Previously: Violet is forced to go to the dragon section of Murder College because her mom is super mean.
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Marines: Hello friends and welcome back to nonsensical murder college.
Di: Before we get started, I just want to talk about the chapter epigraph and how little it makes sense.
There’s a misconception that it’s kill or be killed in the Riders Quadrant. Riders, as a whole, aren’t out to assassinate other cadets…unless there’s a shortage of dragons that year or a cadet is a liability to their wing. Then things may get…interesting.
—Major Afendra’s Guide to the Riders Quadrant
(Unauthorized Edition)
So like, no murder is allowed at murder college, except when there are too many students and not enough dragons because that totally won’t mess with unit cohesion in the future or potentially cause retaliation if one of your friends gets killed. Make it make sense.
Mari: It never, ever will.
Violet is repeating “I will not die today,” like a mantra, which is okay when she does it because she has plot armor. RIP Dylan.
Rhiannon is getting ready to head out on the parapet, and Xaden is staring at Violet with hatred, which “burns the side of [her] face like a palpable flame.”
Meanwhile, the storm has arrived in full force. One of the most popular fan theories I’ve seen is that Mean Mom, who controls storms, sent this storm specifically to kill Violet while she was trying to cross the parapet. This has mostly been in response to criticism that Mean Mom is flat and motivationless. There is this idea that we just don’t know yet and she is in fact more evil than we know. My two feelings about this are that 1— I don’t care if she has motivation later, just that she had none now, and 2— Mira mentions last chapter, like at least an hour before Violet shows up on the parapet, that the storm is rolling in. Does this mean it takes Mean Mom an hour or two to roll in a storm even though she dropped the temperature in the room immediately? And if she can make a storm immediately, is this her attempt at being subtle? And why would the woman who forces her daughter into Murder College be worried about subtlety? idk fans, your fan theory is a little weak to me, and if Yarros uses it later, I’ll call bullshit.
Mix: Also real talk, how much meaner can General Mean Mom get? That wouldn’t be a twist. If she straight up stabbed Violet at some point without even stating a reason why, I’d be like, “sure, makes sense.”
Di: Honestly at this point, I’d be more shocked if this was a red herring, but I don’t think Yarros has the range or the creativity to think of that.
Mari: Rhiannon says she’ll see Violet on the other side and starts off on the Death Balance Beam.
The rider collecting names at the start of the Death Balance Beam asks Violet for hers, and as she gives it, thunder cracks dramatically. Violet thinks about how comforting she finds it, even though rain is about to wash her off to her death, or whatever. Glad we could have this break so she can think about how she loves reading when it’s raining outside.
Violet glances at the paper the Collecting Names Rider is writing on and sees Rhiannon’s and Dylan’s names before her. She says the rain is smearing the ink on the paper. Why is Collecting Names Rider just standing out there in the rain and then letting the rain wash the ink away??? What good will that do? Surely there is a better system they could use? It doesn’t matter because this moment is just so Violet can have more feelings about how dead Dylan is. She is really taking this hard.
Mix: Writing in the style of emo music videos.
Di: Also, as we later find out, one of the amazing things about being a dragon rider is magic pens. Wouldn’t it also make sense to invest in magic ink so that it doesn’t wash away?
Mari: Violet touches the sides of the turret and describes it to us:
“I place my hands on either side of the turret and drag my fingertips across the stone. It’s still warm from the morning sun but rapidly cooling from the rain, slick but not slippery from moss growth or anything.”
I don’t know why I find “from moss growth or anything” so hilarious. I’m genuinely cackling. It’s like she couldn’t think of a second thing that could make the turret slippery? So she just added, “…or anything.” Amazing, great, fantastic writing!
As Violet waits for her turn, Collecting Names Rider says he thought General Mean Mom only had one daughter. Violet sighs because she gets that a lot.
A gust of wind knocks Violet off balance and the jerk behind her makes fun, saying that he pities whatever wing she ends up in. Violet rights herself, and she hears the jerk give his name to Collecting Names Rider: Jack Barlowe. He announces that they should remember that name because he’ll be a wingleader one day. I love that all of Violet’s friends and enemies were within one rider of her in line. Lucky.
