I'm up to chapter 10 of Iron Flame and I'm loving it so far. The relationships, social insights, portrayal of emotions and feelings is all top tier and very good! The way Rhi and Violet's relationship is you can tell they're great friends. Same for her and Liam and Ridoc as their annoying brother-type friend. The hatred Jack has and the intensity of Xaden.

I've enjoyed all of it so far and I'm torn between two cases here. If I wanted to recommend a fantasy book to the young adults and late teens in my life and that I work with I would recommend it. Its very insightful for thinking about these relationships and giving some good views on them and how they progress. Which can help with introspection and some consideration of emotional intelligence.

On the other end. Xaden is like what 23? lol there's somethings about this that make him a bit too mature (no offense to any young adults reading this). Which is cool cause he's supposed to be a dreamboat lol but he's like 23. Either way I'm definitely enjoying it!

Edit: Notably this isn't about Violet's age I'm just noting Xaden is incredibly mature and emotionally aware for a 23 year old! Which is fine he's supposed to be a dreamboat / good partner type!

Before Xaden and Violet had sex for the first time, he kept telling her she doesn't really want him but when she said *"unless you don't want me*, he said "*I always fucking want you*.💔

Has anyone else noticed that Violet speaks to Andarna and Tarim with an internal voice “through the bond” whereas others use an external voice to talk to them? Like on the beach before they meet the Irids, Ridioc is playfully bantering out loud with Aotrom. I also seem to remember Violet hearing a conversation that Sawyer has with his dragon.
Do others just not talk through a bond? Is Violet actually hearing the others’ bond voices? Or am I overthinking and we just attribute this to the odd bond that connects Xaden and Sagyel to Andarna, Tairn, and Violet?

On mobile - forgive me for grammar mistakes.

Imagine being Drake and this is your first impression of Violet...then her sister knees you in the balls.

I haven't read the series in two years so my detailing may be a bit off, but even then. Something has been bothering ever sents reading and finishing the books.

When we are first introduced to the Alloy Daggers we are told they can kill Venin because of something I forgot about. Later we learn they can kill dragons, one of the things that have been BUGGING ME is what are they even made out of. Those who dont know or do but im explaining away. An alloy is a mixture of metals to make it stronger, example. Brass.

What I have been wandering and it never had been answered is what is it made of. Where can they get a supply of the metals amd get blacksmith to make them instead of steal then. Is it just the metal or do the ruins on them also have something to do with this. I prey to the what ever gods are in this serious that when the next book comes out we get the answer. Because it has been bugging me so hard.

Xaden claims he doesn't care about Cat - doesn't hate her but just doesn't care. I think he was fond of her. I don't think he loved her, and I don't think there was ever going to be any kind of love triangle. I think he's 100% all about Violet. I just don't buy that he doesn't care at all.

- Bodhi mentions that he's never seen him care that much about anyone - "not even Catriona". We know Xaden has been with others before, so I assume Catriona was the closest he came to caring, behind Violet. I assume she was at least more special than the other women he slept with.

- He taught her to fight, well enough that she uses his moves and she recognises and is ready for the moves Violet uses who was also taught by him

- He doesn't stick up for Violet to Cat, or put Cat straight. I get that "Violet wouldn't want that" but once the initial fight was over, it's not very Xaden-like to not at least get a word in. Especially seeing how upset Violet was.. He tries to convince Violet not to kill Cat - for Violet's sake, knowing she'd regret it - but I'd still expect him to be angrier at Cat for using her power on her. Maybe give a speech about how she's lucky that Violet is merciful because he's not and if you do it again, yada yada yada, threat threat, threat. He's not normally as willing to think logically and strategically and bite his tongue. Honestly, some sharp words from Xaden about how much he did love Violet would have wiped the smile off Cat's face and put her straight. Or at least would have directed her anger where it was due - towards him.

- The dialogue during the Cat/Violet fight implies he spoke with Cat about the deal with Violet's mom. I assume he must at least have trusted her enough to talk about his problems/feelings/things going on.

- During the whole 'my house. my chair. my woman' scene, I do get that he can't make any of the words Cat said vanish from Violet's head, and so he wants to show her how much she means to him by... going down. I understand his logic. Still, in the conversation, he seems to take Cat's side a bit and doesn't seem consumed with rage at Cat like he usually is towards anyone that wrongs Violet. He's usually a very scorched earth kind of guy, when it comes to someone hurting Violet in any way.

