Fourth Wing (Chapter 33 through Chapter 35)

STATS

Title: Fourth Wing

Series: The Empyrean (Book 1)

Author(s): Rebecca Yarros

Genre: Fantasy (Epic)

First Printing: 2023

Publisher: Red Tower Books

Rating: 2/10

SPOILER WARNING

Heavy spoilers will be provided for the entire story up through the end of the content covered in this part. Mild spoilers for elements later in the story may be provided, but I will keep the first paragraph of each section as spoiler-free as possible. Heavy spoilers from later in the book will be confined to clearly labelled sections.

SFW RECAP

In Chapters 30 through 32, Violet and Xaden have sex. Violet pressures Xaden for a relationship, which he initially refuses, though he caves to her demands in time for another sex scene. An alarm is then raised, alerting the Quadrant that a full-scale assault on Navarre in imminent.

During this period, we also learn that Xaden arranged to have the children of rebel leaders conscripted to the Riders Quadrant rather than executed, putting up his own life as collateral (though, with how the deal is worded, misconduct by Xaden will ultimately get all of them executed). We get rushed worldbuilding about folklore from the wider world. We also get assertions that the kingdom of Navarre is shady and withholding information from the cadets.

STORY

The warning of an imminent assault was just a drill.

Yes. The reveal is indeed that quick and that disappointing.

More precisely, the War Games are not over (despite the fact that an entire month has passed in-world since their official conclusion). The riders are being deployed to border outposts for a final round of military exercises. Xaden is assigned to an outpost outside of the wards that protect Navarre. Due to the need to reflect actual wartime conditions, wing leaders are allowed to customize the outpost assignments by selecting those riders with the skills and Signets that best suit their needs. Xaden builds a squad composed entirely of rebel children, plus Violet (due to the complications of keeping their dragons apart). Dain viciously protests Violet’s assignment, but he accepts it when Violet reveals that she and Xaden are a couple now and that she will go willingly.

Violet flies beyond the borders with Xaden's squad. During a rest stop, the squad is accosted by a pair of gryphon riders. Then comes the reveal: Xaden and other rebel child riders have been committing treason against Navarre by smuggling weapons to the gryphon riders.

The folklore about venin and wyverns is very real. Venin has been rampaging through the world outside of Navarre for centuries, though they cannot attack Navarre itself due to the dragon wards nullifying their magic. The gryphon riders of Poromiel raid Navarre to steal weapons forged out of a material that can kill venin: specifically, the material used in the wards. Xaden and the rebel riders he trusts have been forging this material into daggers and bringing it out to the gryphon riders. Violet accepts the truth about the venin and wyverns ravaging the world, but she disavows loving Xaden, given that he broke her trust.

The squad arrives at the outpost to find it deserted. They discover that they have been sent here to die. The rider leadership knew about an impending venin attack on a trading post just outside the Navarre border, and they sent Xaden to the outpost in a bid to kill him and the riders whom he trusts most. Violet and Xaden realize that Dain was aware of this in advance and that he was probably the one to tip off the rider leadership to the treason, since his Signet granted him access to Violet’s memories of Xaden’s secret meetings.

PLOT

Hollow Climax

The book should have built towards this.

The reveal that Xaden is smuggling weapons is quite the twist. It is founded upon information that has been scattered throughout the book: Xaden and other rebel children meeting up in secret, Xaden procuring custom daggers for Violet, and all the heavy-handed references to Navarre being shady and there being truth behind the folklore. The issue is that, as far as plot developments go, this comes completely out of left field.

Let us again take Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as a comparison.

Goblet Did It Better

The resurrection of Lord Voldemort was a huge twist that radically changed the trajectory of both Goblet of Fire and the entire Harry Potter series. Much like the twist here in Fourth Wing, is was founded upon events happening outside of the narrow slice of the world that Harry was able to view. Harry and the audience needed to be outright told things or else fed them via Harry's link to Voldemort.