Mix: I too made all my friends and enemies within a couple names of me in roll call in grade 1. Shout out to Rob L, my first friend AND my first enemy. Because it was Grade 1.
Mari: Giovanni A, but he was ALB and I am ALV so he was always #1 and I hated him for it.
Xaden tells Violet to get going. Jack says he can give her motivation and moves forward like he’s going to push her. Violet rushes out onto the Death Balance Beam before he can.
Violet thinks about Mira’s advice not to look down and the training she did with Major Gillstead. Remember that her mom gave her a six-month heads up that she was going forced into Murder College, so Violet trained for six months with Major Gillstead. Apparently, part of that training was Death Balance Beam training. But also apparently, Death Balance Beam training didn’t include any instructions like “don’t wear loose clothes” and “wear shoes with some grip.” Cool.
Mix: Who is Major Gillstead you may be wondering. What do they do? Are they normally a trainer? Are they a friend of her Mom’s? Will we find out more about this person? Why didn’t they see Violet off? All questions best sent straight into the void for how much they’ll serve you.
Mari: Violet is getting more and more nervous so she starts thinking of ways to calm down.
“I can’t carry a tune, or even decently hum, so singing for a distraction is out, but I am a scholar.”
She sings too badly to sing as a distraction? To sing for her life? lol okay.
Good thing she’s a scholar because that means she can just recite facts! Her actual reasoning is that she needs to busy the logical part of her mind. To be clear, while the line above is a bit awkward, I don’t actually mind the idea that Violet recites facts to calm herself down. Reciting facts is an effective way to break anxiety spirals. I get it, I’m in.
I’m back out when Violet starts reciting world-building facts.
“The Continent is home to two kingdoms—and we’ve been at war for four hundred years,” I recite, using the basic, simple data that has been drilled into me for easy recall in preparation for the scribe’s test. Step after step, I make my way across the parapet. “Navarre, my home, is the larger kingdom, with six unique provinces.”
“NAVARRE, MY HOME.” Astonishing! Bravo! The writing is SO GOOD.
Di: NGL, for a good portion of this book, I kept comparing it to how Tamora Pierce wrote the training portions of both the Alanna and Kel books and how she did them so much better. This part in particular contrasts so badly with Page, where Kel is doing basically the same thing BUT in a way more believable way (like imaging the tortures she’d do to whoever designed the outdoor staircase she’s forced to climb down). Honestly, so much of this book just made me want to go back and read better books.
Mari: Honestly, I’m not sharing any more of the information she recites. In honor of this being the stupidest way to world build and creating a situation where like 90% of your readers have to be just skimming this or at least not retaining it, I am refusing to recap it. What else about her Navarre, her home?
Mix: Now I’m thinking too much about the scribe’s test. Because I dunno if quizzing people on what I assume is common knowledge is the way to go but who am I to say.
Mari: The ways of Nonsensical Murder College are many and strange.
In between reciting world-building, Violet almost loses her balance a few times and apparently, some pieces of the parapet are like crumbling off? I’m convinced this country really just hates its young people. The purpose of Murder College is to kill all these kids, but sometimes they accidentally live and TPTB are like “oh, I guess you get to be soldiers then.”
Mix: At least when Veronica Roth did this in Divergent it was short and sweet. Jump into the big hole! Tris goes first, demonstrating that she’s brave with actions. Done! If you’re going to have an illogical challenge to physically get to the section or murder college or whatever, keep it snappy otherwise we’re going to have time to think about it.
Mari: Violet turns back and sees that Jack is having very little trouble on the parapet. Not only that, but he waits for the kid walking behind him and then just shoves that guy off. WHY? HOW IS THIS ALLOWED? What’s to stop this lunatic from just waiting on the parapet and knocking EVERYONE OFF? HOW DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE SENSE?
