Hey everyone this is Hailey from Cartoon Universe! I am going to be giving you a play by play
of what happens in the new RWBY novel, After the Fall. For those that do not know this
book is 100% canon and follows the lives of team CFVY after the Fall of Beacon in Volume
3.
A lot of interesting stuff goes down, and while I am not going to cover all of it, I
will talk about a good portion plus my thoughts on everything. Overall I really really loved
this book, as it manages to expand on almost everything about Team CFVY as well as even
improving on some things that occurred within the first three volumes. I highly suggest
you go out and buy a copy of the book yourself, it was a really fun read.
And of course this video will be spoiler heavy. If you want a slightly less spoilery video,
check out my previous one where I talk about the teams semblances! I mention them a bit
in this video, but I go much more in depth there.
So before we officially begin, I need to note that the book does a lot of things out of
order. Or well, there are a lot of flashbacks to the time before the fall of Beacon. So
I am going to be jumping back and forth a lot, so sorry if things are a bit confusing.
I don’t have every single thing covered in this video, especially some of the flashback
chapters that didn’t give us any new information, so if you want to learn about everything from
the book, you should definitely buy it.
Okay so with all of that out of the way, let’s begin!
CFVY starts out in Vacuo, a desert where only the toughest can survive. The landscape can
completely change overnight or even in an hour.
The book becomes a lot better when you understand the geography of remnant pretty well. Vacuo
is in the west, and vale is on the same continent, but to the east. They traveled there by foot
after helping with the cleanup from the fall of beacon.
Characters: Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Yatsuhashi Daichi, Velvet Scarlatina
We learn about the natural wildlife, such as mole crabs
The people of Vacuo are not too into designer clothing, but Coco is.
We get a flashback to the fall of Beacon from CFVY’s point of view. A few things are explained,
like how Qrow took Ruby home after she used her silver eye powers. Also we get a mention
of Jaune and Pyrrha and now I’m sad.
The book does a lot of inserting the CFVY team in instances that were just super convenient.
It’s cool to see their point of view, but at the same time it’s like they were always
there next to RWBY, yet in the show itself we never saw that. It reminds me of the Lion
King 1 ½ where Timon and Pumba were at basically every major event in the first movie, but
we just didn’t learn they were until later. But CFVY being here makes more sense, anyways.
Back to the team battling mole crabs, Velvet hears a voice, and she finds an old woman
by the name of Slate. Another old woman character, who is definitely not Maria at all. We learn
she was fleeing the Gossan settlement after a grimm invasion. She stayed in her wagon
once it broke and the rest of her friends left her there. So there are a lot of tribes/towns
mentioned in this book. A lot of the names have to do with minerals, such as Gossan which
is a type of rock.
Shade Academy, where team CVFY was now attending, got a distress call from Gossan. Survivors
from Gossan were heading towards Feldspar, which is another town/mineral.
The team and Slate head towards Feldspar. When they arrive, they meet Slate’s friend
Bast (Alabaster), who tells CFVY that Slate is their mayor and that Slate sacrificed herself
to save her people. Fox tells his team that most tribes and settlements in Vacuo don’t
have elected officials, and often they don’t even like their leaders.
All of them enter into a hut to eat in, and once they order two huntsmen enter. Bertilak,
who has a green mohawk and goatee, and Carmine Esclados, who has scarlet hair and had had
a pair of long sai on her belt.
Bertilak is not happy CFVY is here, but Carmine is happy to have extra help. Slate tells the
team that every few days people get worked up and fights start to break out. People get
afraid, and all the negative emotions bring Grimm. Tuff, Schist, and Gossan have all been
attacked.
We learn that the two hunstmen are working for the Caspians, Edward and his grandson,
August. They’re from Sumire in Vale, which is very far away. Soon an argument breaks
out in the restaurant and the team wants to find the source.
A flashback to landing practice day for the team at Beacon, Velvet was worried about who
would be her partner for the next four years. She wanted to be Coco’s partner.
But Coco becomes partners with Fox, and much to Velvet’s dismay she becomes partners
with Yatsu. People from mistral often hate faunus, but Yatsu says he is nothing like
them. Eventually they become Team CFVY, and Fox first communicates with them telepathically.
Back to the present, we learn that every time the wave of emotions come to people, they
get worse.