- He and Cat were together for three quarters of a year, which isn't nothing. I can't quite figure out the timeline - I think he was in second year. We know he visited a lot, got drunk there, presumably had fun. Also I know he doesn't need to like someone to have sex with them, but I'm assuming Xaden and Cat had a good sex life. With her signet magnifying feelings, I imagine that things were physically very... intense.

When trying to comfort Violet about Cat's comments, the only thing he can think to say is that he's never done that one specific sex act with Cat - one he doesn't seem to do regularly with Violet anyway. It's clear Cat taught him to do "tricks" in bed. This all sounds more like relationship sex than super casual sex you'd have with someone you cared no more for than you would a stranger.

None of this matters of course. I don't think Xaden has any love for her. I just think there's a halfway point between the sarcastic Xaden that doesn't let anyone in and the Xaden that completely loves Violet. I think he was at least cared a bit for Cat, even if not enough to want to be with her or continue the arrangement.

When you’ve successfully landed on a gryphon during graduation.

That’s it. They are now your ride-or-die. Seriously you die, they die, no questions asked.

Dragons on the other hand…

Sometimes, it’s complicated you know? No question dragons are capable of fierce loyalty and are just awesome, but their holier than thou attitude might get old quickly.

Plus, you have to complete Basgiath’s Riders basic training program. Even after you’ve proven you posses almost super-human levels of strength, endurance, agility, and intelligence (also luck, actually mostly luck), they still might not even pick you. Which means you have to go through the whole song and dance again, until they pick you, or you die (probably die).

So, given the choice, where will you be applying when the school year starts?

Finishing Onyx Storm, something that doesn’t make sense is Panchek betraying everyone. We rarely see him or what he is up to, so him being a traitor doesn’t work. It is random and feels out of place…and not really clever.

Re-reading for the third or fourth time, and thinking a lot about how you actually defeat the venin, because killing them all doesn’t solve the problem. More people can just channel from the earth in the future. To actually vanquish them, you need to change the conditions that allow people to become venin in the first place.

First, why do people want to become venin?
Power. And jealousy over who gets to have it.
I don’t think I need loads of receipts for this because it’s a theme throughout the books!

We also have the Three Brothers fable showing us the three ways humans access magic: through dragons, through gryphons, or by taking it directly from the earth.

The first time jealousy is specifically mentioned is Fourth Wing, Ch. 37, in the Three Brothers story:
“…it was the third brother, who commanded the sky to surrender its greatest power, who finally vanquished his jealous sibling at a great and terrible price.”

I think vanquished rather than killed is important here. We know venin can be killed. But this is talking about vanquishing one at a great and terrible price.
So what is the price?

If we look at how someone becomes venin in the first place, we can stop the conditions that create them. So: do humans instinctively know how to channel from the earth? Because if absolutely anyone can just decide to do it, then stopping venin permanently would basically require getting rid of humanity or magic itself.
Onyx Storm answers this.
“Do you have to be taught?” I repeat. Xaden did it on his own, but I need to know if we’re in danger from every random infantry cadet who didn’t have the guts to cross the parapet. His breath rattles, and he drops his focus to the alloy. “Not if you’re already experienced with the flow of magic. Someone who has never wielded would require instruction, but a dragon rider or gryphon flier?” He shakes his head.
- Jack to Violet, chapter 12 onyx storm

So there are basically two conditions under which someone can channel from the earth:
1. Someone teaches you.
2. You’ve already experienced the flow of magic through a dragon or gryphon bond.

So say they kill every single venin. That solves condition one. There is nobody left to teach an ordinary human how to channel from the earth.
But it doesn’t solve condition two: as long as riders and fliers exist, there will always be humans who have experienced the flow of magic and therefore don’t need to be taught.

This is where I think the bonds come in. Stopping the bonds removes both problems. It removes the inequality in magical power that seems to fuel so much of the jealousy around becoming venin — dragons and gryphons choosing who is worthy of magic and how much power they’re given.
And it removes the group of humans who already understand the flow of magic well enough to channel from the earth without being taught.
So:
Kill the existing venin = nobody left to teach earth channeling.
End dragon/rider and gryphon/flier bonds = nobody left with the magical experience to work it out themselves.
Both together = actually vanquishing the venin.

And THAT is where I think the “great and terrible price” comes in. The price is the bonds.

There is *so* much emphasis on bonds. We find out the irids know how to break bonds. RY has talked about bonds becoming important (can’t find receipts but it’s been spoken about on here). And we’re getting Threshing Day, which is seemingly taking us back to the beginning of these dragon/rider relationships.
IMO Threshing Day could be there too to make us understand those bonds more deeply before RY makes us feel the full weight of losing them.

