What is a filler? Discussing the Flesh and Fire series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This blog will likely be a bit different than my other reviews, as it has been a while since I read the previous books in this four book prequel series. The Flesh and Fire series will instead be my starting point for my frustration regarding the use of fillers in many fiction books these days. 

The series follow Sera, an assassin born and raised for one purpose: to seduce and kill the God Nyktos (Ash) as he can only be slain by someone he loves. However, she falls in love, and together they have to save the realms from destruction by the hand of Kolis. It is surprisingly easy to condense the premise of this series, considering each of them is over 700 pages each. 

I had to binge read book four to make it through to the ending of this series. Book three had been a huge disappointment for me, and I was frustrated when Armentrout announced that she could not stick to her plan of writing a trilogy, instead she had to write four to capture the entire story. However, the thing is, she did not capture the entire story: far from it. When I turned the last page, I was disappointed we didn't even get to meet Sera's babies (and I am not a fan of the pregnancy genre at all), and it fell flat. I had no way excepted that the prequel would catch up to the main series, and nor did I want that, but so many questions where still left unanswered. Why did so many of the Primals go into stasis? What happened to Jadis? What happened to Sera's kids, and how did one of them end up captured and used for breeding? I have many more that are forgotten, but no need to list them all.

And that's the thing: so much 'happens' in this series, yet absolutely nothing of importance takes place. In book four, it took Sera 111 pages before she left her bedroom, meaning I had to sit through hours of meaningless conversation between her and Ash as I was lulled into the absurd world they live in. The book presented me with recaps of the things I do remember, and never anything that I am desperate need of reminding. What a waste, what a way to fill the time. So now, let us get into the concept of filler.

To me, the understanding of filler comes from cartoons and anime. It is a concept that originated when the animated material caught up to the source material, and they had to 'fill in the time' while the source material was written. It did not progress the plot in any meaningful way, and a lot of people find fillers skippable and a waste of time. However, I believe there is a difference between a good and a bad filler. One of my favourite shows growing up (and still a favourite to this day) is the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, which grew in popularity during Covid as it was suddenly available for streaming. The show is known for its incredible story and character developments, but still, some of the most beloved episodes would be considered fillers. Amongst others is the "Ember Island Players" from Book 3 (season 3), where the show is summarised by the main characters watching a poorly executed show of themselves and their lives up until that point. It is a show within a show, and it is beautifully done. It is  by definition a filler episode, as nothing happens to progress the plot, but yet we as an audience is reminded of everything that has happened, and we get to reflect over the progress and development each character has gone through. As many others, this is one of my favourite episodes as well.

Going back to Flesh and Fire, none of the filler elements adds anything to the main story. For better or worse, many scenes are simply a tool to show off that Sera is little to no self-control which quickly becomes frustrating to read about. She has so much anger, that it takes less than a couple of sentences for her to loose her cool and going on a murderous rampage without considering the consequences. Which, naturally, has terrible consequences for the people around her, as everything the Gods do affects the mortal realm. Her anger that the leads to the death of a minor character felt dumb, as she had no real connection to him, yet thousands of people died by her hand, so she could get a release from her rage. It should also be mentioned that Ash is the same, for whatever reason, he also lost all logical thought from book one, and is now equally as furious and short-tempered about everything. Please, give me a break. Of course, it is important to showcase how the characters are feeling and how they deal with difficult problems and situation, however, it does not need to be repeated over, and over and over again for it to stick to the reader's brain.

Put differently, does Armentrout not have an editor that tells her off? It feels like no one dares to tell authors these days that they should try and be more concise. The trend seems to be 'the more, the better' and readers are eating it raw. Their demands to get books within a certain time frame is insane. Readers seem to lack any critical thinking, clearly illustrated by Colleen Hoover's popularity. I would also like to note that Armentrout also belongs in 'she is an okay writer' category, as she writes lovely dialogue, but all other writing elements she fails to deliver to a decent standard. I wonder, what has happened to books for this shift to happen? When did quantity win over quality? 

I believe my frustration boils down to, that some people cannot seem to understand the difference between good and bad filler. Writing books take time, and authors like Armentrout could benefit from having more to time to edit and receive feedback (and having someone to tell her 'no'). Fillers exist to fill in the caps, and even though they might not add to the overall plot, they add depth to the characters and give the reader time to reflect. Any good filler is not pointless, it is purpose, and unfortunately authors like Armentrout seem to be unaware of this. 

NOTE: I started and kept adding to this post for over a month. Perhaps one day I will return to add more and structure my thoughts better.