FOURTH WING | Deep Dive Part 3
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ค. 2024
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PART 1: • FOURTH WING | A DEEP D...
PART 2: • FOURTH WING | A Deep D...
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00-02:08 Intro
02:09-04:13 AD Parade
04:14-05:54 Where we left off
05:55-12:57 Unanswered questions
12:58-13:42 Chapter 24
13:43-20:53 Chapter 25
20:54-25:46 Chapter 26
25:47-37:38 Chapter 27
37:39-46:24 Chapter 28
46:25-52:09 Chapter 29
52:10-52:19 Chapter 30
52:20-01:08:43 Chapter 31
01:08:44-01:11:37 Chapter 32
01:11:38-01:14:03 Chapter 33
01:15:04-01:17:43 Chapter 34
01:17:44-01:26:38 Chapter 35
01:26:39-01:31:08 Chapter 36
01:31:09-01:31:23 Chapter 37
01:31:24-01:32:05 Chapter 38
01:32:06-01:40:18 Final thoughts
01:40:19 End - บันเทิง
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Yes, please auction off the book!
you have the best ad segues in your videos lol
I've ordered from Parade before and enjoyed it, so I wonder if this code works when I'm a returning customer
This code works on the Lightning Sale items! Not sure if that's a fluke but I just got a phenomenal deal on my order.
however much they paid you for that ad read, it wasn't enough--"I am picky about my sex scenes the same way I am picky about what bras I wear--please just don't make me uncomfortable" was the most relatable thing I've heard all day 😂
"rules are arbitrary and stupid at the murder college" is truly the best line to sum up the entire experience that is this book
They should use that for advertising
read your comment the moment she said it 😂😂
“‘i feel a familiar prickle along my scalp’ it’s LICE. GET CHECKED” i’m CRYING
I can’t stop thinking about how ‘wingleader’ just sounds like you’re saying ‘ringleader’ in a baby voice 😭 I hate it
I can't unhear it now 😭😂
he's just a wittle wingleader
Crap. I listen to Anne McCaffrey's Pern series a lot. I can't unhear this now.
Lol thats so cursed now i cant stop hearing that when rachel says it now
I was going to make an Elmer Fudd joke, but in his mouth it would be wingweadeh.
Saddles not being allowed for dragon riding is a terrible idea. I figured that they were already wearing saddles because they didn't want their crotches torn up by dragon scales
Stirrup saddles are literally one of the biggest military and logistics inventions. for HORSES. round, fur-coated straight-backed prey animals. and she just didnt think it's worth it for dragons.
Even just a series of safety straps.... like like why are you trusting your recruits' grip strength to save them from the chaos that would be sky-fighting on a dragon?!
@@hedgers2005it’s a damn fantasy book
@@Nothereforit174 that's not a good excuse for really sloppy worldbuilding
@teaganrichichi THIS! It’s been a long time since I read Eragon, but I vaguely remember a scene where he gets messed up bloody thighs from riding Sapphira without a saddle and then I think he makes one? I could be thinking of another book, but people riding dragons without saddles always reminds me of this scene and I cringe.
every time someone in a fantasy world mentions chocolate it makes me think of that scene in The Office where Dwight is testing the Benjamin Franklin impersonator by offering him chocolate and he's like "chocolate? where did you acquire it?! that is a delicacy in the Amazon but it has not yet been imported to the United States!"
“It is so shitty to withhold information just because you think you know better” RHYSAND, WE ARE ALSO LOOKING AT YOU
It seems like the murder college would make a lot more sense if the dragons WERE enslaving the humans and demanding the best and brightest so they could force them to kill each other for entertainment
someone needs to write this
OMG YES. Appease the dragons👏🏻👏🏻
forget “slickened core” let’s just all focus on that slick transition to the sponsor segment
hahahahaha
The only truly slick thing from this video
In the US Army there’s a whole section of jobs that are just logistics. If we treat dragons like you would for like trucks and planes someone would need to do the logistics of where they are going, what are they bringing, what time should they be at the location etc. I mean she could’ve looked up Army jobs that start with 88 all of those jobs are about transportation because my god you can’t tell me dragons would ONLY be used to burn villages to the ground when they could also hail a bunch of things pre-airplane times.
Violet who has EDS could’ve failed at dragon rider college and then pivot to some logistics colldge that would still be connected to riders (so now she’s in a diffrent campus and thus has a reason to not know anyone or anything about it) and she could still bond to two dragons but now it’s actually problematic because the one dragon that would be perfect on the battlefield is cooped up somewhere because its rider works in logistics. Hell from there you could have it that her commanding officers try to find ways to bend the rules to make her a rider because goddamn that’s a really good dragon. And you could still have the stupid romance with that boys and like there could’ve been a HTTYD moment where Violet figures out how to make gear for herself so she can actually ride a dragon and not completely ruin her weeks (assuming we take her unofficial diagnosis seriously) or rebel boy could’ve done it. So that we can ya know-give them a reason to even be friends let alone romantic partners.
This book was clearly only meant to be a smut book but the author didn’t want it to be purely smut for whatever reason and now Fourth Wing will forever be known as that dragon book that didn’t have enough dragon stuff and has a whole lot of wasted potential.