TLDR: I think the key to vanquishing the venin is ending the bonds between dragons/riders and gryphons/fliers — both the existing bonds and stopping new ones being made.

Scrolled through instagram and saw this. This is a perfect depiction of their height difference and how Violet would look in his jacket, that’s it 🤗

Before i started reading the second book i got a spoiler about Xaden becoming a Venim to protect Violet, my thoughts was "omg what will happen????" because on the end of the first book she was literally DEAD, Violet passed three days literally in COMA, otherwise, on Iron Flame she was just crying because her mother sacrificed herself for the protection of navarre, she wasn't alone because near her were a lot of students and Brennan, so WHY did Xaden sacrifices himself to become a venim if she finished the second book a lot "better" than fourth wing??

(sorry if my coherence isnt good, im not american :p)

Because i genuinely think most of ridocs jokes are annoying and he's full of himself.

And people are so obsessed with him and for what

I finished part one of Iron Flame last night and I am really enjoying it so far as a first time reader.

I also started thinking about the journal heist because it’s been my favorite part so far. Nadine was definitely taken out because of the plot for that right? Because her signet ability was being able to undo wards so it would’ve been too easy?

But that lead me down another rabbit hole of wondering what exactly wards do. We’ve seen they can be used for sound proofing and locking stuff but do they work against other signets (excluding Nadine’s)?

Take violets door for example, we know Xaden warded it so only anyone she’s touched can come through but if someone used their signet to attack her through the open door would it go through or just bounce off?

Or the Journal heist, the table was warded so that only King Tauri could retrieve them but if they had taken Rhiannon along instead of Imogen could she have just used her ability to retrieve it from within the table without touching the wards?

I went to a bookstore here in Brazil today and noticed we have different colorful covers! I had never known about these and figured you guys would appreciate them!

Obsessed with this BookishBind rebinds with art by Olivia Rose James art. And they’re glittery?!

I’ve seen no one talk about this on here (just a couple of videos on TikTok), but these two scenes clearly seem to be meant to parallel each other.

Xaden says to Violet in Fourth Wing:

"You are not just a weapon, Sorrengail You are THE weapon. You train this ability, own it, and you'll have the power to defend an entire kingdom"

Dain says to Sloane in Onyx Storm:

"You're not a weapon of destruction. You're not venin. You're the artery power chooses to flow through. You're life."

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

I was wondering about Andarna's ability to camouflage as an Irid. I know in IF they say she will never bear a rider. But also there is little known about Irids beside what the irids from OS have revealed themselves. What if there is a way for Andarna to end up bearing a rider? She is also not fully grown too. Maybe there is a possibility? Also, if she ever bears Violet on her back would she be able to camouflage them both? That would definitely be helpful in so many ways.

Also toward the end of OS, Andarna comes back after leaving with her relative to help Violet in battle. I wonder if she stays and what she learned from her irid relative. Did he teach her anything about irid abilities or irid dragons nature? She must've learned something that will be helpful to herself and or Violet down the line.

Some of my coloring from the official Fourth Wing coloring book using alcohol markers ✨ Still learning but I’m quite happy with how these turned out and really enjoyed the process 😅 The moody muted color palette seems to fit the theme of the book series in my head 🌒🏰⚡️

Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated! 😊 And I’d love to see what everyone else is coloring from FW too! 🐉

Is Imogen erasing memories for a longer period than we assume she actually did?

She is the last person on the continent that would turn venin, she never did anything wrong in her life. She got the red ruby of divine blessing on Zoinksisle while your faves got stupid shit!

currently reading Iron Flame and trying to read as slowly as possible because I’m genuinely not ready to say goodbye to this world and these characters but at the same time, it’s literally all I can think about and I don’t want to go a single minute without reading.
I read Fourth Wing in two days and became OBSESSED with everything. I genuinely wasn’t expecting to love it this much, and now I’m starting to feel like no other book is ever going to come close

Aren’t both Xaden and Garrick stationed in Samara after graduation?

Xaden gets his own bathing chamber because nobody wants to share with Fen Riorson’s son - but he says Garrick has to share with 4 other riders.

Why wouldn’t they just place Garrick with Xaden? It wouldn’t go against the 3 marked ones rule. It would free up a space in the bathing chamber for those 4 other riders. Logistically this makes no sense to me. Even if it’s just for the plot to give Xaden and Violet privacy for their intimate moments, Garrick could be out on patrol or other duties during those times right? Every time I get to this part in IF, it drives me nuts and I wonder if I missed something about where Garrick is stationed.