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A review by savage_book_review
Iron Flame (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Well, that's the reread complete with just 9 days to go until Onyx Storm! And I certainly needed the refresher! I will admit that I don't enjoy Iron Flame quite as much as I do Fourth Wing, but as always the Graphic Audio format comes to its rescue and makes things so much more digestible for my brain. And to hear 'My house. My chair. My woman' in glorious technicolour (oh, you know what I mean...) makes it worth it all on its own!
The calibre of the voice actors in this series continues to be the main draw for me. Every actor portrays their part so well and has me more invested in the plight of not just Xaden and Violet, but all of the secondary characters too. It's not that I didn't notice them when reading the physical book, but they just feel so much more prevalent within the story when it's experienced in this format. And of course, the chemistry between Violet and Xaden only gets hotter in this part of the tale...
The main thing that the GA couldn't improve for me is the worldbuilding. The immediacy of Basgaith and Eritia are absolutely great and I can see both of those locations in my mind's eye, and of course the 'set up' of everything works incredibly well. But I've never been completely clear on the geography, and the further into this book I got the more confused I felt. Likewise, the background to the current conflict makes my head spin a little bit, and even things like the set up kn the sections, squads and wings become more fuzzy as time passes. I feel like a physical reread would be worthwhile at some stage, perhaps even with (shock horror) some annotations being made to help me keep things straight.
And yet, there are elements of the writing that shine through and that are enhanced further by this format. The moments between Xaden and Violet hashing out their relationship is really well done (even if I'm not always convinced by Violet's demands), and of course the last scene with the two of them is just a gut-puncher. Andarna's contrary teenage sass and Tairn's eye rolling ways are always funny, but when you can have that side by side with those touching moments of Andarna protecting the squad, or Tairn's defending of Violet, my understanding of dragon-kind became so much more than it was after reading the physical book.
Looking forward to seeing what book three brings!
The calibre of the voice actors in this series continues to be the main draw for me. Every actor portrays their part so well and has me more invested in the plight of not just Xaden and Violet, but all of the secondary characters too. It's not that I didn't notice them when reading the physical book, but they just feel so much more prevalent within the story when it's experienced in this format. And of course, the chemistry between Violet and Xaden only gets hotter in this part of the tale...
The main thing that the GA couldn't improve for me is the worldbuilding. The immediacy of Basgaith and Eritia are absolutely great and I can see both of those locations in my mind's eye, and of course the 'set up' of everything works incredibly well. But I've never been completely clear on the geography, and the further into this book I got the more confused I felt. Likewise, the background to the current conflict makes my head spin a little bit, and even things like the set up kn the sections, squads and wings become more fuzzy as time passes. I feel like a physical reread would be worthwhile at some stage, perhaps even with (shock horror) some annotations being made to help me keep things straight.
And yet, there are elements of the writing that shine through and that are enhanced further by this format. The moments between Xaden and Violet hashing out their relationship is really well done (even if I'm not always convinced by Violet's demands), and of course the last scene with the two of them is just a gut-puncher. Andarna's contrary teenage sass and Tairn's eye rolling ways are always funny, but when you can have that side by side with those touching moments of Andarna protecting the squad, or Tairn's defending of Violet, my understanding of dragon-kind became so much more than it was after reading the physical book.
Looking forward to seeing what book three brings!