A large part of the storyline in this book is the hunt for Andarna’s family and that raises so many questions for me. It’s confirmed that the dragons lay eggs but also that they are involved in raising the children. So are they raised communally? By their biological parents? Or by their “breeds’ and Andarna was the exception to that because she was alone? She is eager to find her family and is terribly hurt when they reject her, which seems to indicate that she feels some loss compared to the other dragons in the Vale.
I also really loved the fact that Yarros really showcased how much the different dragons and their riders have different relationships based on their personalities. Ridoc and his dragon play pranks on each other. That is absolutely wild and I love it. Meanwhile Tairn is all, “If I didn’t want to be here you would be walking.” Amazing.
Ridoc is fast turning into my favourite character in this series. He is smart, he is capable, he is ride-or-die for his friends. And his imitation of Violet and Xaden fighting is comedy gold. He is also written as somebody who is not just comic relief, he is a three-dimensional person. His feelings are hurt when his friends don’t trust him, or if he feels like he is being under-estimated just because he jokes all the time. His deal with Xaden where he negotiated sharing his secret with people who were loyal to Violet was a strong, solid tactic to keep her safe.
This book is the first one where we meet Halden, Aaric’s older brother and heir to the throne. We also get to know Aaric better. He is very close to the chest, he doesn’t tell people what he knows and observes. That’s a smart survival tactic given his family. Especially since Halden is destined to be king, and he’s a goddamn idiot. No matter how you feel about your treasures being swindled away from you, trying to steal it back during a meeting where you are negotiating military support is not the time. Win the war first, then squabble about treasure.
At one point I was wondering why the deployment decisions made by General Aetos aren’t vetted by the Assembly. He risks losing their the strongest dragons by putting Violet in danger but because she’s a cadet there’s no oversight to say that’s a bad idea. At one point I thought, you know this story has to be written during the time period when she’s still a cadet specially so that she is in a situation where people can fuck with her for no reason.
It also occurred to me at one point that they might be better off just succumbing to the inevitable and have Violet and Xaden train together. He is incapable of not gluing himself to her whenever she might be in danger, so just teach them to coordinate so they aren’t ending up in situations where he puts himself further into his venin state in order to save her.
We also get to learn more about Xaden’s venin infection. He claims it gives him no emotions, but it definitely seems to be triggered by strong emotions. That seems to me like something you could work with – maybe a try a sedative or something? Anyway at this point it’s too late, I don’t think he can delay the inevitable any longer.
Other things I noted about the series, the use of riot and drift as collective nouns for dragons and gryphons is so cool I looked it up to see if that was something already in use, but nope, Yarros invented it. I love it.
What is the significance of dedication to a God and why was it such a huge problem that Violet was offered to Dunne?
I liked the glimpse of other characters’ points-of-view that we got near the end and I hope we get more of that.
Now I just have to wait for the next book to come out…