The differences lies in the execution. The dreams and the mentions of Voldemort being out in the world and getting stronger were not merely slapped onto the exterior of the school story. Everything was either linked to something that Harry was directly experiencing or built upon things that Harry had experienced in previous books (thereby making them things the audience would also know about well before the twist).

• Wormtail serving Voldemort was one of the big revelations from Prisoner of Azkaban.

• Harry encountered both the Death Eaters and the Dark Mark firsthand before he ever reached Hogwarts.

• Harry became acquainted with Barty Crouch prior to coming to Hogwarts, was exposed to his erratic behavior via Percy Weasley (a character in whom we had some investment, even if he was a tertiary character), and encountered him in person prior to his murder.

• With the help on the Pensieve, Harry shared Dumbledore's experiences with the climate of fear induced by Voldemort's previous rise to power.

• Harry's dreams built upon the previously established link with Voldemort, and time was spent to reflect upon their significance.

• The mystery of who put Harry's name in the Goblet was given some weight, and the suggestion that another servant of Voldemort might be out to kill Harry was the main theory put forth.

I can name only one detail in the buildup to the Voldemort resurrection that feels as tacked-on as all of Fourth Wing's setups: how Voldemort learned enough about the Triwizard Tournament to execute his resurrection gambit. This was explored via the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins, a character we never get to meet despite being referenced several times. However, even this was handled better than in Fourth Wing. Jorkins was used to gradually dial up the tension. Originally, she was mentioned as something of a joke, with only Barty Crouch seeming at all worried about her disappearance. Later references indicated that other people were starting to worry and out a genuine effort into finding her. While her involvement in the story boiled down to little more than an explanation of how Voldemort got key information, she still played a critical role in the story by subtly altering the tone of the narrative.

All of these elements were tied together by the structure of the narrative. From as soon as the Triwizard Tournament was announced, we were aware that the story was building towards the conclusion of the Third Task. When the Portkey took Harry and Cedric to the graveyard, it was a surprise, but there was also a sense that we had been delivered to the true endgame of the story. Everything after that was a cascade of payoffs.

No Shadows

Fourth Wing has many elements that could have been woven together to make this a satisfying climax. Yarros simply chose not to weave them together. Rather than foreshadowing the finale, she merely threw random things at us that failed to mesh with either each other or the central narrative (or, rather, the many brief distractions masquerading as a central narrative). The closest thing to a buildup was the mystery of where Xaden kept going with other rebel riders, but that was always brushed off or rationalized, keeping it from becoming a mystery that would draw the audience deeper into the narrative.

This would not have been hard to fix. All Yarros had to do was establish early on that the War Games would be Violet's ultimate test. This could have weighed on Violet's mind as she was constantly dealing with small-scale challenges. Yarros could have further build towards this by reworking the death toll of the first years and not stopping the counter after Threshing, thereby increasing the audience's anticipation for something big to happen at the conclusion of the War Games.

By not doing this legwork, Yarros ruined the golden opportunity she herself created.

Bad Romance

The pretense that Xaden has lied to Violet and broken her trust falls flat.

I understand that this sort of break-up drama is often part of the Romance formula, serving as the wrinkle that must be overcome in the third act (like Marissa's true identity as a maid being revealed in Maid in Manhattan, Charlie waiting too long to go after Claire in Letters to Juliet, or Peter waking from his coma in While You Were Sleeping). I think that this sort of wrinkle is something that is not hard to pull off in Epic Fantasy. I even agree that, on a conceptual level, Xaden's treasonous actions against the kingdom Violet's brother died to hold together is a perfect opportunity for character drama.

What Yarros failed to consider, once again, was the worldbuilding, as well as how that worldbuilding would negatively impact the characters involved in this relationship. Believe me, we are going to get into that in great detail.

CHARACTERS

Violet

In past chapters, we have been shown that Violet is narcissistic and delusional. We have seen her use underhanded tricks and twisted rationalizations to justify endangering others and claiming that which she does not deserve. We have seen her treat her supposed childhood friend like absolute trash.

