatar had done things Yarros’s way, then Katara would have been established as a bloodbender in Season 1 and demonstrated the technique on multiple occassions, and it wouldn’t be until “The Puppetmaster” (near the midpoint of Season 3) that we finally learned that no other waterbenders can use the technique, despite no waterbenders ever commenting on Katara using it.
Had Yarros followed the Avatar model, she could have simply established that Ridoc had being training hard in his Signet and was now ahead of the curve for a second-year rider. That would have further developed his character by showing that he is indeed taking things seriously.
SPOTLIGHT: THEME
In the retrospective to Iron Flame, we touched upon how Power, not Knowledge or History, is what The Empyrean truly enshrines. I made this closing remark.
Yarros talks big about history in her interviews, but history is merely the prize. The struggle is over the power that allows history to be manipulated. With how Violet and Xaden are characterized, if they were the ones with the power to control the interpretation of history, they would absolutely prioritize revisions to service their views and agendas over unfiltered truth. Violet demonstrated this very clearly with her efforts to blame Dain for Xaden’s actions. If Yarros ever puts them in a position to control the historical narrative of Navarre, I suspect she will change her tune and say how it’s a good thing that the right people are the ones in power now.
I am really, really starting to hate how predictable Yarros can be.
Hypocrisy
In Onyx Storm, it is Violet, along with those acting on her behalf, who seek to control information and manipulate what others are allowed to know.
She hides the fact that Andarna can kill venin, despite the fact that this is another reason to make contact with the irids, and refuses to let anyone “examine” Andarna, despite Andarna being one of their best sources of information on irids.
She self-censors reports, despite those reports containing vital information, only to turn around and get upset at the rider leadership for not publicly confirming the information that she is trying to bury.
She arranges for the theft of her father's research to keep it away from General Aetos and Markham.
In all of this, Violet never has a substantial reason to bury information, only flimsy excuses that disintegrate if one applies the slightest bit of thought to them.
In the case of Andarna, she claims that other people might “endanger” Andarna, despite the fact that all the people she’s withholding information from have every reason to do the exact opposite of endangering Andarna.
Self-censoring the reports is about protecting her image and avoiding some arbitrary threat of “misinformation”, the latter of which she contributes to by withholding the facts she is aware of.
Since the climax of Iron Flame, we have been shown nothing but openess and honesty from the scribes and rider leadership. They are now distributing the latest intel on venin to the riders. For Violet to accuse them of suppressing information at this point is pure projection.
Imminent Collapse
This keeps going in Chapter 20. The last paragraph of that opening montage reads:
But once I finally make my way through my dad’s manuscript for the third time and scour the research that behemoth requires, I have an inkling of a thought of where he might have been headed in his hypothesis. I keep it to myself, partially because I’m because I’m scared to be wrong but mostly because I’m terrified I’m right. When Varrish mentioned last year that he thought the research dealt with feathertails, I never imagined it would lead in this direction.
How did Melgren’s lifeboat analogy in Chapter 57 of Iron Flame go again?
“When you abandon ship inthe middle of a hurricane, you save those you can in the dinghy, then cut the hands off anyone else who tries to climb aboard so they don’t pull you under.”
The scribes and rider leadership because … they were afraid. Specifically, they were afraid that helping Poromiel would lead to Navarre’s destruction as well. Saying this made Melgren an “evil villain”, but it’s okay for Violet to retrace those steps for selfish reasons? At least Melgren, Markham, and their associates feared for the survival of Navarre. Violet only cares about her own mental well-being.
Then, as Violet is going into the meeting, we get this line.
Half the tables and benches in the hall have been pushed to the sides, leaving an open space in front of the long center table, where the members of the Senarium sitfacing us, and they’re not alone. Aetos and Markham flank Halden, who sits in the center of the group, listening to whatever lies Markham whispers.
WHAT LIES?! For this entire book thus far, Markham has gone along with the new policy of openness and honesty! It’s been established that Battle Brief is now giving accurate information and holding nothing back! There was a scene earlier where the cadets were given “a little anthology” book of venin lore, which just have been printed on a press, which Markham and the scribes control!!! Yarros hasn’t just not shown that Markham is still lying to anyone. She has gone out of her way to demonstrate that he has already submitted to Violet’s will on this matter!
You know who Violet sounds like at this point?
“Oh no,” said Umbridge, smiling so widely that she looked as though she had just swallowed a particularly juicy fly. “Oh no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Mr. Potter, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one’s convenience.”