Jack calls out that Violet is next, so she gets a move on, hurrying across the parapet and reciting even more world-building facts. Another gust of wind knocks Violet off balance and she slams her knee into the parapet. She gathers herself and gets back up, thinking about how she’s fine with falling, but she’s not going to be murdered out here. Better to make it to the other side, where all the other murderers are waiting. Violet clarifies that not everyone is going to try and kill her, just the riders who think she is a liability to the wing. Apparently, the justification for murder is that a weak link weakens the whole squad, so you can just decide someone is the weak link and kill them. This makes much sense and will not at all create giant logic and plot holes in the future, I’m sure.
Mix: ಠ‿ಠ
Mari: Apparently, this flimsy bit of logic is what we’re given to justify Jack chasing Violet across the parapet. He’s calling after her that she’s a mistake who can’t have passed the entrance exam and can’t even carry a full rucksack.
Mix: Mari, don’t make me like Jack.
Di: Wouldn’t a dude who seems to get off killing, who has no discipline, and is just focused on himself be more of a liability than Violet? Wouldn’t his actions be putting not just himself but everyone around him at risk? Also, does Jack also have super special rubber boots that keep him from slipping and falling?
Mari: Of course the only one who got the rubber sole note was the big ole murderer in their ranks.
Jack catches up with Violet just as she reaches the end. He makes a grab for her but misses as she jumps the last few feet forward. She immediately spins, grabs one of her knives, and holds it to his balls. While she has him there, she recites rules about why she’s safe now from him. Apparently, he can’t kill her because “it is unlawful for a rider to cause another harm while in a quadrant formation or in the supervisory presence of a superior-ranking cadet as it will diminish the efficacy of the wing.”
Okay, wait, we should keep track of these rules if we can.
- According to Mira, the other cadets can kill you at any time, pg. 25
- According to Violet, citing the codex, this is true except when sleeping. It is an executable offense to attack any cadet while sleeping, pg. 25
- According to the Ch. 2 epigraph, “There’s a misconception that it’s kill or be killed in the Riders Quadrant. Riders, as a whole, aren’t out to assassinate other cadets…unless there’s a shortage of dragons that year or a cadet is a liability to their wing. Then things may get…interesting.” pg. 40
- According to Violet, “Not… everyone in the quadrant is going to try to kill me, just the cadets who think I’ll be a liability to the wing. There’s a reason strength is revered among riders. A squad, a section, a wing is only as effective as its weakest link, and if that link breaks, it puts everyone in danger.” pg. 46
- According to Violet, citing the codex, “it is unlawful for a rider to cause another harm while in a quadrant formation or in the supervisory presence of a superior-ranking cadet as it will diminish the efficacy of the wing.” pg 48
Does this feel like well-regulated murder to anyone? How are we doing on this making sense?
Di: We’re not, but remember, this is supposed to be accessible fantasy, which apparently means nothing makes any damn sense when you poke at it too much.
Mari: A rider asks Violet her name, which she gives, adding that yes, that Sorrengail. The Rider isn’t surprised, considering the neat little knife move she just saw her pull. Violet feels proud. Rider tells Jack that Violet has him by the balls (“in more ways than one“) (yeah, girl, we got that) because it’s true, you totes can’t kill someone while in formation, and somehow people standing around the Death Balance Beam counts. Plus, Violet is a cadet now, but Jack is still on the parapet and technically still a candidate.
Jack asks what happens if he hops down and kills Violet anyway. Rider says that Jack’ll “meet the dragons early” because there are no trials here, just execution. Rider asks Violet what she’s going to do. Violet can’t kill Jack from this angle, and cutting off his balls will just make him mad. She asks him if he’s going to follow the rules and he says, “Well, I guess I have to…” and that’s pretty much that.
Violet lets him off, and he leaves her with a threat to kill her for sure. I mean, I hope she didn’t expect anything else.
Di: Anyone who tells me Violet is supposed to be smart needs to explain to me why she didn’t do the smart thing and shove Jack off the parapet.
Mari:
Next time on Fourth Wing: We meet Dain, who I’m sure is a great guy, in Chapter 03.
