Onyx Storm (Chapter 45 to Chapter 47)
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.
EPIGRAPHS
I’m putting this prior to the actual breakdown of Story because it isn’t relevant to this week’s analysis. However, both of the following epigraphs will be very important to the Romance Spotlight on November 7th. I just want to quote them here so that they're in the backs of your minds.
Chapter 45
I think I started falling for you that night in the tree when I watched you with the marked ones, but I began tumbling the day you gave me Tairn’s saddle. You’ll give some self-serving excuse, but the truth is you’re kinder than you want people to know. Maybe kinder than you know.
— Recovered Correspondence of Cadet Violet Sorrengail to His Grace, Lieutenant Xaden Riorson, Sixteenth Duke of Tyrrendor
Chapter 46
When this is over, we should take as much leave as they’ll give us and spend it all in Aretia. We can figure out what life is supposed to look like without the daily threat of death. You can govern the province you love during the day, then slide into bed with me at night. Or I can always join you in the Assembly chamber. You do some of your best work on that throne.
— Recovered Correspondence of Cadet Violet Sorrengail to His Grace, Lieutenant Xaden Riorson, Sixteenth Duke of Tyrrendor
STORY
Violet has a nightmare that is very obviously not a normal dreams, complete with her insisting to us (really Yarros insisting to the audience), that, “It was just a damned dream. A very visceral one, but a dream nonetheless.”
Violet attends a training exercise where riders and fliers and meant to jump off mount, kill a venin in close quarters, and their get back on their mount quickly. What follows is a repeat of the Signet Sparring training, with a lot of meaningless action that’s just meant to look cool and make noise while simultaneously opening plot holes. What’s noteable here is that not only Violet but several of her classmates outright fail the exercise, yet Yarros treats them all as creative and “magnificent” successes. Violet talks to Xaden about when he'll) be ready to have sex again. The discussion ends when Felix arrives form Aretia and announces that the wards there will likely fail within a month.
While discussing an impeding transfer to Aretia, Violet and her accessories happen upon Xaden and Lewellen arguing with Halden and the Duke of Calldyr about Tyrrendor taking in refugees against the edicts of the King of Navarre. Xaden openly threatens to murder Halden if Navarre exerts its legal authority by sending troops in Tyrrendor to stop him. A Red Shirt who witnesses the scene then manifests a shadow Signet. Xaden takes this as a sign that he is too far gone as a venin to he saved and goes off to brood.
On the day of the transfer, Violet encourages Sawyer as he finally mounts his dragon again for the first time since losing his leg. Violet and the accessories then fly to Aretia. Once there, Brennan reveals to Violet in private that he has been working with Xaden to try to reverse the venin condition, which gives Violet hope.
PLOT
Dream Sequence
Foreshadowing and Sue-hood
It was just a damned dream. A very visceral one, but a dream nonetheless.
In most cases, Violet’s status as a Mary Sue destroys any mystery she comes across. We know that any wild and implausible conclusion she draws will eh correct. Therefore, if she writes off something mysterious as not being important, we can reasonably conclude the same.
However, in the case of Violet’s dreams and her using magic on Unnbriel, we have the opposite case. Yarros is using Violet’s denial of something very obviously out of the ordinary and using it to turn and wink at the audience. It’s some of the least subtle foreshadowing imaginable. It is painful clear that what Yarros is setting up is the opposite of what Violet concludes.
There are two reasons why I think these latter examples do not reverse or balance out the corrupting touch if Sue-ness.
Yarros is being so heavy-handed that her own influence overshadows that of her self-insert. We can see the hand of the author at work here. Something that is fundamentally incongruous with Violet’s conclusions is being shoved in our faces, and it’s not happening in the service of a power fantasy. In the case of the dreams, there's also the matter if dreams with narrative significance being a well-worn trope, so the fact Yarros is showing us the dreams without engaging with the issues that tmight produce such dreams makes it obvious that they are not, in fact, just dreams.
In these cases, Violet is coming to the wrong conclusion for the right reasons. She isn’t writing off obviously suspicious behavior and sweeping it under the rug; she is coming to a rational conclusion based upon the established rules of the world. This means that Yarros can reveal the truth later without it marring Violet’s intellgience and without having to project onto other characters for lying to the audience.
