RWBY: AFTER THE FALL Is Fun Albeit Not Always Very Focused

I’m a big fan of RWBY, but while watching the latest seasons, something has been bugging me. I’ve been curious what the heck everyone outside of Team RWBY and Team JNR has been up to since the Fall of Beacon. What have the teachers like Glynda Goodwitch and Port been up to? What about Team CFVY? Well, Rooster Teeth recently released RWBY: After the Fall, and it addresses some of these questions. The book is the first in a YA series being published by Scholastic, and it follows Team CFVY in the aftermath of the Fall of Beacon. I have been lucky enough to read the book which was written by E.C. Myers, and here are my thoughts. I have done my best to not write any spoilers in this review.

In After the Fall we see Team CFVY after they’ve transferred to Shade Academy in Vacuo, and they’re sent on a mission to find a distress call. There’s some element of mystery, but after Chapter 3 or 4, I pretty much had most of the mystery solved. Along the way though, we meet some cool characters like Slate and Carmine as well as Edward.

One of the best things about this book is that we learn a lot about the members of Team CFVY. We learn about their semblances, we learn some of their past, and we learn how they’ve grown as a team. This is fantastic for someone like me who loved Coco and Velvet as soon as he saw them, but never got to learn anything about them in the show. Also, this book got me to think Fox is pretty awesome. Of course, every reader will have a different reaction to the book and care about different characters.

I want to address the writing of this book. It was not great in my opinion. It was fine, but not great. The prologue felt more like Chapter 1 than a prologue and that started things off on the wrong foot. I felt like there were too many flashback sequences in kind of odd places that didn’t seem to really have any payoff. There were some great flashback moments and some important ones, but it felt like Myers was simply writing the story and then went, “Shoot, I have to include some kind of flashback in an attempt to flesh out characters whether or not it has that intended effect.” Also, the final battle felt a little anticlimactic.

One area where Myers’s writing shone though was balancing four characters and perspectives. The book follows all of Team CFVY, and that means he had to juggle four perspectives throughout. I thought that was one area where he really shined.

Overall, if you’re a fan of RWBY and want to know what Team CFVY has been up to, After the Fall is a very quick read that you’ll want to check out. It was very refreshing to not focus on Teams RWBY and JNR. If you’re looking for the next great piece of literature, keep looking. Also, if Rooster Teeth doesn’t have CFVY at the final battle of the show, I’ll be pissed.