Here, she's still all these things (the fight between Dain and Xaden reaffirms a couple of those flaws), but we also get to see her sink to a new low: blaming others for the consequences of her own actions.

Up until the point where Xaden caved to Violet's pressure, they were not in a relationship. He made this clear. He actively avoided this. It is utter insanity that Violet would expect him to share the secret of his treasonous actions with her under those circumstances. Going a step farther, it is not unreasonable to assume that these secrets are the real reason why Xaden didn't want a relationship. Violet’s bonding with his dragon's mate threatened his illicit operations. She was a potential information leak, one connected to a high-ranking military officer, a straight-laced telepath (a fact Xaden reminded Violet about while explaining his actions to her), and a war hero who'd died in service to Navarre. She was also a loose end whom he couldn't simply silence via murder. Of course he would avoid any sort of relationship that would risk exposing her to his secrets.

Violet created this situation by constantly chasing Xaden. If she had just accepted that, “No,” means, “No,” there would have been no betrayal of her personally.

And then there's the fact that Xaden couldn't tell Violet about his activities right away. The lives of people who trusted him were on the line if he did. He probably needed to consult with them first.

But let's say that none of that mattered. Let's pretend that, the moment Xaden caved in to Violet's demands, he had a moral obligation to spill every one of he secrets to her, then and there.

Violet got in the way of him doing that. She dragged him up to his room to have sex. They spent the whole night doing that.

Then the alarm sounded, and they were rushed out to the field, forced to fly across the kingdom to the outpost. At that point, Violet was committed. Even if Xaden had told her mid-flight, it would not have mattered, as Tairn and Andarna already knew and probably would not agree to take Violet back.

Violet made the choice to prioritize getting laid to drawing out every last one of Xaden's secrets in a quiet, controlled environment. Not finding out before the encounter with the gryphon riders is therefore entirely her own fault.

Also, on a related note, Tairn and Andarna were already aware of Xaden's activities. Violet does not express any ire towards them, even giving Tairn a free pass because his mate would have told him to keep quiet about it … which is a lot lower stakes than Xaden having the lives of rebel children on the line.

Xaden

Our Bad Boy Love Interest has just been assassinated.

The betrayal itself is not an issue. It fits his character. The issue is that Yarros tried to make him more sympathetic with the backstory about his life being collateral for the lives of all the rebel children.

If Xaden is found guilty of treason, he will have proven that the rebel children cannot be trusted. All of them - including those young enough to be literal children - will surely be executed now. By betraying Navarre, Xaden willfully gambled the lives of the children he was supposed to shield.

This man is not a hero with a troubled past. He is a radical who sacrifices children to prosecute his war. At least Catherine Halsey showed some self-awareness and remorse over the SPARTAN-IIs. Xaden just broods on his responsibility and then chooses to trample it.

To make this twist work while keeping the sympathetic backstory, Xaden should not have been leading the weapons smuggling operation. He should have been an unwilling participant who was trying to cover up the actions of other rebel children. For example, let’s say that all of the riders in this outpost squad had been running this operation in secret. Xaden - who, let’s remember, put up his own life as collateral to protect them and every other rebel child - could have found out about it and tried to talk them out of it. When they refused, Xaden would have been force for choose between revealing their activities, thereby getting all of the innocents executed with the actual traitors, or covering up the treason that he swore would never happen. Violet could still find out what he had done and be angry at him for it (barring the fact that it’s her own fault that she’s in this mess, of course), but at least the nobility of his personal sacrifice would be kept intact.

(Also, it’s worth noting that, by assembling a squad that contains more than one other rebel child, Xaden violated the article of the Codex that forbids the assembly of rebel children. The lives of himself and all rebel children should now be forfeit because he assembled a squad for weapons smuggling in the middle of a training mission assigned by the Quadrant.)

Dain

These chapters also assassinate Dain … or redeem him. More specifically, they assassinate the demonic visage Yarros has tried so hard to tack into him and reveal the truth strength of his character.