Oh no, that sounds like a book I could be talked into reading!
If only! The effort you put in to this adjustment. If only the author could be bothered
@@JulieTheReader it sounds like a book I could be talked into writing
Dragon logistics: the genre we never knew we needed until this minute. There is abundant lore in the paperwork.
My dad had this job but for wildland firefighting rather than the military. He worked on a military base though. I am now imagining dragons at the military base and a special wing of dragons that put out the fires instead of starting them. Ooohhhh....
"A tangle of tongues and teeth" sounds like an eldritch abomination straight out of Lovecraft to me.
Cthulhu: What if we kissed under the bleachers in the Void? Hehehe, just kidding…Unless…👀🥺👉🏼👈🏼
The unholy laugh I just laughed.
My personal headcanon is that the dragons smell like charred marshmallow.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂@@RainWelsh
Brandon. Sanderson. Also. Became. Obsessed. With. This. Period. Thing… and… ellipses… in… rhythm… of … war (and no editor did anything about it)
Thats why I listen to the audiobooks lol
Terminally online authors
tbf, there is a certain amount of in-universe justification for that (although I admit I am still not a fan of either the concept or the book in general. But the ladder runners are just so cool it vindicates all the other stuff)
GRR Martin does the ellipses thing and it really annoyed me lol
@@kbird6208terminally online readers
Why does Xadan give me emo 2000s boy? He’s so ✨dark and brooding ✨
Xaden's secret stash of eyeliner
Because this barns of generic romantasy authors don’t know how to write unique and interesting men lol
@@Ceruleansquid-lo3ivit’s standard issue
So ik the orange dragon thing is from the orange cat stereotypes
OHHHH got it
@ReadswithRachel alot of the dragon stuff was oddly inspired by cats it makes it make a little more sense. Not a ton but a little. There are definitely alot of memes and trendy online stuff in her work. Especially if you've read her older stuff. A lot of people incorrectly assume that fourth wing is a debut. And we're confused why she got this big marketing push but she's been established romance author for I think like a decade. Like she's not new she writes this way to market to her base because it sells. I do appreciate your videos though.
That actually makes sense to me, dragons are cat-coded in my head tbh 😅
As someone with EDS, I am *horrified* with the sex scene (and the EDS rep in general, tbh). I roll over in my sleep and dislocate my hip, but you're getting folded in half with no consequences?? Truly high fantasy😂
The existence of July suggests that Julius Caesar was kicking around with a dragon, flying into places with a 'Veni Vidi Vici.'
Or maybe a 'Volani Vidi Vici' (I flew, I saw, I conquered).
Now *there's* a book idea!
I wonder what “I flew, I saw, I fell” would be.
@@mst3kharris according to google- "volavi vidi cecidi" which is just *chefs kiss*
OK. You have the first sentence of your book, now quick sticks, it will most probably better than Fourth Wing.
'ITS LICE. GET CHECKED' I was listening to it as a podcast and had to come back and pause cause I was WEEEEEEEEEEEZING I DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED you are so funny.
Yarros really thought that
"I (Xaden) fucking love your hair. If you ever want to bring me to my kneesor win an argument, just let it down. Ill get the point"
Was such a mic drop moment from this book she reused the line word for word in the second book.
God i hated being reminded of xadens weird lust for her hair
Also isnt her hair just one of those 2015 bad root dye jobs?
Worse, it sounds like it's badly done frosted tips 😂
This unanswered questions section is the absolute best 🤣
Rachel: "I am once again asking: why?"
I’m at that part right now! 🤣🤣🤣 There’s sooo many unanswered perfectly logical questions. 🤦🏾♀️
“A tangle of tongues and teeth” sounds so unpleasant, it sounds like you’re clacking teeth together ouch
It actually sounds like a scene from a Warhammer40k novel, a description of a Nurgle or Tzeench demon maybe
Kissing with braces
It is body horror.
Sounds like what happens when tweens play spin the bottle for the first time
Makes me think of teratoma
16:08 As someone who writes in English as a second language, I'm constantly googling words and terms and expressions to make sure I'm using them right (and sometimes to discover I'm wrong!) and it is endlessly frustrating to see some published authors and their editors care so little about the things they're putting out that mistakes like this make it into the finished product.
Sad thing is all this inconsistencies could've been used to showcase the level of rulebending and priveledge some cadets (including Violet) have over others and a reason for Violets mistrust of hierups later in the story. But what we got instead is "super cool and deadly mylitary branch that creates it's oun rules!"
(English is not my first languege so I appologise for any mistakes)
The fact that you used Chad Michael Murray as the one dude’s face killed me
finally someone recognizes my jokes
I am an Orange Dragon = Himbo truther
As a person with EDS, I can dislocate or sublax a joint by like. Turning around, lifting my arm, playing games on the pc, or just. Wake up with one out.
I haven’t had Sexual Relations since my joints got worse but uh. I’m pretty positive that kinda Coitus would lead to at LEAST one joint doing an oop.
I know Rebecca Yarros' world-building didn't involve her sitting down and asking herself "how can I make conscription even worse?", but that feels like it makes more sense than her actually thinking any military would think it a viable option to not only conscript the children of your enemies but give them considerable power.
