Reviews

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

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madisonbs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

dandelion27's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

madbrz's review against another edition

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3.0

I had a lot of good things to say about this book, but I also definitely had some complaints.

On the good side of things, I loved the found family friendships in this book. I also loved that the characters genuinely felt individual, complex, and well-rounded. I liked that the characters had the ability to grow and change. It’s probably an unpopular opinion, but I liked that the characters felt like 20-something year olds who were petty, jealous, and made poor decisions at times, but were also capable of being good people at the end of the day. I liked that some characters redeemed themselves and others most definitely did not. I was genuinely sad when characters died. I also liked the introspection that Violet had during the book where she examined her inability to learn the younger students’ names for a long time and express grief in the same way that the fliers did, especially when she finally did grieve at the end of the book and felt much better for it. It was interesting to see how she felt she needed to be hardened against death in order to do her job while simultaneously feeling as though she shouldn’t be so immune to it. I also cannot explain how hard I laughed when Dain told Violet “I heard the end of what [Xaden] said in the interrogation chamber, and trust me, I might be in love with him after that declaration”. Also, I adored the part with Andarna telling Violet that she was waiting for her because she knew that they were meant to bond. I liked the entirety of Andarna’s plotline in this book.

For the less positive side of things, I’m not normally one to complain about getting more before having to wait for the next book to come out, but way too much happened in this book. I love a good fast-paced novel, but this one was over 600 pages long and something new came up every ten pages. This should have been split into two books so that the author could pad some of the twists and turns out a bit, because it was overwhelming and I felt like I was slogging through it at times. I also could not get over the scene wherein Xaden says that Violet’s door is soundproof when closed, and then not five paragraphs later Violet leaves the door open “in case anyone needs a quick exit” like they’re not discussing plans that will get them killed should they be overheard by anyone. I also very much so dislike Violet and Xaden’s habit of discussing very secret things out loud in empty hallways when they have the ability to communicate within their heads. Whether the space around them seems empty or not, it feels like a very stupid screw up waiting to happen every time they have what should be a completely private conversation out loud somewhere random rather than silently in their own heads. I do not know why they would ever choose to discuss sensitive information aloud anywhere besides in their soundproofed rooms when they have the option to do otherwise. Lastly, I get that Xaden is of course going to have secrets from Violet, just like she isn’t going to tell him everything. That’s normal and expected in relationships. However, him REPEATEDLY keeping hugely important information from her so that it comes back to bite her at a later date grew tired as a plot device about 50 pages into this book. I don’t understand how he begs her to take him back while he is still doing the thing she dumped him for doing and it continues to repeatedly have consequences. I’m also really not a fan of the way that he begs her to ask him questions so he can be honest with her (as opposed to…I don’t know, just telling her?) but then constantly winds up pissed off with her for asking questions about things he didn’t want her to figure out. Honestly, I get that there’s no one else for her to possibly wind up with, but their relationship does not do it for me at all because he blows up at her for keeping any secrets while simultaneously managing to only tell her shit that doesn’t matter or things that would have been useful 30 pages prior. This whole book felt like 600+ pages of “Violet feeling guilty after she acts without a crucial piece of information that Xaden withheld for no good reason and someone (or, more likely, multiple someones) got killed because of it”.

I didn’t hate this book, but I feel like the next two DEFINITELY need to have some conflicts that don’t come from Violet not knowing information that her boyfriend could have told her or I will wind up hating those books. There are so many people whose lives seem to depend on her plans, so Xaden really needs to get it together and start telling her things. It was one thing when he wasn’t sure if he could trust her not to get a bunch of people killed (even though that’s not even entirely true since he could see her intentions that whole time), but now people are actively dying or very nearly dying because he still doesn’t seem to trust her. I really love the rest of the relationships in this series (which sucks a little bit since the characters die constantly) and really hope that at least some of them make it to the end of the series. I like the sarcastic dragons and the banter in general (though I would be lying if I didn’t say the occasional modern slang throws me off). I hope that the author gives herself time to write the remaining books in this series, because it would be worth waiting longer for things to feel less hurried in future books. Lastly, I don’t even remotely know how I feel about that ending other than that I did not enjoy it in the slightest.