On that last note, while Yarros is obviously presenting false information to the audience by pretending this dream is just a dream, this is not a lie. It’s just badly executed foreshadowing. We are in Violet’s 1st Person narration, and it is in-character to draw these conclusions with what she is aware of ar the time.
Forcing Theophanie
I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, counting to twenty as my heart slowly calms. The Sage is dead, but she isn’t.
Theophanie is very real, and if she can get to me here at Basgiath, she can get to my friends, too…the ones who are justifiably disappointed that I kept yet another secret from them. Thank gods they understand that Xaden’s not the enemy, that he’s still fighting on our side.
How long will it be until Theophanie goes after Xaden?
My throat tightens, but this time it’s my own fear clogging my windpipe. How the hell am I supposed to fight a dark wielder who’s had decades to perfect a signet I still need a conduit to control?
It’s the end of March. I’ve barely had my powers for a year.
I won't rehash everything I said back in Chapter 44. This is just another example of how Yarros is trying to rush Theophanie as a threat without actually (re)writing the narrative to accommodate her presence. For this to have any weight, we would at least have needed that proposed action scene with Theophanie as Violet and the squad were flying back from the rainbow dragon hunt.
The Gift
After forcing Theophanie, Yarros forces something else.
I glance down at the package Jesinia handed me the day before yesterday. It’s right where I left it on the sill, one end undone. At the opening of the paper, the edges of a delicate Deverelli silk nightgown and robe spill out with a handwritten note.
For the nights I can’t sleep next to you. — X
My chest clenches just like it did when I opened it. He’d somehow seen me eyeing the fabric in Deverelli, bought it, then placed the order to have it made before we left to search the other isles.
“I love you,” I whisper down the bond, then lean forward and rest my forehead against the cold glass, using the sensation to solidify my certainty that the nightmare has ended.
“I need you. Quit brooding.”
Maybe it’s time I try one of his own techniques.
I reach for pen and paper.
This package was mentioned in passing at the end of Chapter 44. Jesinia handed it off to Violet right before everyone was told about Xaden.
Much like the moment of tenderness we saw when the squad arrived in Deverelli, I want to like this. In a story with a well-written Romance, it would be a nice touch. It would reflect a thoughtful gesture that showed how much Xaden cared about Violet and considered her preferences.
It’s just … the moment Violet is referring to happened about 20 chapters (or 200 pages, pick your poison) ago. I can’t recall a single time that she even thought about Deverelli silk since then. Even the moment itself was more about worldbuilding than Violet desiring something that she couldn’t bring herself to ask for.
… traffic pauses us outside a cloth merchant, and I find myself staring at a bolt of shimmering black silk so diaphanous it’s almost silver.
It wouldn’t last a day against the dragon-scale armor currently covering my torso.
It’s not even like the package itself got any buildup. In the last chapter - no, the last scene - it was presented as something mysterious, and now we just have an answer handed to us.
I get the feeling that the package was originally another mystery box that Yarros had no idea what to do with. It just happened in this case that she decided to make use of it to tack the illusion of substance onto the Romance subplot, rather than simply having the story forget about it (which is what happened with the venin lures).
Training Montage
Violet’s Failure
As soon as Violet sees the maneuver that she needs to practice, she knows that she physically cannot do it.
I’ve previously commented on how Tairn’s power means that Violet doing any classes at all is pointless, since the rider leadership can't afford to bench Tairn just because his rider dialed a class. I’ve also commented on how Yarros insists on reminding us through these demands for accomodations that Violet cannot earn her position and does not deserve any of the power she is handed.
What makes this case special is that, after all the power fantasy we’ve been bombarded with in this book, this is a self-inflicted problem. Why can’t Violet just refuse to participate and force the leadership to pass her? I’m not even talking about accomodations. Why not just say, “I don’t need this class. I have more important things to do?”
In fact, after Violet cheats in this challenge (by not doing the maneuver correctly), we see this very thing happen.
“That was…unorthodox,” Kaori says.
Tairn rumbles low in his chest.
“And it worked,” I counter, shouting across the field.
“It did,” Xaden replies, a corner of his mouth rising. “I fucking love you.”
“How could you not?” I don’t bother fighting my smile.
He scoffs.
Kaori looks like he wants to protest, but then he motions the rest of the group forward.
No, Violet. If you didn't do what you were told to do, then your solution didn't “work”. You failed. But, of course, you have God and anime on your side, so the professor has no choice but to bend knee and pretend you aren't a failure.