We learn about a ton of cool grimm in this book, which I absolutely love. For example
they mention they saw a Ravager, which is a meaner version of a Nevermore with bat wings.
Coco realizes that the Caspians, Bertilak, and Carmine have been at the location of every
Grimm attack. So the team goes to talk to them. They live by the Wasting Winds, which
are forceful sandstorms from the north. There are names for other occurrences as well. Misery’s
Kiss is sunstroke, Lasting Regret is food poisoning, and Sudden Demise is a sinkhole
big enough to swallow settlements.
Yatsu and Velvet talk to the Caspians. Gus (August) answers the door and his grandfather
joins a second later. Edward is 71, which is unusually old for a huntsman. Honestly
that’s pretty disheartening to hear. But honestly with everything that happens in Vacuo
it’s a miracle people are alive at all.
We learn that the Caspians met the two huntsman when they were trying to find safety. They
suggested he should go to an old lighthouse on the western shore of Sanus, which is across
the whole desert.
Another grimm attack broke out, but the huntsmen deal with it. They decide to start patrolling
the borders more. During the night patrol, Velvet and Fox see Edward sleepwalking. But
of course, Grimm come and Fox almost dies battling a King Taijitu. Velvet and Fox bring
Edward back to Feldspar, and Gus claims that his grandfather is the one causing the mood
bombs.
In a flashback to when Team RWBY first formed, we see Ruby talk to Coco, Weiss talk to Yatsu
and Fox, and Blake protects Velvet from some bullies. There;s a lot of good dialogue in
this part, especially between Ruby and Coco. Also we get a mention of Yang’s friends
from Signal, so I’m glad they were mentioned in some shape again after like episode 2 of
the show.
Blake was reading the novel, The Boy Who
Fell From the Sky.
Back to Gus, he reveals he is able to block semblances with his semblance. He has been
using his semblance to keep his grandfather’s semblance in check. His grandfather can manipulate
other people’s emotions. Bertilak and Carmine are angry and shocked to hear this, but Fox
is suspicious of their reactions. Everyone argues about what to do next and Grimm arrive.
We learn about Yatsu’s backstory and his semblance to make people forget things.
As a child he made his mother forget about the existence of his little sister, and the
fallout from that made him afraid to ever use his semblance.
Back to the story, the team decides to head west to get to Vacuo. More Grimm attack, including
a Dromedon, a camel-like Grimm with humps that expand like a balloon and burst, a Jackalope,
which is a huge four-legged beast with branching red-and-white antlers and powerful hind legs
that can propel it to a great height and allow it to run fast, and a Ziraph which is like
a giraffe but five-stories high, and has three long heads, glowing red leopard spots, white
horns, and long, dark tongues that can wrap around a person’s body.
I found this piece of fanart that’s almost exactly the Ziraph, but this was made in 2015!
Someone seems to have some good prediction skills.
It is very rude to use any sort of animal puns, jokes, or phrases when referring to
a faunus. Even saying ‘catnap’ to a cat faunus is inappropriate.
Velvet and the evacuees leave first, and later the rest of CFVY follow.
Coco notices a set of tracks going north, and Fox decides to follow them. A sandstorm
also approaches.
Yatsu and Coco catch up with Velvet and everyone else. Those tracks Fox was following were
created by Edward and Bertilak. Fox finds Edward in the sandstorm, who is disoriented
and fights Fox. Fox disarms the old man, which makes him come to his senses.
Edward wants to get back to Gus because it turns out Gus was the one amplifying people’s
emotions and Edward can block his semblance. After Gus’s parents died, the mood bombs
became worse. Right as they go to leave, Bertilak attacks Fox.
In a flashback to their time as Beacon students, CFVY was on a training rescue mission to find
the survivors of lower Cairn and bring them to Vale. But when they got to the town, it
was gone. Walking along a mountain path, they find a crevice with voices calling out within
it. People are trapped underground, and they are the last survivors of lower Cairn. But
it was all for nothing when a Goliath appeared and crushed the cave entrance with the people
inside it. They failed their mission.
Like holy crap, I cannot believe this happened. Like learning about Yatsu’s backstory was
crazy enough but this is almost a whole other level. It was directly acknowledged that team
CFVY led to the death of a group of people. This book as a whole does an amazing job at
making sure the impact of events, such as this training mission or the fall of beacon,
is felt.