Because like, conscription itself carries a lot of disadvantages. Turns out that making someone who doesn't want to be a soldier be a soldier often leads to them being a bad soldier, and sometimes those bad soldiers are a liability because they're more likely to defect or just kill their fellow soldier. That's where the term "fragging" comes from; throwing a grenade at your superior officer which happened over 700 times during the Vietnam war. And that's nothing compared to the Soviet-Afghan War between 1979-89 where it's estimated that _38,000 Soviet soldiers_ were killed by their fellow soldiers, which is more than double the amount of recorded deaths of Soviet soldiers related to combat.
I know Rebecca seemed to have done very little research in regards to Scots Gaelic despite using it as part of her world-building and I believe with some of the names of characters, so maybe she just didn't do any research. But like, isn't she a military spouse? It seems a much easier topic for her to research than Scots Gaelic (though she still should have actually researched it) and yet her military seems to be actively throwing more hurdles in front of them as they run a race wearing cement blocks for shoes.
This series of deep dives has been really cathartic after I absolutely hated Fourth Wing, so thank you, I'm glad I'm not alone. It's so sad to me that such a mediocre book got so famous when one of my favorite dragon riding books, Novice Dragoneer, is struggling so much to find an audience that the series may never be finished T_T
It's actually impressive how this book manages to fail on every level.
Plot: fail
Worldbuilding: fail
Characters: fail
Romance: *barf*
I hate how, in the intention to have drama and "mystery", Violet simply doenst question, doesnt react and doesnt act by herself to find the answers she needs and always have to wait for someone - Xaden - to hand it to her. It's like he is the protagonist, only the story is writen in her pov. Really frustrating
Something that would make more sense is every book should be in each wing, like fourth wing= dragons rider's , third wing = cavalary, second wing = medic and cartography focused and first wing = basic army , in every book we change de protagonist and in a Last book , we see from every one of the four protagonist in a end game war maybe 🤔
100% idk how to properly articulate this but i feel like Yarros falls into the weird YA trap of glorifying a specific part of the military (like, i guess... the fantasy version of the marines? idek) which imo just feeds into pro-military propaganda about being a hero/significant/exceptional/sPeCiAl. I think exploring the different factions of the military would be interesting because we could really examine the way people are treated as tools/gears in the killing machine. but no.
see but that would require actual thought about the academy outside of the spice
also why would you have 4 wings? do dragons have 4 wings? it'd make more sense to have like... 4 claws (in a dragon hand) or some shit.
@@notreal9214 A wing is part of a building - or any feature of a building - that is subordinate to the main, central structure
@@notreal9214 from what i get dragons in general have historically been kinda hard to define (overlysarcasticproductions did a video on this which summarises the issue quite well imo) and take on many forms, with varying numbers for claws and wings, as well as legs
so they might as well have 4 wings 👁👁
I am irrationally annoyed at this evil empire that doesn't know how to evil empire properly.
Every time Rachel says “What do you mean?” all I can think of is that Jennifer Lawrence meme.
Your list of "why"s make me wish you could read my writing, i need someone other than me finding all these logical holes so expertly lol
55:41 the sex scenes have me "Ew" ing out loud 💀💀💀
YES OUR QUEEN HAS BLESSED US
YYEYEYEYYESSSSYSYYSYS
Literally the way I've been waiting for this
yall gonna make me cry
This feels super unrelated but the "tongues and teeth" tangent reignited my annoyance for "a blank of blank and blank" titles, like why? WHY?? AND WHY DO THESE AUTHORS DO THIS FOR EVER BOOK THEY MAKE THEREAFTER💀
Besides that, I wanna legsweep violet for wasting two books worth of time just being fuckin *useless*
Just go AWOL, no one is gonna stop you and your giant dragon thruple
I refuse to read any book that does that with the title. I don't care how good it is.
Authors virtually never pick their titles
@@asteridshydrangea-jt2hf well thats just sad. You cant name your own book that you wrote? Agents just setting up their authors to fail now jeez
@@arkkon2740 Some authors do, but there's a lot of push towards what's most marketable. Off the top of my head, I remember Ava Reid mentioning that they had to change the title of their debut from "Black Thread Fable" to "The Wolf and the Woodsman" because it sounded too "literary" to sell. Joan He also had to fight to keep her book's title of "Strike the Zither" because her publisher was worried readers wouldn't know what a zither was and wanted to change it to something more generic.
Unfortunately, because SJM popularized the "blank of blank and blank" title and is still astoundingly successful, publishing houses (and indie authors writing in the same genre) don't realize naming their books the same way makes them stand out less and will continue to beat that format into the dust as long as they're promised sales.
@@rain2986The “blank of blank and blank” thing goes back further than SJM. Without doing formal research into it, it seems like GRRM might have started it and it subsequently became popular when the Game of Thrones series came out. The book series was of course called _A Song of Ice and Fire_ and when the TV show came out, people were clamouring for it. At this point, publishers were well aware of their popularity and would have used whatever they thought would remind readers of them, including having a similar titling scheme. “Blank of blank and blank” was already getting old by the time ACOTAR came out. This moose remembers complaining about it years ago. There was _Daughter of Smoke and Bone,_ for example, published back in 2011.