Other Failures
The only three things that can kill venin are:
An alloy dagger
Violet's lightning
Whatever explanation Yarros is currently fumbling for to explain why Andarna killing a venin was not a plot hole
So, in this challenge where riders are supposed to dismount, strike an illusory target that represents a venin, and then mount up again, how do they kill this hypothetical venin?
A few we aren’t shown can be assumed to be the correct way, but we also get:
Decapitation with a non-alloy sword.
Ice projectiles
Throwing an axe at Kaori so that his concentration breaks and the illusion fades
All of these are presented as cool and clever solutions, not the glaring failures that they are.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
The Aretia Wardstone
The way Yarros brings up the failure of the Aretia wards is just one more example of her desperately hurling something at the wall.
“News from Aretia?” Xaden takes them.
“Provincial affairs.” Felix nods. “And two wyvern came through the wards yesterday.”
My stomach pitches.
“How far did they get now?” Xaden asks, and my head swings in his direction.
This isn’t the first time.
“About an hour before they skidded into the side of a mountain.” Felix lifts his silver brows. “That’s about ten minutes farther—”
“Than last week,” Xaden finishes, and I start to understand the circles beneath his eyes.
“The wards are weakening.” I state the obvious.
“They’re failing,” Felix corrects, turning to me with a look that already makes my arms ache. “And since I’ve been informed that you won’t let Carr instruct you, I suppose we’d better get back to work.”
“I’ll be in Aretia in about a month for rotation. You didn’t have to come all the way up here.” Guilt gnaws at me.
“And if I was sure we’d have a month, I would have waited.” He narrows his eyes.
Oh.
Unlike many of the other things Yarros throws at the wall, this one has some substance. The impending failure of the Aretia wardstone has, at the very least, been acknowledged. It was one of the reasons that the search for rainbow dragons was being conducted, and it was brought up in Chapter 42 while talking to the group of rainbow dragons.
What undermines this particular attempt to inject tension is a combination of the damage inflicted by Yarros’s retcons and the damage inflicted by way she handles ticking clocks.
Let’s do the retcons first. As we’ve covered extensively by now, the venin do not need the wyverns to destroy Navarre. Earlier in this same chapter, Yarros reminded us that Theophanie would pose a threat if she ever came to Basgiath. What would wyverns reaching Aretia actually change at this point?
Now, with regards to time, Yarros has repeatedly given us a looming deadline and then slowed the pace of the story way down to indulge in inane nonsense and power fantasy. It has been firmly demonstrated by now that any deadline she sets is just meant to sound imposing. She’ll have Violet waste that time until things seem dire, and then she’ll have Violet remember that character agency is a thing and act decisively at a moment of maximum drama. It doesn’t matter if the Aretia wardstone is set to fail in a month, ten hours, or ten years. There is nothing Violet can do (or not do) in the interim that will change the outcome from what Yarros wants for her story to progress.
Montage Shortcut
Chapter 46 opens with the following:
Three weeks later, I can barely lift my arms as our squad walks back from Signet Sparring. Gods, I hate when Carr rotates in to teach. Countless muscles in my body ache, and there’s a permanent knot between my shoulder blades thanks to the work Felix has me doing. Every single second that I’m not in class, eating, or working out with Imogen, Felix has me on the mountaintop, wielding. But as my aim improves and my strikes increase, the rest of the world seems to go to shit.
Xaden and I talk most nights through the bond, but he still broodily refuses to spend physical time alone with me.
The western line falls back, and dark wielders surge toward Draithus at a daily pace that has me holding my breath during every death roll. At this rate, they’ll reach the city walls in a matter of weeks. Or they could change tactics and simply fly directly for the city.
The entire quadrant is well aware that we’re in trouble when Xaden is called to Tyrrendor, and that pit of worry only grows with every day he’s gone. Now that it’s been more than ten days, I have a stack of letters for him to read, and Tairn is impossible to be around.
And Andarna simply … isn’t around.
Exactly how long am I supposed to give her before I march into the Vale itself and demand she at least talk about what happened?
…
Between Xaden’s status, the western line retreating towards Draithus, and growing resentment between the Aretian riders and Navarrians over the debate of whether or not to open our borders, this whole place feels like a bow with its string pulled tight, just waiting for the order to be fired. And we’re the arrows.