Chapter 33 explicitly tells us that Dain either didn't know or never truly believed that there was anything sexual between Violet and Xaden. This is him learning and reacting to this development (while in the middle of his fight with Xaden, so bear in mind that he’s riled up and probably ready to lash out at anyone who gives him an excuse).

“Stop.” I put my hand on Xaden’s arm. “Xaden, stop. If you want me to go with you, I’ll go. It’s that simple.”

His gaze shifts to meet mine and immediately softens.

“No fucking way,” Dain whispers, but it reverberates in my bones like a lightning strike.

I pivot, dropping my hand from Xaden’s arm, but it’s obvious by Dain’s expression that he now knows there’s something between Xaden and me—and he’s hurt. My stomach hits the ground. “Dain…”

“Him?” Dain’s eyes widen and his face flushes. “You and…him?” He shakes his head. “People talk, and I thought that’s all it was, but you…” Disappointment drops his shoulders. “Don’t go, Violet. Please. He’s going to get you killed.”

All this time, Dain has not been the spurned suitor. Every time he came across as merely being jealous of Xaden was genuine fear for Violet's well-being. Even now, when he learns the truth, he doesn’t lash out. His first priority is Violet. As we learn a few paragraphs later, he is even willing to accept her choice of Xaden over him.

He also gives Violet exactly what she wants. All this time, she has abused him for not validating her delusions. Now, as part of choosing Xaden, she directly tells him to let go. Dain is forced to choose between allowing Violet to make her own mistakes or compromising an operation to eliminate traitors. He says goodbye and walks away.

I know that Dain is supposed to be the villain here. He is sending a friend to her death, putting his duty over years of personal history. We also learn in these chapters that he has repeatedly read her memories throughout the book, without her knowledge or permission. (Bear in mind, we don't know if he can control when he absorbs memories, so he may not have been able to stop from seeing into her mind, but let's say for the sake of this argument that every reading of memories is deliberate.) In a better-written story, he could have made for a great antagonist, with his decision marking an irredeemable betrayal of Violet's trust.

After everything Violet has put him through, all I can see is a noble hero who finally accepted that the villain he's tried so hard to shield and save has dug her own grave. He can finally move on and find happiness without her in his life. In doing so, he will maintain his principles, protect his kingdom, and save countless lives (at least, as far as he is aware).

Good for you, Dain. You have grown as a person.

(Iron Flame will retcon this moment in an effort to double down on Dain being a villain. In doing so, it actually manages to make Dain less of a villain while making Violet even more reprehensible. Believe me, we will get to that in the Iron Flame review.)

Liam

Liam was also aware of the weapons smuggling. He expresses to Violet that the reason he didn't tell her was his loyalty to Xaden. This is a strong moment for him, and by extension, it characterizes every other rebel child associated with this operation. I feel that this was nicely done.

Nadine

The last time that Nadine is named or gets a line of dialogue in the entire book is in the scene when the riders are organizing to respond to the false alarm. Violet asks her where Dain is, and Nadine answers.

For those keeping count, that makes a total of 17 times that Nadine’s name has been used in the entire book. She has only ever had one trait, that being her mistrust and hostility towards rebel children, and that seems to have faded away after she was called out and intimidated. In other words, Nadine ends this book with no character traits. Heaton - who, remember, is only characterized by being a stereotype - has more character than she does. At least a stereotype is something the audience can work with. Nadine could be swapped in and out of virtually any scene with virtually any random background character, and the story would not change.

I’m going to be honest: I completely forgot Nadine was a character in this book. When she is first mentioned in Iron Flame, I was certain that Yarros was just slamming in another random extra and expecting us to accept that the character had been around the whole time. Thankfully, e-books have keyword search functions, so it took less than 10 seconds to verify that Nadine had indeed been established in Fourth Wing. I’m not sure whether Nadine being so utterly interchangeable and forgettable is better or worse than Yarros adding in characters and expecting us to swallow that they’ve been around the whole time. I’ll just say that, given that she left no impact here, and given that she’s characterized even less competently in Iron Flame, Nadine represents an objective failure in writing … and she is but one face in an amorphous mob of failures.