Back to the desert, the team besides Fox (who is currently fighting Bertilak) sees this
huge-plateau looking object. It turns out to be a flatback slider, a huge sand turtle
that is extremely rare. Since it is 100 feet tall, they decide to get on top of the turtle
so it can take them away from the sandstorm.
While getting everyone on the turtle, a Blind Worm approaches. It is a long, black, spiky
worm with a fiery red eye in the center of its head. Its circular mouth contains razor-sharp
teeth. It is the length of 6 Goliaths. If they don’t include this grimm whenever team
RWBY goes to Vacuo it will be a real shame. Although I personally want to see the Ziraph
more.
Fox fights Bertilak, whose weapon is a spiky ball mace with a chain. Bertilak reveals that
his boss is interested in people with powerful semblances, but since Edward doesn’t have
the mood bomb semblance, they got the wrong guy. They wanted to get the Caspians away
from other people, but never got the chance. Bertilak’s semblance is revealed to be heat
waves, which was amplified when he was angry.
Fox eventually beats Bertilak with the help of Edward. Edward reveals that he was the
one to send the distress call to Shade.
Returning to the flashback, the team returns to Beacon. Glynda asks to see Velvet in Ozpin’s
office. While walking there, Sun and Neptune appear, but have to leave because Glynda does
not want to wait.
The rest of team CFVY notices she is gone and go and find her. Oz and Glynda are not
happy about them storming into his office, but they let them go by giving them an assignment
to do.
Back to the present with the Blind Worm, Fox and Edward message the team and reveal the
truth. But Carmine has already taken Gus, so they need to find them. They spot a sandstorm
which seems to be controlled by Carmine. Yatsu goes after them.
Yatsu meets up with Fox, who has been carrying Bertilak. Yatsu uses his semblance to temporarily
erase Bertilak’s memory of the past day. Yatsu attacks Carmine, whose semblance turns
out to be telekinesis. However she isn’t as powerful as Glynda.
Returning to the turtle, the worm is almost to them. Velvet uses a photo of Roy Stallion’s
saw-gloves and turns it into a weapon. This was her last photo of him, as he was presumed
to have been killed at the battle of beacon. The rest of his team (BRNZ/Bronze) was either
missing or dead.
Any damage the worm takes releases as acid, making them even more dangerous. Velvet makes
Neptune’s weapon, which is called a rail gun. After some fighting, the worm rushes
up the side of the turtle and swallows Coco. But with the help of Velvet who kills the
worm, Coco is able to escape.
Further away, Carmine is battling both Edward and Bertilak, who lost his memory and thinks
Carmine is trying to double-cross him and take Gus for herself. When sand is splashed
at Bertilak, his heat wave semblance turns it into glass.
Together, CFVY defeat Carmine. When the team catches up to Slate and the refugees, they
learn that they would have been goners had team SSSN not came and saved them. SSSN is
also going to be at Shade, and later both teams will be able to go home.
Velvet says goodbye to Gus, who is going to Oscuro. Gus hopes to learn to control his
semblance and eventually help people with it. She takes a picture of Edward with his
weapon.
Then the two teams head off for Shade, and Coco wonders about the person kidnapping people
with powerful semblances.
Final thoughts:
I really enjoyed reading this book! It fleshes out team CFVY more than I ever imagined. We
also get to see a lot of team RWBY, and a bit of team SSSN, which I was not really expecting.
It really convinces you that team CFVY had a good relationship with other teams, and
that they were that one special team like RWBY was the year following them.
I love the idea of someone that is collecting people with powerful semblances. I’m sure
that’s been shows a lot before, but I still find it interesting nonetheless.
I am pretty disappointed by the lack of Velvet backstory, and we didn’t learn too much
about Coco either.
This is a good setup for a follow up novel, which I am pretty sure is happening. I really
want to learn more about team SSSN, especially about Scarlet and Sage.
I’m sure there is a lot I missed, but this was an almost 300-page novel so there was
just a lot I didn’t bother to write down. Once again, I really suggest you get a copy
of the book. They should definitely release an audiobook version, mostly because I want
to hear what Fox sounds like.
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Well, that was a lot, but I hope you learned a thing or two about the novel.