This montage distills so many issues that we’ve covered previously, both in this review and in Iron Flame:
False starts
Any conflict Violet is not directly connected to feels unimportant, since Violet is a character whose agency not only drives the narrative but outright warps reality around her
A lack of context to really get invested in these places Violet has never visited
Reviving conflicts that had previously fizzled out and implied to be over
Andarna being benched again so Yarros has an excuse to not write both dragons
The story isn’t actually progressing here. Yarros has not interest in moving the narrative forward yet. This is just her turning to us and saying, “Things are really bad, guys. No, really. They’re really, really bad. You should totally be invested. There really are stakes here. I’m serious. I mean it. This isn’t background noise. You absolutely need to feel invested in this.”
That’s not to say that these things couldn’t make for a great story. An entire book could be written about these plot threads. The problem is that Yarros isn’t interested in telling these stories. Much like how Notorious Sorcerer turned its A Plot and B Plot into filled because Evans only wanted to write the C Plot, Yarros is treating the actual story as background noise as she has Violet meander through petty squabbles and general nonsense that doesn’t move the story forward.
What I find particularly interesting about this is that Yarros has done this montage to try to force tension at least once before. The example that jumps to mind is Chapter 28 of Fourth Wing, in the buildup to War Games.
The afternoon skies about Basgiath are crystal clear in the middle of may for the first battle of the War Gaems that signify the approach of graduation. As much as I want to feel excitement that I’m so close to actually surviving my first year in the Riders Quadrant, my stomach is tight with anxiety.
Battle Briefs are getting more redacted. Professor Carr is getting more anxious that I haven’t manifested a signet like almost the entire first-year cadets. Dain is acting weird as fuck - friendly one minute and indifferent the next. Xaden is getting more secretive - if that were even possible - canceling some of our training for unexplained reasons. Even Tairn feels like there’s something he’s not telling me.
Yarros could have Shown all of this through plot-relevant scenes. She could have not included this at all. Instead, she chose to staple this on, and I can see no reason why she’d bother except to try to trick the audience into thinking things are happening and danger exists when neither of these things are true.
Reassignment (Heavy Spoilers)
One of the changes made to Basgiath at the same time as the death school changes was that students need to rotate to Aretia for periods of a few weeks for certain classes. The ‘professor’ who teaches runes refuses to relocate, and since this is is a military organization in a midst of an existential crisis, Basgiath chooses to inconvenience both staff and students by forcing them to relocate to accommodate her. I didn’t mention this prevoiusly because, until now, it hasn’t been plot relevant.
In Chapter 46, though, it becomes very relevant.
“We still leaving for Aretia the day after tomorrow?” I ask Rhi.
“Movement is at five a.m.” She nods, then glances over to Sawyer. “Make a decision yet?”
“Working on it,” he replies and flexes his jaw.
“All right.” Rhi looks my way. “And I think Kaori, Felix, and Panchek are coming with as our leadership,” she adds gently.
“Those three?” Not Xaden? My brows jump. Felix is understandable, and Kaori’s one of my favorite professors, but I suspect he’s chosen to escort our group in hopes of seeing Andarna. And she’s not in the mood to be seen. Maybe Xaden will already be there? At lest for Sgaeyl and Tairn’s sake.
There are two reasons that this is relevant. The first is that Yarros wants an action scene in Aretia in Chapters 51 and 52, so Violet and her accessories need to be there. However, the second has to do with the one person not listed in Violet’s deliberation.
Why does Violet not have questions about Panchek coming along?
Well you see, Yarros executes an ass-pull twist in the climax that involves Panchek. We’ll get into the mess of her using Panchek for this twist when we get there. For now, I just want to highlight the fact that Violet doesn’t register his inclusion.
Just a reminder (because you would be forgiven for forgetting, given that Panchek exists almost entirely in the background and is rarely mentioned despite his important role in Basgiath) - Pancheck is the Commandant. He’s not a teacher, and he’s not a battlefield asset. He’s effectively the dean of the Riders Quadrant. What possible reason could he have to rotate to Aretia, a location where only a small number of his students happen to be on temporary location? It’s not even like he’s highly devoted to the growth of the cadets. Yarros handwaved his absence in most of Fourth Wing with a line in Chapter 20 about how he “makes it a habit to avoid morning formation” and that him showing up for anything more than a special event “means something is up”. Why, then, does Violet not question this?