WORLDBUILDING

Many of the elements established in these chapter were raised previously (often in heavy-handed foreshadowing) but lacked relevance, which is why I referenced them in passing but didn't get into specifics. I'll knock out the important points as quickly and bluntly as Yarros did.

Rushed Setup

In this world, humans cannot safely channel magic without the aid of a dragon or gryphon. Doing so corrupts them into beings known as venin. The magic of venin drains vitality from the land around it. However, the wards of the dragons disable venin magic, ensuring Navarre is kept safe from their ravages. The material that makes up the wards is the only thing that can reliably kill venin.

Wyverns are false dragons created by the venin. They are larger than dragons and walk on two legs instead of four. They also eat humans (something dragons do not do).

Navarre had long been aware of both threats. However, for some reason, they have deliberately erased all lore on the venin and wyverns. The people of Navarre believe that Poromiel raids them for resources because Poromiel is greedy.

All of this is fine as lore. It just hasn't been developed or made relevant prior to this point. The audience has not previously been given a reason to care, no matter how many times this information was flung at us. The only indication that it was important was the repetition.

Gryphons

Gryphons, like dragons, can bond with humans and allow said humans to safely channel magical energy. We are not given any specifics about this, though earlier elements in the story seem to indicate the dragon wards disable their magic as well. Outside of that, gryphons are not described in great detail, with only three points being clearly conveyed:

• They are “a third of the size” of dragons.

• A group of gryphons is a “drift”. (A group of dragons is a “riot”, though that information got little use prior to this point in the story.)

• A gryphon rider is called a “flier”.

While this lore is also coming quite late in the story, the climax does not lean upon it, so there aren't any issues here that I could identify.

There Is No War In Navarre (Part 2)

In these chapters, Yarros has effectively confirmed that Navarre is an isolationist dictatorship that hoards resources and lies about the conflict outside of the dragon wards because …

No reason is given.

This isn't the kind of bombshell that can just be dropped on the audience. We barely understand the kingdom of Navarre as an entity, outside of the fact that it is defined by its relationship to the dragons. We haven't yet been provided with the information needed to understand why the kingdom would do this or why it should affect Violet.

Let's compare Navarre to a setting that did this far better: Ba Sing Se, from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

It's a Long, Long Way from Navarre

Despite the Hundred Years War raging across the Earth Kingdom, the capital city of Ba Sing Se actively suppresses any news or discussion of war within the city limits. This prohibition was enforced by the Dai Li, the city’s secret police force. The Dai Li have been so effective that even Earth King himself is unaware of the war. This leaves Long Feng, the minister who controls the Dai Li, as the highest ranking official with any awareness of the conflict, and he keeps it that way by abducting and brainwashing citizens who try to spread word of the war. Long Feng goes so far as to extort the Avatar himself to keep the Earth King ignorant. When pushed on this, Long Feng delivers the following justification for his actions.

“It is the strict policy of Ba Sing Se that the war not be mentioned within the walls. Constant news of an escalating war will throw the citizens of Ba Sing Se into a state of panic. Our economy would be ruined. Our peaceful way of life, our traditions would disappear. In silencing talk of conflict, Ba Sing Se remains a peaceful, orderly utopia. The last one on Earth.”

(In the show, the speech is intercut with a scene of someone being brainwashed after speaking about the war. You can see the original scene in this YouTube video.)

