BOOKS
OCTOBER
Fourth Wing
by Rebecca Yarros Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the scribe quadrant and live a quiet life among books and history, but when her mother, commanding general, orders Violet to become a candidate to become an elite dragon rider, her world is turned upside down. Smaller than all of her peers and born with a brittle body, death is only a heartbeat away because dragons don't bond to fragile humans, they incinerate them. With fewer and fewer dragons willing to bond with cadets, violet will need every edge her wits can give her to live another day. With every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, and Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda-because once you enter there are only two ways out-graduate or die.
NOVEMBER
Iron Flame
by Rebecca Yarros
Everyone expected Violet to die during her first year at Basgiath, but threshinG was only the first impossible test Violet will face.
Now the real training begins, and Violet's already wondering how she'll get through. Not only is she faced with tasks grueling and malicious that test her capacity for pain, the new vice commandant ahs made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is.
Although Violet's body might be weaker, she still has her wits and will of iron, and Basgiath leadership has forgotten the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her; dragon riders make their own rules.
MEETING INFORMATION
Next Meeting: Saturday, October 19th
Time: 10:30-11:30
Where: in the alley between Coldwater and the library, weather permitting
Mimosas and Cinnamon Rolls provided by Bodega*
*Must be 21 and over to attend.*
DISCUSSION
- World-building is everything in a good fantasy book. Discuss how Yarros built this particular world. What did you like/dislike about it? What makes it unique?
- Why do you think General Sorrengail made Violet join the Riders Quadrant? Is she as as heartless as she seems? Will she and Violet’s relationship end up better or worse by the series’ end?
- How does Violet being the daughter of a famed war general and sister to two war heroes affect the way people see her and she sees herself?
- Although it’s never explicitly named, the author gave Violet her same chronic condition—Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), which affects collagen in the body’s connective tissue. How did Violet cope with it throughout the book? What do you think about the chronic illness representation?
- Would Violet have been safer or happier as a scribe?
- Signet powers are supposed to reflect who riders are at their core. How do you think this applies to Violet, Dain, Xaden, Mira and the other characters?
- Is the rebellion relic (and the mandates that come with it) fair?
- It is said that, “A rider without their dragon is dead.” How do the dragons protect their riders?
- Discuss the physical challenges the riders faced.
- How did you feel about Xaden at the beginning versus the end of Fourth Wing?
- What was Violet’s biggest act of bravery?
- Violet’s journey is central to the story. How does her character evolve from the beginning to the end?
- Which Fourth Wing character do you trust or distrust?
- Discuss your predictions for the next book in the Empyrean series.