The most likely answer is that Panchek’s inclusion here is aftshadowing. Yarros executed her ass-pull twist, realized she didn’t want to use any of the characters who she’d actually planned to be present at the climax, and went back to throw in this note about Panchek coming along. Violet does not question it because Yarros couldn’t be bothered to make any edits aside from changing “Those two?” to “Those three?” The second most likely answer is that Yarros knows that Panchek coming makes zero sense, and that it would spoil her oh-so-amazing twist if readers picked up on that wonkiness, so she tried to sneak him in so that she could technically claim his presence was foreshadowed without the audience picking up on it.
And then, naturally, Yarros doubles down by rationalizing Panchek’s presence in Chapter 47 and having Violet accept that rationalization, despite that explanation making zero sense if one actually thinks about it.
Kaori nods, then looks around the high hanging valley with its lush green foliage and snow-tipped peaks. “Selfishly, I also wanted to see how this Empyrean functions. I suspect it’s why Panchek has tagged along as well.”
A smile tugs at my mouth. “Good luck asking them.”
See, dear reader? Nothing strange about this at all! This certainly isn’t aftshadowing for absolute nonsense!
Also … “this” Empyrean? Since when did the dragons who relocated to Aretia form their own government? Why were they not folded back into the original dragon government when the Second Aretia Accord was signed? By all means, keep the nesting ground, but why would they constitute a separate governing body? Does this presence of a second governing body of dragons not render the Second Aretia Accord meaningless? Is this the power of God and anime Violet has been invoking, and if so, why would it have any sway at Basgaith, which serves the God and anime that was originally there?
Which brings us to why this explanation makes no sense. If there truly is a separate governing body of dragons, then either some official diplomatic channels would need to be set up, or else a human riders should realize they have even less a chance of learning their secrets than they do with the dragon government that are allied with. Kaori’s suggestion that Panchek must think he can casually walk in and learn things isn't something to laugh off. It is something so nonsensical that it demands interrogation by any “rational woman” renowned for her “intellgience”.
The Hallway Encounter
I’ll come back to the spat between Xaden / Lewellen and the Duke of Calldyr / Halden in Themes. For now, let’s focus on the elements most relevant to Xaden.
It’s War
Xaden’s open defiance of the King’s decrees, along with his threat to murder his crown prince costs him his Senarium seat, invalidates the Second Aretia Accord, and gives Navarre pretense to invade and subjugate Tyrrendor, during which forces are drawn away form the front lines. Poromiel falls, followed by Navarre. In short, his ego gets the whole Continent killed.
Of course, that would be the logical flow of events.
No, this is just Yarros tries to inject more tension with zero intention of following through on the consequences. The fallout from Xaden’s tantrum not be anywhere as severe as it should be, and it does not influence the trajectory of the plot. This is just another effort to force tension.
Red Shirt Balance
So, a Red Shirt is manifesting a shadow Signet. This is a bizarre and random event, but nothing all that -
Oh, right. Yarros is playing with the Balance idea. Remember that, from almost 30 chapters ago? Instead of treating this as an unlikely but not impossible event, we are meant to take this as a sign that Xaden cannot escape his nature as a venin.
The squad ushers Lynx down the hall, but I stay behind, shock gluing my feet to the carpet. “I don’t understand. You’re our generation’s shadow wielder.”
“Not anymore. Magic knows.” Xaden’s shoulders dip as he turns slowly to face me, his brow scrunching in apology before he schools his features. “He’s the balance.”
A chill runs down my spine.
Yarros uses this to … pump tension into the limp Romance subplot by having Xaden angst and brood more … rather than actually exploring his situation or having Violet put in effort to help him.
Also, she opens a plot hole.
Xaden and Violet aren’t the only ones on board with this Balance idea. The rider leadership buy into it. Emetterio was the guy who first brought this idea into this book. So … now that a second shadow wielder has spawned in a very public way … are there not going to be any questions as to why? Frankly, given Xaden’s open defiance and the threat he just made, it seems like Halden and the rider leadership would be jumping at this excuse to detain Xaden until this mystery is resolved (or maybe just execute him as a precaution). The fact this possibility isn’t even mentioned just shows that Yarros was not thinking that far ahead.
Test Flight
The scene where Sawyer climbs onto his dragon again is a scene I want to like … only for context to devalue it.