What makes Long Feng's position so sinister is that he's simultaneously ignoring a very real threat and not entirely unsympathetic in his reasons for doing so. The people of Ba Sing Se have good reason to be terrified. The Fire Nation opened the war with the genocide of the Air Nomads. They have colonized vast swathes of the Earth Kingdom, and they have laid siege to Ba Sing Se, on and off, for many years. Within the past 10 years, the Dragon of the West breached the outer wall, and he probably could have taken the entire city had his son not died in the battle. Mere days prior to Long Feng's speech, the Fire Nation breached the outer wall for second time, utilizing an enormous tunneling drill to bore through it. The Avatar and his friends barely managed to disable this drill in time. If the citizens of Ba Sing Se understood the danger they were in, the psychological strain would likely break them. At the same time, the Fire Nation's mounting strength necessitates that the people rise to the challenge before a decisive battle leads to the conquest of their city. Long Feng's policy of isolationism therefore achieves a sympathetic goal - the maintenance of social order, and the associated peace and prosperity it brings - in an irresponsible manner.

Aside from being good worldbuilding and character work, the prohibition on discussing the war directly impacts the plot of the story. The Avatar came to Ba Sing Se with information needed to defeat the Fire Nation and end the war. He needs the Earth King to deploy the military resources that are currently defending Ba Sing Se for a decisive strike. This strike must happen on a specific day that is mere months away, so Long Feng obstructing him making the ticking clock even more urgent. Long Feng also leverages his knowledge of the Avatar's lost Animal Guide (and later captures said Animal Guide) to ensure the Avatar remains silent, thereby furthering a character conflict.

The Day of Black Uhhh

Navarre's reasons for isolationism might be as valid as Ba Sing Se's. They might not be. I don't know, as Yarros does not provide an explanation. All she presents in a moral binary: that Navarre is abandoning the people outside of the wards, and thus, is in the wrong. This could work as a conflict or even a theme, but the success of that idea hinges of the isolationism making sense in the first place. Going purely off of the information presented to us, Navarre's isolationism does not.

In the same scene that we learn about Navarre turning a blind eye, we are directly told that venin pose no threat to Navarre. We are also told that this status quo has been maintained for at least 400 years. Poromiel has not only survived for all that time but has also managed to maintain trade with Navarre. These two factors imply that the venin are not an existential threat. They are merely a recurring problem that affects people outside of Navarre. Knowledge about them shouldn't cause any more disruption than, say, knowledge of gang violence in the Western hemisphere does to civil order in Japan.

Why, then, does the kingdom suppress the truth?

If anything, if would make far more sense in this scenario if the kingdom was merely apathetic to the venin problem. People would be allowed to know, but since it couldn't affect them unless they chose to engage with it, it would ultimately be ignored. Xaden and the other rebel children could still smuggle weapons in this scenario. Unauthorized distribution of weapons to a foreign power is still treason, so Violet still has something to cling to for her accusation that Xaden is a traitor.

Which brings us neatly to …

The Rebellion of Tyrrendor

Xaden states that the reason his father was executed was for trying to help Poromiel fight against the venin. Given that his father was leading a rebellion, this further implies that the revolt of Tyrrendor was motivated by an effort to end Navarre's isolationism and confront the venin threat. The epigraph for Chapter 39 will further support this.

So … why are the venin not common knowledge already?

Did Xaden's father not tell anyone why Tyrrendor needs to revolt? How, exactly, did he stir Tyrrendor into open rebellion without spreading this information? Come to think of it, we learned back in Chapter 1 that not every rebel child is from Tyrrendor. That means Xaden’s father managed to recruit or turn people from outside his own province. How and why did he do this without telling them the reason for the revolt?

The capital of Tyrrendor was burned to the ground at the end of the rebellion. I will generously assume that this was an effort to plug the information leak, and will further assume that the home towns of every rebel officer were annihilated as well. I will not, however, assume that Xaden's father would be so thick-headed as to start an armed conflict over this revelation and not make an active effort to spread the information to every corner of Navarre. Stirring up public outcry against the regime seems like it should have been his opening move, rather than going straight for armed conflict. Even if he felt he had to go straight to revolt, feeding propaganda to the enemy team to psychologically undermine them is something that should have been an obvious move.

The long and short of it is, if this information triggered a rebellion, then more people than the leadership of the riders should know about this.

