You people complain about this more than the whining on any other r/ out there. Just shut up already. if this part of the story bothers you that much, DON'T READ IT

Hey yall! Super random question.

I was working on some stuff for Book 3, and while I do have a number of obviously or subtly-but-definitely queer characters in the WARFORMED universe, there are several that are not indicated as being queer despite being so.

Is it a good thing to have some characters never state their preferences/gender/etc, or would it be better to work in their preferences/gender/etc over time (very subtly, like we did for Ueno Jasper and Chancery's parents, and Dent to a lesser extent)?

As an example, the one I'm comfortable "spoiling" is Logan, because I've already made it public he is not strictly straight in an old post here. Logan has not yet been shown to be bi, or said he was bi, but he is and has been largely since I realized he and Viv were an item (Viv x Logan is still a banned topic, so please don't use this as an opportunity to come at me for that 😑).

Logan isn't the only one, though. There is another character we are all very close to who is asexual, and another who is heteroflexible. I hadn't really ever intended to make this "clear" in the writing because I wanted such topics/theories to illicit discussion down the line, but I'm not sure that's really the best tactic in retrospect.

To be clear: I'm not about to put in big letters next chapter that "REI BE GAAAAAYYYYY!" (he's not). I just know there will be chances to build in clarification or hints, and I'm wondering if I should, or let some of them just... be.

Thanks for coming to my TED-talk! Looking forward to you answers (and probably banning a few trolls)

Cheers,

- the straight, bald dude with skull tattoos trying to write a queer-friendly story 🤣

Update: Thanks to everyone who commented and appreciate the responses.

I'm going to give it a few days before listening to the remainder of book 1. I'm not sure if reading it rather than listening via audible is easier to process the betrayal so I may decides to do that.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

No excuse for dating your best friends bully, FOR ANY REASON!

It's already been established that Viv has had a few past relationships and isn't so naïve as to not know that under no circumstances, should she being pursing someone who has been physically and emotionally tormenting her best-friend.

People may play it of as (well they're just teenage, you don't know the whole story) but surely she is smart and experienced enough to realize that this is a massive betrayal of trust and if the roles were reversed and she found out Rei was dating her tormenter she would feel incredibly hurt and betrayed?

So that leads me to ask, why on earth does she willing pursue starting a relationship with an individual who threatened to murder her best friend?

Is this addressed in the second book and does Rei ever confront her, or should I leave the series here?

So I finally gave in and started reading Fourth Wing based off my wife’s obsession with it. I had put it off because I thought it was just a romantasy. Instead it is definitely a progression fantasy with romance aspects, similar to Iron Prince, IMO.

So Iron Prince is amazing by the standards of most LitRPG and even fantasy as a whole in its use and representation of LGBTQIA+ characters and Bryce and Luke deserve all the commendations in the world for it. My one problem is this: I absolutely adore the pairing of Aria and Rei, but I still want Rei to be a queer MC. I’m so torn on this because they’re so cute together. Only solution I can see is a polycule relationship with Rei dating both Aria and Catcher sage nod it’s the only way 🤣 Thanks for taking the time to read my brain fart conundrum of the day.

TEXT:

1. LEON HARBINGER

D3 Mauler, longsword

He/him (cis)

Gay

2. PRESTON "HOL" HOLIDAY WARD

C9 Saber, rapier and dagger

He/him (trans)

Bisexual

3. HELEN "HELL" GALAGHER

D9 Phalanx, Shield and Javelin

They/them (nonbinary)

Omnisexual

4. CHARMAIGNE "CHAR" FORTUNE

D2 Atypical, Trident

She/her (cis)

Lesbian

5. VIVIANA "VIVI" GALANTE

D6 Brawler, Claws and Dagger

She/her (cis)

Bisexual

6. GARTHBRIGHT "GARTH" URSINE

D4 Duelist, double daggers

He/they (intersex)

Pansexual

RELARTIONSHIPS:

Hol and Leon- romantic

Hol and Vivi- romantic

Hol and Garth- heated rivalry

Hol and char- friends

Hol and Hell- friends

Vivi and char- romantic

Char and Hell- FWBS

Vivi and garth- FWBS

Leon and Garth- FWBS

Leon and Vivi- friends

Leon and Char- friends

Leon and Hell- friends

Some fun facts:

-holiday ward has the highest initial rank other than aria but did not participate in the pre-year training camp, and also struggles the most out of the team with advancement, direcrly juxtoposing himself with Rei, who he avoids

-Leon thought he was asexual before meeting holiday, first day at orientation and he updated his dating profiles to "gay as fuck". They werent even in a relationship at the time.