If this book had followed Sawyer’s struggle with his prosthetic leg, this scene could be an incredible payoff. It could have been a milestone for Sawyer, who has been putting off mounting his dragon and refused to shame his dragon by demanding a handicap. It could have been a payoff for Rhiannon, who is Sawyer’s squad leader and has been trying to get him back onto his dragon’s back. It could even have been a payoff for Violet, at least in a cathartic sense after watching her friends struggled.
There’s just one glaring problem: Yarros did not tell the story that this would pay off. She did not care to. Sawyer’s struggle was barely touched upon prior to the rainbow dragon hunt, utterly irrelevant during the rainbow dragon hunt, and then rammed forward in Chapter 44.
Yarros does not care about Sawyer or Rhiannon … but she does care about Violet. This scene, much like the one in Chapter 44, is not about Sawyer’s struggle or Rhiannon’s struggle. It is about Violet. Sawyer did not advance and did not succeed until Violet encouraged him. Rhiannon could not process her emotions without Violet to guide her through it.
As a result, what could have been a moment of incredible, well-earned pathos is as much a meaningless and self-indulgent sideshow as any of the power fantasy scenes.
Arrival
Romantic Potential
When Violet arrives at Aretia and enters Xaden’s room to drop off her things, she is overwhelmed with nostalgia for the happy times she shared while living with Xaden in that room.
Once more, just as with the package, it’s an idea that might have worked if it was earned. If this Romance subplot had focused on more than sex and validation, if curing Xaden had been a driving motivation rather than a bonus objective that was always tacked onto the existential conflict, then the bittersweet longing for better days would be wonderful. We haven’t gotten that, though. Violet, the character whose agency warps reality, is breaking character and sitting on her ass while she bemoans not getting laid. As a result, this just reads like another effort by Yarros to milk emotion from the audience.
Too Weak Even for Whiplash
Continuing the theme of things that might have worked but weren’t earned, we have the reveal that Xaden has not lost hope and is working with Brennan, rather just just brooding. In this case, the reason it is unearned is a matter of time.
Chapter 47 is effectively one long scene. This means that Xaden’s latest bout of Edward Cullen sulking, which started at the end of the one long scene that was Chapter 46, was resolved in a single scene. He also did this off-screen, not it’s not even like we were Shown something to reverse his perspective.
As a result, instead of this feeling rewarding, it just makes the sulk feel pointless. Why did Yarros bother including it in the first place?
CHARACTER
Violet
At the end of Chapter 46, after Xaden goes off to brood, Lewellen approaches Violet to remind her that Xaden needs to serve Tyrrendor first. This is prompted by a misunderstanding. Lewellen doesn’t know about Xaden’s condition, so when he overhears Violet urging Xaden to not go off and brood, he thinks she is asking him to shirk his duties to spent time with her.
This conversation lasts about a page, but I’m just going to share this one bit that really boils down the problem with what Violet says.
“By balance, you mean Tyrrendor comes first, Xaden second, our relationship fights for third, and my personal needs are a matter of convenience.” Saying it aloud puts it all in harsh perspective.
“Something like that.” Sadness pulls at the corners of his mouth.
“Xaden comes first for me.” It comes out so self-sacrificial that I half expect mymother to appear and smack me upside the back of my head. “Just so we’re clear. But I will never stop being the woman he fell in love with in order to morph into whatever doormat you think he requires. We’re already balanced because we’re both strong for ourselves and each other. He needs me to be me, and I’m telling you I promised to help keep Tyrrendor safe, but not at his expense.”
In other words … Violet is unwilling to SACRIFICE to support Xaden’s royal responsibilities … as she simultaneously lauds herself for being self-sacrificing.
This is a repeat of Xaden’s idiotic declaration of priorities on Deverelli. It would be one thing if the idea was that Violet and Xaden were rejecting political power in the name of love, abdicating to more willing parties to go off and be together. What we have is not that. This is Violet following Xaden’s example by maintaing a tight grip on power while asserting that the responsibility that comes with that power is secondary. This is about as selfish as a person in this situation can be.
You know what story got this right? The Prince and Me (the first one).
When Paige Morgan realizes that she needs to choose either following her dreams of traveling the world and helping people as a doctor or becoming the Queen of Denmark and submitting her life to Prince Eddie’s duties, she commits to her choice. She breaks up with him. It breaks her heart and Eddie’s, but they both understand that their relationship simply can’t work at this stage. The ending of the film shows them coming to a happy middle, with Eddie showing up at her graduation to tell her that he will wait for her, that they can get married after she had fulfilled her dreams.