Yarros is having her self-insert Mary Sue project onto Markham yet again, just like with the gaslighting in the last book.
This, however, is not the low point of this book that pushed it down to a 0.5. It’s not what broke the themes of this series beyond the point of no return.
No, that honor goes to a quote we already covered.
The Killing Blow
“You don’t speak,” I snap, meeting his gaze for the first time in months. “Not to me. As far as I’m concerned, you have the credibility of a drunkard and the integrity of a rat. You dare complain about missing six years of information on Aretia when you’ve hidden centuries of our continent’s history from public knowledge?”
The reason I did not spell out what promoted this outburst when dissecting the power fantasy is because it comes into play here.
You see, as part of the effort to find the rainbow dragons - you know, this quest that is currently acknowledged as the best, if not only, hope to save them all from annihilation - Markham wants no stone to be left unturned. It would, after all, be a travesty if some critical piece of lore (or, say, forgotten research notes left behind by a deceased scribe) were kept looked up in someone’s private library rather than being evaluated by the task force. To this end, Markham wants scribes and riders who weren’t part of the defection to scour Aretia for any relevant informtion.
I cross the freshly mopped floor and take the scroll, then step back so I’m in line with Ridoc and give my orders a quick read. We will leave for Deverelli the day after tomorrow, meet with the king to try to negotiate an alliance, secure a foothold for expanding the search if we don’t find Andarna’s kind there, then report back, all under the command of Captain Henson and executive officer Lieutenant Pugh.
While Markham and Melgren search Aretia for any clues we have missed.
This sounds fair enough. Aretia has agreed to formal reintegration into Navarre as part of the peace process, and besides, they have nothing to hide. The only secret being kept at this point (outside of whatever information Violet is hoarding) is Xaden’s status as a venin, and that’s been pretty easy to conceal thus far. I’m sure Violet and her accessories will have a good laugh about Melgren and Markham wasting their time while they go to save -
“Did you read this?” It takes all I have not to crush the orders. “They want to search Aretia.”
“They can get fucked.”
“No,” I say to Halden.
“I’m sorry?” Halden leans forward.
“I said no.” I rip the orders in half. “No to your commander. No to your selections. No to searching Aretia. No.”
Uh … Violet? What are you doing?
Markham is baffled too, because he tries to explain himself. He trained Violet for years, after all, and he knows her to be a “rational woman”. Surely, when he presents it in plain terms, she will understand.
“Searching Aretia is the first logical course of action, considering it is the only area we have no information on—” Markham starts, his cheeks leaning toward ruddy.
“You don’t speak,” I snap, meeting his gaze for the first time in months. “Not to me. As far as I’m concerned, you have the credibility of a drunkard and the integrity of a rat. You dare complain about missing six years of information on Aretia when you’ve hidden centuries of our continent’s history from public knowledge?”
And just like that, the theme is dead.
Violet has no reason to refuse this search. This isn’t like the previous books, where Yarros pretended Violet was shielding Andarna. There is no pretense of protecting people’s feelings by withholding information that might make those people feel like they don’t “matter”.
In this moment, Violet is refusing to share information because she has the POWER to refuse to share information, and she is using that power to spite someone she does not like. Whereas Markham, the man who bent the knee in the face of inevitability and reversed centuries of precedent, is the seeker of KNOWLEDGE (particularly knowledge of HISTORY) to save Navarre and Poromiel from annihilation. Their roles have reversed … and Yarros is presenting Violet as squarely in the right, with zero self-awareness of what she is doing.
Accusing Markham of hypocrisy does not fix this. In fact, it backfires. Violet is trying to crucify Markham for behavior he has already repented and is actively atoning for. Meanwhile, she’s willfully and needlessly engages in the behavior that he discarded. She is the hypocrite that she accuses him of being.
But then again, maybe I’m being overdramatic. The theme isn’t really dead.
After all, Yarros’s stated theme was never really what this series was about, was it?
Power Above All
The fact that Yarros’s stated theme is shattered in a power fantasy scene it a perfect embodiment of the true theme of this series.
Violet doesn’t just obstruct the seeker of knowledge and bury an attempt to uncover the true history. She does so purely as an exercise of her own power - and that is only one such exercise in this chapter. That same power is used to shut down the seeker of knowledge is also applied to force all these people with greater authority and experience than her to bend the knee to her demands. Bear in mind that these scene also comes immediately after Yarros tries to get us to take Ridoc seriously by giving him more power.
This all comes after this particular quote in Chapter 12, when Xaden is explaining the double Signets to Violet.