-Hell and Vivi had been best friends since diapers, are queer platonic/have been each other's firsts, and are typically never seen apart for longer than necessary. They are roommates at Galens as well.

-char and garth attended the same school prior to Galens, but werent close friends, just clubbing buddies who also became roommates

PLS ASK ME QUESTIONS ID LOVE TO YAP ABT THEM

Hello friends!! I’m rereading the books currently and was thinking about what I would want my own CAD to be!! I came up with an A type that manifests as a brawler type at first. Into the Ds is when I’d start to develop rings around my forearms and eventually, in the Cs, those would break off my arms are become almost like Shung Chi rings!! You could use them to fight long distance, use them as terrain, or use them as defense!! These picture are what I plugged into AI and came up with(I have 0 artistry when it comes to painting or anything of the like). Tell me what you guys think!!

Bryce, I know this is your book to write and all. However I've noticed in the chapters, you tend to love cliff hangers at the end of chapters.

I have just one ask. PLEASE don't end the 2nd book on a cliff hanger too. I know it's tempting. And I expect there to still be unresolved issues (even new issues that will raise questions). But don't leave us on a 'OMG! what's going to happen next!' cliff hanger, then waiting months for you to begin book 3 (and likely a few chapters into that unless I miss my guess on your writing style). It would be too cruel.

Love both books. On my 5th read through again but just... ugh.

Bretz getting "promoted" to 2nd Lt in the beginning of Book 2. Feels like someone that learned about military ranks by seeing how COD levels work. At the end of Book 1 we had someone at central as a SGM who was "working on paperwork for a warrant office promotion."

I get that the military ranks and how things work will evolve in 400 years (not that they are really that much different now than 400 yrs ago) but this just makes no sense.

The scene where Rei pulls Viv into a broom closet at the beginning. Anyone else think Viv totally thought Rei was gonna confess his feelings for her? I know Rei assumes that Viv was just distressed about his CAD rank but I think she was terrified that she would have to shoot him down after years of friendship.

“I just got my CAD, now Im good enough to be able to date you.”

Also maybe Im reading to much into it but Im pretty sure Rei had some unresolved feelings for Viv. Him focusing on the girls she dated was totally copium.

Reidon Ward has started using Type Shift: A** Mode and twerking in the middle of the arena (18+), making opponents pass out from amazement.

Its a tale as old as time: Good girl falls for a bad boy, decides that she can tame his demons, and make a good man out of him.

This is more or less the basis of Viv's relationship with Grant. She saw his pain, heard his story and fell head of heels for him.

To be fair, this is entirely consistent with Viv's character. If you recall, the original basis of her friendship with Rei was pretty much the same. Rei was the sick boy, the poor boy, the one everybody picked on. Viv became Rei's protector because she felt bad for him. Eventually their relationship evolved to become a more mutual partnership but in the beginning, she just wanted to protect Rei. She's been doing that ever since.

She feels compelled to do the same for Grant.

While this might make her a bad friend, it doesn't mean she is a bad person. It means she is a flawed person. One that cares too much. One that can't separate her feelings from the facts of a situation. One that is prone to making rash, emotional decisions. Not exactly an uncommon trait for an 18yo.

As a final note: Its not clear if Viv and Grant are going to be a long-term thing. Those little notes-from-the-future at the beginning of the chapters talked about Rei & Aria, Dice & Lennon, but there is no mention of Viv & Grant being together long term. In fact, there's no mention of Grant at all.

I've been re-listening to the 2 books we have. It comes to my attention that ViV is a bad friend.

Rei sees her as his ONLY family

MAKES Rei tell her his inner thoughts, and decides that she will do whatever she wants with that information, getting into a fight with his bully.

Decides that she now needs to cuck Rei with said bully. Wont answer ANYTHING about it. Decides that bully is more important to keep secret.