How does a Romantic Comedy from the mid-2000s get this right while the spearhead for the modern Romantasy trend screws it up?
(Oh, and to really emphasize just how un-selfish Paige Morgan was then compared to how selfish Violet Sorrengail is now, bear in mind that the version of Denmark in The Prince in Me was not facing annihilation by energy vampires. Paige’s and Eddie’s long-term happiness was the only thing that would have been harmed if Paige tried to have everything.)
Dain
Dain comes along to Aretia with Violet and the accessories. The reason given in the narrative is that he needs to attend rune training, too, but the actual reason is that Yarros wants him around for the climax.
And, since she really hates the people Dain represents, she doesn’t pass up the chance to give him a good kick.
“I’d prefer we hold formation—” Dain starts as he comes up on my right.
Rhiannon and I both level a look on him.
“—tomorrow morning,” he quickly corrects course. “Family first, and all.”
“Family first,” Rhiannon agrees with a quick smile, and he passes by, heading toward the rocky path down to the house. “I get that he has to come for rune training, too, but why our squad?” Rhi whispers.
What is Rhiannon’s problem with Dain at this point? Did he not prove his worth when he stole Asher’s research from under his father’s nose? When he helped Violet administer the antidote the same Garrick (something I would hope someone would mention in the course of updating her about what happened during the rainbow dragon hunt)? When he didn’t shy away from the trail by combat on Unnbriel (which I’m sure Violet would mention just to mock him for being defeated)?
This, “Eww, what is that thing doing here?” reaction is just unnecessary and petty. Were this not part of a larger pattern, I’d map it onto Rhiannon. As it is, the pattern exists, so this is just more demonization.
WORLDBUILDING
There are no new issues with the worldbuilding in these chapters, outside of a point we will cover in Themes, the manifestation of previously covered issues involving the Navarre-Tyrrendor relationship and the Second Aretia Accords, and the other odds and ends we already covered while discussing plot holes.
THEME
Yarros couldn’t stick to using the refugee crisis as a means to make sense of the existential threat of the venin. She felt compelled to present arguments. This is no longer background noise. It is unambiguous commentary. The effort, while brief, is every bit as embarrassing as both her commentary in Chapter 21 of Iron Flame and her effort to defend her pornography in the ELLE.com interview.
Originally, I was going to do a full breakdown of this theme, but it ran a bit long. I’ve instead moved it to a separate Spotlight Analysis post that will release tomorrow, October 25th. I hope you’ll join me for it.
PROSE
When Brennan is talking to Violet about trying to mend Xaden, there’s one particularly strange line.
“He must be further along than Jack had been when Nolon started working with him. I’m sorry.”
The unit of measurement is unfathomable.
Is Violet saying that can’t accept that possibility? She has no idea how far gone Jack was she dropped a mountain on him.
Is Violet saying she doesn’t understand what Brennan means? If so, why not just ask him to clarify?
Does Yarros not reread her work to make sure her sentences sound natural?
IT’S TIME TO TALK ABOUT THE ROMANCE
All right, everyone. The appointed hour is upon us.
On November 7th, we’ll review Chapters 48 and 49 of Onyx Storm. There is virtually no substance to the chapters themselves. Chapter 48 is Violet and Xaden talking about how bad they want sex and how much longer Xaden plans of stalling, and Chapter 49 is the third pornographic scene of the book.
What makes this narrative dead space so important is that, at this point, the Romance subplot for the entire book resolves itself.
No, I am not joking. In this supposed Romantasy, written by a Romance author, the Romance-paced plot elements are tied off before the 80% mark. Nearly 140 pages of this nearly 650-page book are left, yet all of the conflict that might apply some stakes or tension to the relationship is just done.
Looking back on this Romance subplot, on what Yarros has done with Violet and Xaden now that she’s moved them past Will They Won’t They drama, one thing becomes glaringly clear:
This romantic coupling written by an established Romance author in a “very happy marriage” has nothing to it outside of sex.
It’s time we talked about that. On November 7th itself, we’ll break down the chapters themselves. We’ll then reconvene on November 8th for the Spotlight.
Thank you all for joining me this week. Please remember to sign up for the newsletter if you’d like a weekly e-mail with the latest posts. Please also share this review with others if you enjoyed it. Until next time, please take care, and have a great week.