It has been irritating for a long time. Not that it was necessarily dying out in recent years, but if it was, we can perhaps blame ACOTAR for reviving it-just like we can blame ACOTAR for a lot of things…
Also I don't think I ever heard the term "bricked up" but I was DYING at "You're at breakfast? BRICKED UP" like god lord LMAO
Why do they focus so much on hand to hand combat when they fight from dragon back? Ranged weapons and/or polearms would be the smart weapons to use, also, why no saddles? The dragons are massively holding themselves back in terms of maneuverability.
I dont read the book , but maybe the author don't know how do write fights with weapons 😅
I always assumed its because Rebecca wants the danger while making the riders seem more compitent than they are. Its like someone bringing a knife to a sword fight because they think they're hot shit, then they have a hole in their lungs because they wanted to show off
@@arkkon2740 more like a spork to a gun fight
i’m imagining them inching closer to an enemy in the air and then just slap fighting while turning their heads away from each other 😭😭
@@cuddlewuffleokay I laughed a lot
one of the things this book taught me is that it’s okay to enjoy a book while also acknowledging that it’s not the best book ever written. I found myself absolutely cringing and frustrated with so many moments, like how immediately obvious the love interest was (within the first few pages, right?). also, for all their emphasized importance, the riders’ bonds with the dragons didn’t seem to be all that… well, important. and even more so, violet’s ability to bond with not only the most powerful dragon, but the most precious and rare one, is just glossed over. I recognized all of this, but still had a pretty good time reading.
what I’m finding, though, is that people are fiercely protective over this book, so much to the point where any criticism is considered offensive and tasteless. I respect anyone who enjoyed this book (heck, I’m one of them), but appreciate those who have the mindset of “this was a good time, but not necessarily good.” that is totally okay and shouldn’t detract from YOUR personal experience and connection with a book!!
I completely agree. A few of my friends feel exactly the same as you do. They had a good time. I’m happy they did. I’m just glad people read!
Enjoying bad books is great, imo.
We all enjoy plenty of bad/trashy media while acknowledging it's bad, why can't we enjoy bad/trashy books while acknowledging that they're bad?
And sometimes is as much fun to tear the books apart as it is to read them.
Other times, it's more enjoyable to tear them apart, but that shouldn't take away from the enjoyment a reader had.
Re: using “parcel” instead of “parse,” I noticed that a lot in Iron Flame as well; you can’t convince me either book was edited
I have hEDS and the more i think about the rep in this the more upset I get. It's like the author is saying as long as you have accommodations you can do anything an abled-person can do, which is just not always true. And speaking from experience if you push yourself too far and constantly like Violet does (especially all the scenes before she strengthens her joints with Imogen!) you don't end up strong with super cool special powers, you end up with ruptured disks and permenant damage no amount of pt can undo.
And Violet's line: "I'll never know if I'm good enough to make it here. And while I might not survive if I stay, I'm not sure I can live with myself if I leave." was genuinely hurtful to read, and it never goes meaningfully challenged in the book (except by the "bad" love interest who we aren't supposed to like). It really sucks, and while I hope the author does address that in the next book, I can't bring myself to read it and find out.
I think that is important to look at because accommodations do help but there are real limitations for all disabilities. It’s okay for internalised ablism (happens in real world good to explore) as long as it is challenged and the person changes and grows.
Feels like author only put it in there for it to be there which is bad. But I would like to hear more about your thoughts?
@pandaseal1611 Yeah it's definitely internalized ableism. I hope it's a concious choice of the authors and it will go challenged in the other books but I honestly can't bring myself to read them to find out. But at least from this book, it feels like she's going the "no one is diabled just specially abled" route, which is something I really hate because it feeds into this idea that disabled people still can and should be productive, which obviously all stems from the idea that you /have/ to contribute to society in order to be worthy of being a part of it. I'm not saying if disabled people want to work they shouldn't, obviously, but this idea leads to people pushing themselves until their bodies break, because it's either that or starve/be homeless. So I really hate anything that feeds into this idea of "well everyone can do /something/" because people who really can't work in any capacity are then looked at as worthless. Like, "This disabled person can push themselves and work, why can't you?" or "Just get a desk job." type of mentalities that are harmful. So for the author to present Violet pushing herself past her own body's limits constantly and have it be rewarded by the story without any kind of permanent damage being shown is irresponsible, in my opinion. I really hope this changes in the other books but I don't know. Like, dislocating your joints constantly doesn't just effect the joints but also everything surrounding it like tendons and ligaments. There's injections to help repair these but they're very expensive and not usually convered by insurance so most people can't afford them. Pushing through the pain (dislocation pain not like soreness from PT, something that is very helpful and I'm glad was included, but still is not some magic fix like it's shown to be in the book) will not end well like it does for Violet but is something most people with hEDS are already having to do. And our reward for that isn't cool powers or being stronger, it's just constant pain that won't go away.