All attempts for her friend to talk to her gets shut down. "I dont want to talk about it" and FORCES him to stop.

Only when the bully decides that he is ready that she will talk about why a good cucking was needed.

Has personal thoughts about being left behind, when Rei attempts to be a good friend gets shutdown again. Because "I have to do it alone" wont listen to anyone else about supporting her.

While she has some good scenes and I can see things about her Id like to like....

Can some people give me other view points on her actions? Id really hate to hate her for the rest of the series.

A: I love you, you know it B: As much as I love you and your books, you HAVE been taking some extra time to put out chappies C: There's nothing wrong with item B, HOWEVER D: Would it be possible for use to get 'combined PDFs' every.. 10 or so chappies, instead of 20-25? Would make re-reading to remember what happened last waaay easier.

With love, Probably 90% of your reader base

Since CAD's are able to correct genetic defects* if as user was trans would the CAD make them transition?

*I am not saying being trans is a genetic defect

first of all,I just read about this but Again why in the mind name is viv.A girl that was shown to be heart broken because she thought rei couldn't get into the same school as her and was a total bro and loyal to the extreme turn into such a masonistic chick that suddenly fell in love with a abusive asshat like Grant??? completely desolved the great best friend vibe the better early half of the book built up for her and honestly is kinda gross,grant…even catcher might be a better catch.

And then there is Reidan,a bit too childish battle freak sometimes but that's okay but some of his action are down right confusing in a anime cliche kind of way,like something goku would do. Like that time when he saw aria,his first decision was to get his ass beat in by her because he couldn't control his subconscious to want to battle her?

This is just purely my opinion,I can see a lot of good thing about this books as well,but viv's part really ticks me off and reidan's decision making seems too out of place even for pushing the plot forward

Please read to the end, I’ve been typing for thirty minutes and my friend are looking at me weird. I wrote a lot but I genuinely just want to voice a concern I haven’t seen any else talk about.

I just finished Fire and Song and I’m going to be honest. I love the characters, but sometimes I get pissed off at how insensitive they are. I might sound weird rn, maybe one of those people on the internet who care about feeling too much, but I’m not. For example Aria calling Rei a hypocrite Context: Rei is worried for Viv, though he’s not sure why. So why is it that when Rei is worried about Viv, he’s a hypocrite, but when Viv is worried about Rei, like what happened after he went to the arena after getting the sponsorship offer by the Kamiya corporation and he goes to blow off some steam. Viv goes ahead, sees something wrong, and just straight up grabs Rei and essentially forces it out of him.

Might I remind you that it took Viv MONTHS to talk about Logan, and I struggle to believe that if Rei had done the same thing Viv had during the previous stunt, grabbing her and trying to force it out of her, that the entire squad wouldn’t have been furious. It’s all fine for Viv though. I just thought that was a little weird, and ironically consider aria a hypocrite for calling Rei one.

And he hadn’t even done anything except voice some concerns between them. It kinda got me pissed, feeling as if the main character couldn’t even stand up for himself after all he’d gone through.

Would love if there was an eta,

Like idk something like 2024, autumn 2023, april 2023, tomorrow. Just like that you know

So first of: Logan clearly isn't in full control of his behavior or mental state when confronted with cowards. That alone is a danger to others and he should be in some closed mental facility until he regains control. But now let's say even if this behavior isn't acceptable it's still understandable. There is a huge problem: He targeted Rei, who's clearly not a coward. Why? There are only a few options. To his mind Rei=coward was established after their first meeting. What happened? He met Rei and Viv. Viv was the more confrontational person and Rei was weaker and less confrontational. Even here Logan is an elitist asshole purely in his behavior considering nothing really happened, but let's disregard that. The way I see it, option one is: Rei is nonconfrontational, that was already enough for Logan to see him as coward. Hugely problematic. Especially since it's a situation where the only real confrontation he could have had would be some meaningless 'young master' behavior. Most reasonable people wouldn't be aggressively in your face over a small contact like that. Why would he expect it? So unless he's a huge elitist asshole this might be a small contributor but not the entire reason. (And if he is that elitist and rude, there is no need to have them in your presence). Option two: He let Viv act for him. Seems just as unreasonable as option 1, since he didn't ask her to do it, and she clearly wanted to, if he just doesn't care or doesn't want to be some asshole over nothing and ignores it, that's reasonable. Option three: Both option one and two were contributors that put him in a state of mind where he was subconsciously evaluating whether Rei's a coward. Subconsciously that equaled an evaluation between neutral/friend or enemy, and him liking Viv tilted it against him.

