There's been a couple RWBY books, mostly published by Scholastics (the middle/high school bookfair company). I read one of them, After the Fall it was called, following team CVFY.
It was... mostly forgettable. There were a few good plot elements that were intriguing and rather creative, but also a number of questionable decisions made throughout the novel. My favorite bits were with the old man and his grandson, def some strong literature with those two and the plot surrounding them. The main antagonists don't make much sense, though, imo. Each main character gets their own character development moments in the novel, but one definitely stands out as... not that great imo. All around, probably a 6 out 10 for me; above average, but not by much. Enjoyable nonetheless.
It's been a few months since I've read the book and I'm forgetting a lot about it, I should probably read a summary or something of it.
Yeesh, didn't realize Before the Dawn was so shit. Should I even bother reading it? I was looking to official RWBY books for inspiration/understanding how to write RWBY fiction before deciding to just do my own thing after finishing After the Fall.
Also gross. Some of the mainstay writers of RWBY and the side stories are pretty obviously bad people. A long ass video I once watched on YT about RWBY went into it a bit.
Well the bottom line is in terms of technical ability, all three hover around the same level -- so it's not like you'll want to tear your eyeballs out from the prose if you decently enjoyed After the Fall. There's just a lot of plot and characterization issues in Before the Dawn, which will probably invoke rage in any half-invested fan. If it weren't for those, it would probably be more forgettable than After the Fall for how little actually happens in it.
I'm hoping it doesn't end up becoming required reading going into V10, because the V9 epilogue hinted that we're going to see Jax and Jillian joining Salem's team.
Roman Holiday is a more enjoyable read than either of the other books, but it's not great writing, either. I cannot comment on E.C. Meyers character but they seem to be an adequate writer at best, if these are anything to go by. TBH I don't think the majority of the fandom even know they exist.
Now I can't be sure which video you're referring to, as there's been a few of them; there's been more than one infamous incident which revealed how much RT was kind of a toxic cesspit behind closed doors (including using an oblique slur against a trans crew member, on camera).