A Reader without a Book is a Tragedy...
everybody in Basgiath is dead.
“A dragon without its rider is a tragedy.
A rider without their dragon is dead.”
The Empyrean series is an (as-of-now) three-book romantasy series set in a world full of dragons. I may or may not have listened to all three dramatized audiobooks (totaling nearly 60 hours) this month.
The interesting thing about reading as a writer is that I find myself analyzing the stories—what worked? What didn’t? What would I incorporate into my own writing?
So this post is half book review, half Rebekah-reflections on the specific writing. Here’s what I learned.
1. Dramatized audio? Love it.
These were my first dramatized audiobooks, and I loved hearing the sound-effects in the background—the dragons’ roars, footsteps on the stone, swords being unsheathed, music swelling. It was the perfect crossover between book and movie.
2. Dramatized audio on a road trip? Amazing, however…
The trip to and from Realm Makers felt like one of the fastest trips yet. I was less concerned with the amount of time remaining and more concerned with the fictional drama.
I will note, however, that the audiobook played in the background on my phone, with the map displayed on the home screen for navigational purposes. This had two negative effects—my battery drained quickly and skipping the sex scenes was difficult.
Imagine me speeding down the highway at 75 mph, glaring into the near distance because I CAN’T FAST FORWARD THE AUDIOBOOK AND THEY’RE DOING IT AGAIN. *insert Lynmoore expression* (if you haven’t watched his book reviews you should)
3. You’re not enemies to lovers, you’re codependent and possessive.
There. I said it. Throughout the book, our main character Violet enters a war college, where she meets Xaden, the son of a rebel her mother (a general in the army) killed.
For the entirety of their romance, she’s forever making comments about how he had opportunities to kill her, how he chose her despite them being enemies…
Girl. He’s dark and brooding but you were making googly eyes at each other from the moment you met. Neither one of you were enemies. And if one of them called each other “mine” one more time, my eyes would have rolled out of my head.
… yeah, romantasy may just not be my thing.
4. Explore a new world…
I enjoyed the connections between dragons and their riders, the political drama between the different countries and their views on the world. The signets, runes, the story behind the rebellion relics… it all fleshed out the world in an enjoyable way.
Onyx Storm (book 3) resembled Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the fact that the characters went from island to island seeking one specific plot goal—which led to sections feeling meandering and purposeless.
I did love the structure of using the Battle Brief class in the college to share details of the world. It felt like worldbuilding lite—better than huge chunks of uninterrupted exposition but still sharing the necessary information.
5. … try not to die.
I like writing death so much I put it in my author bio. (That’s new, by the way! Have you checked out the “about” page lately?)
The Empyrean series was a story after my own heart in that regard—from the very first chapter, people start dying. I feel like it was well-handled for the most part—characters grieved the losses in a variety of different ways.
I will say, if the majority of the students in your war college are dying and you know the enemy is coming… maybe change your teaching methods? I had a similar reaction to the Harry Potter series— why would you send your children here? It’s clearly unsafe. Sure, in the Empyrean series they get a dragon out of the deal but if the dragon dies they do too. The odds of death are exponential. (Now if Violet would just stop saying that, it’d be nice. I know you’re not going to die today. Stop telling me.)
6. If your heart beats one more time… (Crutch Words 101)
Something I hear tossed around the writing community is to watch out for crutch words or phrases—the ones you tend to use over and over again, sometimes accidentally.
Violet was constantly measuring time by “the space of a heartbeat.” Anytime she was dealing with altitude she was “scrambling for a purchase.” She’s constantly telling herself she’s not going to die that day. By the end, it became repetitive and irritating.
Would it have been less obvious if I had been physically reading the book (or my time listening was more spread out)? Possibly. But these crutch phrases stuck out like sore thumbs.
7. Interesting use of point-of-view choices.
Most of the time, it’s recommended to be consistent with points-of-view in a novel… to keep the same several rotating throughout the entire book.
The author did something interesting with these—the books are told almost entirely in the main character Violet’s point of view, with the last chapter of each book in someone else’s. It was a sudden, abrupt shift in the audiobook, and it always added a feeling of suspense to the cliffhangers at the end.
Will I incorporate this in my own writing? Possibly. In the right situation.
And like dear old Porky Pig says, “That’s all folks!” There’s seven things I learned while listening to the dramatized audiobooks of the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros.
What are you reading currently? If you’re a writer, what “crutch words” do you tend to fall back on?
Until next time!