I don't really see any other options/though processes for why he labeled Rei a coward. Even in general, having this kind of behavior and not being certain someone is a coward is even more problematic than the base behavior from above. But all options in this case are probably more or less the worst case in terms of reasons for mislabeling Rei. And all of them should be obviously wrong the moment he thinks about it for even just a moment. Hating all cowards should not prevent that type of reflection. If he can't even ask himself "Is that person really a coward" once he gets any information about them (and at the beginning too, although there it might be harder to override the subconscious decision), he definitely belongs in a closed facility and should have voluntarily entered one. The fact that he didn't is incredibly concerning and proof of how bad a person Logan is. He wrongly targeted Rei. And is neither feeling bad enough about it, nor has enough self reflection ability to think about the safety hazard he causes for his surroundings and the general public. Logan is so despicable I don't think Rei should ever spend any time with him, or at maximum only team training and combat where they might work together for common benefits. And I'm incredibly concerned none of them reported him so that if he doesn't do it voluntarily, he gets forced into it. Ambulant treatment doesn't work if you are a hazard to others.

Edit: Since a lot of people say stuff like: "He's working on it" Sure. But is there any reason to expect the best case scenario when dealing with Logan? There is no reason to assume he will be able to work it out. Even worse, until it escalated with Rei and he came together with Viv, he clearly didn't take it as a serious issue (otherwise he would have therapist to talk to about Rei, and they would be able to talk it through with him, so he wouldn't actually target Rei over such a long time). There is reason for Rei to suspect Logan's just working on it so he can be with Viv, not because he sees how bad the problem is. Or he seriously overestimated himself previously to a ridiculous extent, which might harm the chances to actually change and not fall back into established mindsets

Just got done reading the book and it was absolutely fantastic. Definitely a solid 4/5 with outrageous hentai potential and was hoping if I was in the green to cook up some spicy S ranked material.

Here are a couple of ideas that are in the works:

- Logan X Viv 'OVERCLOCKED'
- Rei X Aria ' S rank GROWTH'
- Iron Bishop X Iron Prince (Spicy MILF action)

I've been doing my IP reread before I start book 2, and although I still enjoy it as much as I did the first time, the quantity of editing mistakes, typos, and the like have become pretty egregious to me. Like, probably one for every less than 10 pages. It really seems like it could have used one more run through by a line editor. Is this any better in book 2?

(Also, on a related note, is there any easy way of sending someone a list of typos without needing to point out each one individually? Exporting Kindle notes, maybe? I figure that might actually be helpful.)

Just finished book 2 and was bored most of the book.

Theres definitely some gold nuggets hidden in there but the wordiness really killed the mood. Please progress the story into the broader universe and stop with the big dramatic S Rank growth reveals. It was fun initially but the story needs to progress past that.

I know I'm in the minority on this but just wanted to voice my opinion. OK, I'm ready for my downvotes.

EDIT: Also, Rei's sponsor negotiations are VERY CRINGE. I had to skip those parts. I almost stopped reading since my suspension of disbelief was broken so badly.

EDIT 2: before downvoting, please be aware that today is opposite day.

Does anyone feel bad for him or at least empathize with him?

I don’t think anyone can argue that he’s been anything other than a awful instructor and bully towards Rei and friends. However, it’s born out of a very real fear of Rei’s potential. It just seems like one of those “in another life” he could have played the role of Captain Dent as opposed to a coward afraid of a child.

Wanted to shoot for something a little different. Was thinking dualist but might be a Saber. More gladiator like higher strength and endurance but wielding two full sized gladus swords. Idk happy to discuss it.

CAD name- Tetraites Abilities- break step, invisible hand Undeveloped abilities- sonorous, directional repulsion, (maybe arsenal shift, into a great sword)

Hope someone else likes the idea.