@@alias-isalice3418 that doesn’t sound conductive to any one. I hate when it’s promoted as people can do anything when actually they can’t it’s not healthy. I wish that the book explored this that she can’t do things because of bad pain and the consequences of such. I don’t think I will read this book.
Thank you for telling me about hEDS and explaining it ☺️
I really admire your commitment in returning to this, I know it wasn't easy 😅
I hope you know I thought of you while putting in the HTTYD part!
@@ReadswithRachel Aw thanks 🥰
Rachel: Everybody say 'thank you, Jin!'
Me, a grown adult, out loud to a computer as if my kindergarten teacher has just given me instructions: Thank you Jin!
The saddle part is my favourite section of this last third. So many questions!
Why haven't saddles been used before? Because dragons consider them to be demeaning, and as we know, unless you're Violet you will be torched for even breathing wrong near a dragon.
But then Xaden makes her a saddle (presumably they exist for horses. how does he know how to make a saddle though?) and Tairn nearly roasts Xaden while Xaden is fitting the saddle to Tairn.
But Tairn agreed to this saddle venture? And he knows that Xaden's death might potentially be Violet's death as well, so why would he try to kill Xaden for fitting the saddle? Just out of reflex?
Then Violet resists using the saddle because "people will know I can't keep my seat" - but she's fallen off, canonically, about 100 times in flight training and been caught by Tairn midair. So everyone already knows she can't keep her seat. They've seen it dozens and dozens of times with their own eyeballs.
There's another part which is talked about less, in the stretch where Violet is telepathically nagging Xaden to admit his feelings, that really jumped out at me. None of these tiresome conversations are ever Violet saying "I love you" - they're always her telling him "Just admit that you are in love with me."
Never mind all the other things he's said and done to show that he has feelings for her, he hasn't said those particular three words so it's not real. And her response is to badger him in lectures, halls, while they're alone or in front of people, to force him to admit what she already knows is true.
Maybe that would land better if they had any chemistry at all, or Xaden had any reason to like Violet at all. But as it is, my god... it takes talent to write so poorly that you open up five new plotholes with every sentence.
edit: also, the way rachel skipped over about 50 pages of completely pointless battle details in 20 seconds? perfection.
my professors would've killed me if i had done the period thing in my writing classes like just say that they're punctuating every word and be done with it smh
Naw fr. I'm a creative writing major and during a workshop my peers and instructors would have obliterated me if I wrote Ike this.
Some questions get answered in the second book but for the most part the logic of this world is held together by Elmer’s glue and string
Not the Cadet Kelly dad lmao 😂
FINALLY SOMEONE NOTICED
@@ReadswithRachel lmao I'm 30 now. That movie was part of my personality 20 years ago
Hard same, friend.
Just realized that fourth wing and iron flame came out in the same year, like where did the era of 'waiting yearssss for book sequel' go?
when authors stopped caring about editing their books
This reminds me of my preteen/teen imaginary stories where events happened just to set up very PG situations with me and whomever i liked at the time. They made no sense, but they weren't supposed to. There's a reason I never wrote any of those stories down!
26:00 A battery is also a military term for like artillery. So she took out a group of cannons or something
idk because it doesnt seem like the gryphon people have stuff like that, thats why i defaulted to it being an actual battery
pretty sure that is what she meant originally, also makes sense for artillery to be behind the actual front lines. Probably like with all the other strange technological anachronisms. Although of course any application of military logic on this book gives it too much credit
For any writers out there, Unresolved Textual Tension has a fantastic (patreon-only, IIRC) video about how to write a good sex scene. It's hilarious and insightful. 10/10 recommend. Also, Rachel, this was hilarious and fair and I'm always down to listen to your thoughts about books (even ones I'd never read).
Love them!
I LOVE UTT -- my favourite TH-cam channel along with this one for book reviews. I'm working on my debut novel so the way the break down books and analyse the writing is super helpful, plus they have a great community and are funny.
UTT REPRESENT ✊✊
@@S.M.Owens_ Agreed. As another aspiring writer, I think it's sometimes more useful to hear about what doesn't work and what to avoid, as it is to know what GoOd wRiTiNG is.
OMG i've been waiting for this for forever!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!
also, speaking as someone with EDS, idk how the hell violet survived the "armoire" incident. my $h1t would have been busted from here to toon town.
my neck, my back, my everything would be cracked.
Erotic Nightmares Presents
"A Tangle of Tongues and Teeth: a Tantalizing Toothsome Lovecraftian Lustfest"
His rear talons gripped my fifth and seventh tentacles while all my tongues explored past his innumerable rows of teeth and into the gaping void of his face-hole, in whose unfathomable depths a thousand ancestors wailed. Everything was slickened. Especially the ancestors.
For one perfect moment we lost ourselves in eachothers gelatinous folds. Tongues writhing and teeth clattering like the music of a forest of bones. His countless eyes fixed on mine with the hunger of a Devourer of Worlds in all their fathomless quivering dephs.