The Chapter 35 epigraph tries to fill the hole by demonstrating that Navarre is already censoring the history books to mask the reasons for the rebellion. This ties into a heavy-handed theme about how history can be erased over just two generations.

The problem is that the rebellion was just six years ago. That’s far less than one generation. The vast majority of adults alive during the revolution would still be alive. The cadets now in the Riders Quadrant would have been old enough during the rebellion to remember what people were saying about the conflict.

The reason that Xaden’s father instigated the rebellion should be public knowledge. People - especially people as well-read as Violet - shouldn’t be ignorant of it. If anything, they should be grappling with the decision to hide it from future generations. The fact that people do not know only works if Xaden’s father somehow set all of this in motion without telling anyone why it was happening, which would be like if President George W. Bush had asked Americans to accept the Patriot Act without anyone being made aware of 9/11.

(The Chapter 35 epigraph also indicates that Xaden’s father revealed the reason for his rebellion after his capture and subsequent interrogation at the end of the rebellion. This seems to confirm that he was keeping the revelation that triggered the rebellion a secret, thereby looping us back to the issue of how he ever got the rebellion off the ground in the first place.)

Dragons

Yarros does have something of a get-out-of-jail card here. It’s not a great card, but she could play it. She appears to have chosen not to, probably because doing so would force Violet to assign fault to someone she doesn't seem capable of blaming: the dragons.

Navarre exists because the dragons want to preserve their nesting grounds. This nation and its culture have formed around their needs. If the dragons felt that fighting the venin would waste resources that would better benefit them, they might demand that the kingdom bury knowledge of the wider conflict to avoid any public pressure to engage the venin. However, if the rider leadership of Navarre decided to bury the truth, but the dragons wanted to engage the venin, the riders would have no choice but to fight the venin, lest the dragons cull them and replace them with more obedient soldiers..

The dragons are the ones who are actually responsible for this situation, yet all of the focus is being put on the military leaders of Navarre. All of the dragons bonded to rebel children seem to wholly support the weapons smuggling. These points imply that, contrary to what was established all the way back in Chapter 3, humans are dominant over dragons, and that the dragons can only rebel if their riders support it.

And if humans are dominant, the murder school premise has been crushed into even smaller pieces.

Wards

The specifics of wards may not have mattered before, but now they are the crux if the entire twist.

Previously, wards were presented as something intangible. The name implies a purely magical barrier. Mira's Signet power doubled down on this. Her power is not described in a way that implies that wards normally requires some special fuel, catalyst, or structure that she bypasses. She just makes and strengthens powerful wards.

What, then, are the gryphon rider raiding for? What is Xaden's operation forging into weapons? Is it focusing device that strengthens the wards? An anchor that serves as a focal point for the magic? Some sort of conductive material that the wards run along? Otherwise mundane metal that gained magical properties form exposure to the wards? Metal that was imbued with power from the ward when lightning struck it as an elf and a Balrog were doing battle, thereby infusing the mingled forces of light and darkness into said metal? Calcified energy from the Speed Force?

I took some cheap shots with those last two, but at this point, they are explanations that are just as valid as anything else we could make up. We are simultaneously being told that the wards are magical energy and that they are a metal that can be forged into weapons. It is not impossible to reconcile these ideas, but Yarros has once again chosen not to put in the effort for this to make sense.

(Yarros introduces additional lore to explain this in Iron Flame, but that does not resolve the issue of the lack of explanation here. Her chosen explanation also opens additional plot holes.

FINAL SHOWDOWN

Next time, we will bulldoze through Chapter 36 through Chapter 39, thereby bringing this book to a close. After that, we can do the retrospective and be wrapped up in time for Christmas.

The climax of this book is a mess. The plot beats it hits suffer the same problems that have plagued everything else on this book, and the battle itself is practically meaningless noise. All of this capped off by a final reveal that is complete nonsense.

We're almost to the end, everyone. Hang on tight. I'll see you next week.