I nod. “How often do second signets accompany these particular relics?” My fingers trail down the side of his neck.
“Often enough to be sure Kaori can’t possibly have accurate records, but not too completely that anyone questions why I only present with one,” he answers. “Our dragons came looking for us. They knew what they were doing.”
“Giving you a better chance of survival?” I rest my hand over his heart.
“If you wax sentimental. More like building their own army.” A corner of his mouth rises. “More signets equal more power.”
“Right.”
Xaden expresses triumph at the dragons handing his dragon (who are Violet’s allies) “more POWER”. He could have expressed pride that these dragons were taking a stand to help Poromiel when the rest of the Empyrean wouldn’t. He could have expressed gratitude in the dragons for something related to the idea of knowledge or history. But, no - that’s not what’s important here. The raw power being shoveled in his direction is.
And Violet agrees with him, thereby granting this idea the holy sanction of the self-insert Mary Sue.
All of this, on top of all the power Yarros had shoveled to her self-insert Mary Sue either directly or by powering up Violet’s accessories, her sex object, and his allies, exposes what this narrative truly values. And since we are meant to find this book “beautiful” and “destigmatizing” for no other reason than that it is a platform for a woman to tell everyone what she “deserves”, it’s clear that these are Yarros’s true values as well. This is a perfect example of an author’s true colors being revealed through patterns in the narrative.
This continues throughout this book and into interviews Yarros has done to market Onyx Storm. Time and again, focus is out on Violet wanting power or how noble characters are for giving up their own power. The climax of this book includes no fewer than three massive power boosts to Violet and her team, one of which includes God and anime while another involves a direct one-up on Melgren’s magical prowess. I’ll highlight a few of these examples, but at a certain point, it stopped being productive to call out every example. Meanwhile, knowledge and history fade so far from relevance that they only come up in the sense of burying knowledge about power to keep the rider leadership from reacting to that power.
Perhaps what makes this all so frustrating is that Yarros herself clearly has no idea what she’s done. She bulldozes onward with this conviction that she’s opposing “people who only want power for power’s sake”, claiming she has “a hard time writing those characters”, but that’s just projection. The only non-venin characters in her novels who accumulate “power for power’s sake” are her self-insert Mary Sue and those who support said self-insert Mary Sue, all in the name of serving a power fantasy. Meanwhile, all the non-venin antagonists (the people she projects this vice onto) accumulated power to serve a status quo that they believed to be essential for their survival in the face of an unwinnable war. These are not nice people, and an argument could be made that they should not be in power anymore for what they did, but any abuses of their power were shortcuts that, in their minds, would save Navarre. Even with Draconis (the specific example of “power for power’s sake” that Yarros gave in the linked interview), his abuses were done in the name of preserving the status quo of survival.
And you know what? That would be fine if it was intentional and done with any amount of self-awareness. Yarros could have told a good story that explored the hypocrisies of those who rage against existing systems of POWER and then begin abusing their one POWER as soon as they get the upper hand.
It’s a shame that telling a good story that does anything meaningful with these themes is secondary to her self-indulgence.
ISLAND OF HATS 1: THE ISLAND WITH NO HAT
Thank you all for bearing with me through this third Spotlight. The good news is that we won’t have to do another one until Chapter 40, which won’t be coming around until late September. We can pick up the pace dramatically. Good thing, too - the time has come to begin the search for the rainbow dragons.
On August 1st, we’ll analyze the first leg of that search, as Violet and her chosen squad journey to Deverelli. It’s also the first glimpse of the Planet of Hats-style religious worldbuilding that Yarros uses to give the islands distinct cultures.
… at least, I would say that, except she didn’t even try with Deverelli.
There is so little to distinguish Deverelli from Navarre and Poromiel, outside of superficial details, that two different characters from need to bluntly spell out in dialogue how their worldview differs from Navarre’s. Even then, those explanations make no sense. This island reads as though Yarros wrote three islands’ worth of original cultures, only to get bored and give up on the last one … except she then decided to put that throwaway island first, thereby removing the contrast that might have at least served as a stand-in for its own identity.
I’ll have more to say about this worldbuilding disaster next time. However, while there are plenty of flaws with the plot and character work as well, this section manages to more or less hold itself together. We will therefore be able to go all the way through Chapter 21 through Chapter 28 in a single post.
Thank you all for bearing with me. I hope you’ll join me for this next stage in the journey. Please remember to subscribe for the newsletter if you’d like a weekly e-mail with all the latest post links. Have a great week, everyone.