@@valerielevasseur8674Thank you for slaying me. 😂
R.I.P. the slackened ancestors. 😔
One thing that infuriated me was her blatant disinterest in her power. Imagine getting this superduper power and showing literally no interest in developing it, understanding it, training it or even researching its origins or how it works. Apparently she’s a scribe and research is her thing but she’s not in there combing through the books to find similar powers or clues to how to control it? It’s not until Iron Flame that she even bothers to try really targeting her strikes and only then at the insistence of someone else?! Tairn constantly states he chose her for her intelligence which is ridiculous. Her naivety is bewildering. Worst main character ever. EVER.
I'm once again hypothesizing that this "book" is several drafts (not necessarily even finished) of the same novel smooshed together with minimal editing or beta reading (obviously.) 😅
Not necessarily even of the same novel!
@@kbird6208THAT'S A GREAT POINT OH NO
It's funny that you thought Xaden said that Imogen had a thing for Violet because I was lowkey shipping them lol. They have better chemistry imo, although the bar is underground.
This book being sapphic would've made it sooo much better without changing anything else 😂
god thank you for this deep dive, it helped me contextualize my own extremely confusing feelings about this book in such a major way. it's been said but if you want a dragon series that actually talks about dragon supply lines and physiology, naomi novik's temeraire series is EXHAUSTIVE about such things, if you can excuse that the freshman in dragon school is a 30-year-old repressed navy captain.
My favorite blogger came back after years of silence to do chapter x chapter takedown of this book and I love watching this and reading those chapters.
What blogger? Asking for a friend👀
Yarros was very direct with her info dumping and also consistently would say what was happening vs tell/describe what was happening. Definitely a 3 star for me. I read throne of glass by SJM after and it genuinely felt like Yarros read TOG and added dragons
Please, PLEASE do Iron Flame, this was too funny of a series! I enjoyed this so much
This book is just a room full of spaghetti noodles on the floor 'cause the author is trying to throw it at the ceiling hoping it sticks but didn't even cooked it first
oh boy did this arrive at just the right time! I was about to get some work done, so thank goodness I no longer have to do that 🥰
Glad I could help!
Speaking of chocolate, a webcomic I follow has a modern main character isekai'd into a European-inspired fantasy setting video game/visual novel (the kind of pseudo-Euro setting you usually see in anime, manga, webtoons, and JRPG), and she had to have chocolate imported. She knew chocolate because she's from a world like ours, but even people around her rarely knew what chocolate was. I'm not sure if that other country was very Central/South American, but that was the first time I saw it was imported in a fantasy setting.
Can I ask for the title? That kind of consideration for worldbuilding has me intrigued if it's good
@@rain2986 Every Rose has a Death Flag on Webtoon. I like this comic coz it doesn't have much romance, and it's kind of silly. World-building-wise, it's really more of the typical anime fantasy, but with more thought given on details like characters not knowing what chocolate or giraffes are, but trader characters who have contact with foreigners do.
They're... not allowed... saddles? I mean. I know most people don't have experience with horses, but we didn't invent saddles for shits and giggles. Riding a horse bareback is *uncomfortable*, and they're extremely soft compared with what a dragon would be like. There's just some things you just can't develop calluses for.
You said so much that just YES! But the ONE THING I'm so grateful you mention, which is the smallest thing ever, the fact this book uses our calendar system! I mentioned it and got comments about how I don't understand how hard it is coming up with a fantasy world, so it's ok that it had our months. Or that the book is "translated" so it's translated into our language (which still doesn't make sense, because then other things like school names would've been translated too). I was just screaming while listening to this book going "WHERE ARE THE ROMANS?!?! Show me Julius Caesar RIGHT NOW!" lol
If you're gonna put effort into making a whole new world for your fantasy book, you HAVE to put in effort for things like this too.
I want "WHERE ARE THE ROMANS?!?! Show me Julius Caesar RIGHT NOW!" framed or stitched onto a pillow lol
I mean, sometimes conveying information to the reader beats making shit up just for the sake of making it up, but that requires a narrative style and distance and skill to support it. This book for sure has none of the three so yeah, show me julius and augustus.
@@rain2986 we can point to it whenever stuff like this happens!
@@jasminv8653 I can see that for a book for children, but this is a book for adults lol
@@awkwardpotato27 absolutely not what i meant, but i think it's a difference in taste :)
Every time Kronk shows up, I’m dead. 😂
Not Violet being move Annabeth! I'm dying 🤣
I completely understand why you split up this deep dive into three parts, but it meant I kept giving the benefit of the doubt about Rebecca forgetting plot points from the previous videos. A fairly optimistic outlook of, "It's egregious as hell, but authors aren't perfect, she needs a continuity editor." But it's All One Book. Did she write a chapter, wait a few months to let the details fade, then write the next??? Even in my casual writing, I'm probably over-obsessed with making sure I don't leave threads hanging or Chekov's guns un-fired.
Personally, I find so much joy in threading character in the little details (a character who avoids swearing finally losing their shit, details in descriptions paying off as clues for in-text reveals, titling conventions, etc) and I love reading stories where I can theorise or make guesses that aren't just trope-bound (no way, the MC will end up with ["bad boy" with a name starting with C or X] and not her Best Friend Who's More Like A Brother? Shocker).
I know that's not everyone's taste, but consistency and continuity are important, especially in a made up world. I have master documents for unfinished outlines because I don't want to write a story that has rules that no-one can keep up with. It helps-like you said in one of these videos-the reader feel immersed in the narrative, rather than bogged down by constant 'why's' and 'what if's' and 'but how's'.
Half way through the video, but I feel it's safe to conclude that this book could have been titled "Fourth Wing: Don't Ask Questions Because Nothing Is Ever Answered." I've never read the book, nor plan to, but I've been watching this series and I watched another long discussion from the channel Unresolved Textual Tension, and I feel confident in my judgement.
Other things that stand out is this book highlights my dislike for characters that the audience is told to be smart, but it's never shown that they actually are (re: Violet). As well, I'm convinced that Violet only likes Xaden because he's hot (her constant objectification of him made me uncomfortable) because it doesn't sound like we're given any other logical reasonings. Truly, what does she know about him beyond liking chocolate cake? I don't know, but it sounds like Xaden primarily exists to be the hot love interest for Violet, but not really be allowed to stand on his own.
The Kronk clips every time you mentioned the poison is sending meeee 😭
My question is, if Brennan survives, how did his friend die trying to save him? Like if he was actually alive, then how did his friend die? To me, theres only two options he was close to death and got brought back, or he was never hurt in the first place and made it all up to leave. we know, he's dead bc of the tarin, so did his friend actually succeed in bringing him back to life? And he just took advantage of the opportunity and left? I didn’t read the book, so I don't know if I missed the part where brennon talks about how he got away with his fake murder. Was that just not explained?
Also, if it's the case that his friend succeeds in bringing him back to life by giving his life, wouldn't tarin know that violets brother was alive this whole time? Because his friend was bonded to him, he was probably there in his last moments, so he knew what happened, why wouldnt he say anything?!
Another thing, why did everyone just assume he was dead? With the way he "died," there should've been a body. Also, what about his freaking dragon. Do the dragons not talk to each other? Can't they tell when other dragons are bonded or not? Like even when tarin disappeared the other dragons knew where he was and interacted with him. Did he not go back to the vale at all?
So in Iron Flame, Brennan makes an offhand comment during an argument with Mira about how "[she] didn't die". I don't think it's brought up ever again so it's safe to assume he did actually die. He mentions to Violet early in the first two chapters that his dragon and some other injured dragons hid him in a cave. This isn’t expanded upon as far as I'm aware so. More questions with very little answers
What a great review Kronk did, didn't he? 😎
He didn't even needed that many words to express that, by all accounts, this book doesn't make sense.
I can't wait for a new video from Reads with Kronk ❤
My favorite quote from this was ”Yay, we move on from sex and get into war" (or something like that). Also, I would love to buy your book for charity.
I don't even have EDS, I have the less severe version (hypermobility spectrum disorder) and even if my joints don't dislocate like with EDS, I can badly injure a joint doing the sex thing. I can fuck up my knees by putting too much pressure on them while kneeling, or injure my hip if its pressed too hard in the wrong way. One time I even fucked up my jaw trying to uh, enjoy a sausage.
Basically, there's no way they could have first timer rough sex without her injuring herself if she can't even sit on a dragon without dislocating something.
Whelp now I know that I prefer “slick folds” over “slick core”.
*Spoilers* Finished the book last night. Not a fan, but my biggest gripe with this book is that Rebecca Yarros literally just copied Victoria Aveyard’s character (Mare Barrow). Mare’s hair is silver at the ends, she has lightening powers, she is special and different (Mare with red blood and powers and Violet with two dragons), love triangle (the “bad guy” is actually the love interest), and *big spoiler* both their brothers faked their own deaths to join the rebellion which isn’t revealed till the end. I feel like I can go on and on and on about this. It honestly pisses me off. Please tell me someone else noticed this.
I read the entirety of the Red Queen series before reading Fourth Wing so I definitely noticed.
As much as I grew to dislike Mare by the end of her series, she's still a better character than Violet. Victoria Aveyard is also a better author than Rebecca Yarros.
While I feel VA needs to work on how she writes her protagonists and their romances, I think one thing she does really well is making me root for her villains. The main antagonist of Red Queen was my favorite character and in her new trilogy I feel that the story could have been just the villains and been much better.
I also have a fondness for villainous couples which is now the main reason for me waiting for the last book.
I just realized what the dragons get from their alliance with the humans. it's the students. an all you can eat buffet from the war college that doesn't care if you're murdered and eaten.
In the third book, we better find out the dragons are eating the people that fell at the start since they're so comfy with just turning people into smores. At least we'll know why they have a superiority complex, its because we're like doritos
Hold the fuck on.
I thought all that shit about their dragon friends not being able to be apart means they are stuck with one another no matter what
If so, then wtf does, 'I'll be graduating soon there's no telling where I'll end up' mean????
Here. You'll be here, because she's here, because dragon friend's husband is here.
Hello. I'm sorry, what?
Fucking what??
Please ma'am, a crumb of consistency please.
Thank you for the great review. I honestly agreed with a lot of things that you point it out. For me everything was very convenient, like all of it. Had no story structure. The story does not connect, nothing is planned, nothing makes sense, and nothing matters. Thought "The emperor's new groove" edits were hilarious.
Oh and her disease only pops up when it is convenient. I don't have that disease, but I do have lupus and it annoyed me that it kind of suggested that she got better just by doing exercise 😒.
Of all the "character pictures" that were used here, I loved the use of the step dad on Cadet Kelly. Makes me nostalgic.
My favorite thing about this video (beside the absolutely amazing criticism) is that the one tree hill guy circa 2003 was fan cast as Dane 😂😂
I usually do 60 min walking on the treadmill and I love listening to your videos while exercising ❤
As someone who just binged the other two parts to remind myself what happened in this book (i read it! Ive watched multiple in depth reviews! I remember nothing!) you did in fact make a joke about Violet being a cancer so your deja vu was correct.
okay im sorry but this dragon war college having like, a class points reward system is cracking me up. like at least in that wizard school that shall not be named, it was basic education and there were literal eleven year olds? like i can see a real high school having something like that as kind of a fun thing. a MILITARY ACADEMY????? everything's made up and the points dont matter!
Wait a second. I’m currently replaying Dragon Age: Inquisition... The name Nevarre (or, as in DAI, Nevarra) is literally just ripped from there 😂
TBH, Navarre is also a real life place in Spain, which used to be part of the Kingdom of Navarre. Not sure if Dragon Age also took inspiration for the name from there (I've never played it), but it's literally spelled the same way in Fourth Wing and I have no idea how no editor caught this. I was so confused thinking this was some kind of alt-history fantasy for a hot minute before I realized it's supposed to be a made up country.
It's finally happening nobody panic!!!!
Bro the amount of times I have watched the other two videos
Am I gonna go watch those two again, yes - I didn’t absorb anything. Be back in a few hours :)
Better Dragon Books/series:
Anne Mccaffrey - Pern Series (one of the originals, it was written in the 60s so the prose can be heavy but it’s amazing)
Naomi Novik - Temeraire series (Napoleonic wars with Dragons)
Micheal R. Miller - Songs of Chaos Series
@@arawin25 Ooh that’s a new one for me thank you!
wings of fire!!!! :D i know they're on a lower reading level but i cherish them dearly
I'm about to start reading it but I heard The Aurelian Cycle by Rosaria Mundo is everything Fourth Wing wishes it was but actually good and thought out! It also came out like 2 years before FW which makes it more painful that there are reviews calling it a FW ripoff *and* the publisher changing the summary to comp it with FW...
I always think about Pern when I see any dragon centric books! That series set such a high bar for me. I'm going to pick up the Temeraire series, thanks for the rec! 💖
I haven't read Fourth Wing, and I don't want to, but man did I have fun watching this video!
It's my bday today and AN HOUR AND FORTY TWO MINUTE VIDEO from Rachel is the best gift ever!
I have no interest in reading this book but I do have interest in watching you suffer through explaining this book to us.
I listened to all three videos today, and all I can say is thank you for your service. It’s so satisfying to hear someone else say all the things I thought about this book out loud.
The parapet of her heart 😂
Shout out to that person who got mad at me when I commented under another video that a lot of smut in popular fiction just makes me point and laugh. Like they are info-dumping lore while one of them gets backshots, how am I not supposed to find this shit goofy asf 😭
Rachel I want to commend your effort in parceling through this book - saving me my few remaining brain cells the damage of having to read this myself
Man say what you will about Eragon and The Inheritance Cycle, but at least those were dragon books that answered my damn questions 😭 how did this pass through a publisher!!!
Rachel: the next book comes out soon 😊
Me: there’s supposed to be another book? F*** me 😭
Hell yeah, I can't read books anymore but I'm always down to listen to you talk about books!!!!
The hype around books is risky.
In this case it was a easy read. You can finish it in a couple days. Mostly, casual readers will enjoy it.
But a bookworm will find the flaws easily.
I could go into detail... to sum up:
1. Worldbuilding from the perspective of first person is wrong delivered.
2. Romance fulfillment into the story is exhausting, because tends to be exclusive instead of inclusive.
3. Several plot hols and there isn't a single subplot, just the perspective from the main character.
4. No secondary characters development, they are a cliche.
5. Final villain isn't build or put in context appropriately.
6. Main character follows the traditional path of a Mary Sue. Predictable.
7. The prose is filled with tons of mistakes and too many colloquial words are repeated.
8. Lack of mystery, intrigue.
This is the definition of: terrible book with really good cover.
This. I didn't even get into 90% of points you mentioned and I still wrote a 2000+ word essay of a comment last night in KrimsonRouge's comments section because there's just so little to intrigue you or make you emotionally invested in the book, which for me, are two of the most important things when it comes to liking/tolerating a book. I can deal (temporarily) with bad writing (technical or artistic), bad plot, bad worldbuilding, etc., at least enough to finish the book if there's at least something intriguing me or if I'm invested in some character or plot point or _something._ I'll probably be complaining halfway to hell but I'd be able to finish the book. Not Fourth Wing though. That book would've cured me of insomnia if I had it. It's boring, I don't care about the characters, there's nothing to intrigue me (have I said that already?) and it's just all around a mess. I don't get how even casual readers read through this book. Because ugh. (I'm stopping here because I don't want to write another essay).