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A review by heyimberbie
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
I’m very disappointed in this book and how much it was lacking.
The author literally took everything from the first novel and threw it in the trash (not that there was a lot that was good about Fourth Wing anyways).
There was poor writing, poor grammar, poor world-building, there wasn’t anything exciting about the plot, and the pacing was treacherous. The only character that is probably doing ANYTHING exciting, is someone we don’t even get to see because the book is told strictly in Violet’s POV until the “surprise ending”, which was really just an ending that was expected all along.
I think the main thing that disappointed me was the severe lack of character development. Instead of expanding on the characters she already has and their own back stories, she instead adds in random new characters or a new name that amounts to nothing to try and add plot into a world with hardly any world building.
It was especially sad seeing how there was no development with Violet whatsoever. In Fourth Wing, I loved seeing Violet go through internalized ableism as a disabled character, even though it was hardly ever addressed. That was something I wished Rebecca Yarros would have included in the second book or even worked hard to expand on in the first book!
The rest of the characters add nothing to the story because they don’t even have stories themselves, and that’s where Rebecca Yarros has failed majorly with this series. The only character that I semi-enjoyed was Rhiannon because she proved to at least be somewhat emotionally mature, whereas the main character and her love interest decided to act like bickering middle school lovers this whole entire novel.
All in all, the hype this book got was definitely not deserved, and I’m left really questioning why people get multi-million dollar publishing deals yet can’t even write fully developed characters or even have good grammar and spelling.
(And I’m saying that as someone that reads absolute TRASH for books. I am no stickler when it comes to awful tropes, or writing that is not the best, or books that aren’t masterpieces. This book is just really that bad.)
Other things I didn’t like (no spoilers, but don’t read if you don’t wanna know some context on minor events) :
— Violet sitting in a class where the students are being taught quite literally about how Navarre was colonized and so many cultures had to assimilate to the ways of the people colonizing them, and instead of retaining anything or thinking how her boyfriend & her friends are impacted by this, she instead gets up and has to leave to go have a horny moment in the shower a city away because she was oh so worried her boyfriend was hurt.
— The characters were trapped behind a locked door and spent so much time wondering how they’d escape, and the only way out the entire time was that Violet had to bonk the door with the end of her knife. I’m not kidding, that’s legit what happened.
—Where are the letters that Xaden gave Violet? Yes, we get some info in the headlines of some chapters, but if an author writes how their characters wrote letters to each other and then doesn’t include those letters? Why even write a book at that point with THAT as the plotline?
— The brand new plot in a book that doesn’t even address the plot of the previous book.
— The fact that you get half way through Iron Flame and don’t even get any kind of story whatsoever. It’s just Violet going through school, a shitty relationship, and not even trying to figure out anything about what is going on in secret. Like this isn’t even slow burn, it’s hardly a sizzle to be honest. Not an ember to be seen. It’s just dead.
The author literally took everything from the first novel and threw it in the trash (not that there was a lot that was good about Fourth Wing anyways).
There was poor writing, poor grammar, poor world-building, there wasn’t anything exciting about the plot, and the pacing was treacherous. The only character that is probably doing ANYTHING exciting, is someone we don’t even get to see because the book is told strictly in Violet’s POV until the “surprise ending”, which was really just an ending that was expected all along.
I think the main thing that disappointed me was the severe lack of character development. Instead of expanding on the characters she already has and their own back stories, she instead adds in random new characters or a new name that amounts to nothing to try and add plot into a world with hardly any world building.
It was especially sad seeing how there was no development with Violet whatsoever. In Fourth Wing, I loved seeing Violet go through internalized ableism as a disabled character, even though it was hardly ever addressed. That was something I wished Rebecca Yarros would have included in the second book or even worked hard to expand on in the first book!
The rest of the characters add nothing to the story because they don’t even have stories themselves, and that’s where Rebecca Yarros has failed majorly with this series. The only character that I semi-enjoyed was Rhiannon because she proved to at least be somewhat emotionally mature, whereas the main character and her love interest decided to act like bickering middle school lovers this whole entire novel.
All in all, the hype this book got was definitely not deserved, and I’m left really questioning why people get multi-million dollar publishing deals yet can’t even write fully developed characters or even have good grammar and spelling.
(And I’m saying that as someone that reads absolute TRASH for books. I am no stickler when it comes to awful tropes, or writing that is not the best, or books that aren’t masterpieces. This book is just really that bad.)
Other things I didn’t like (no spoilers, but don’t read if you don’t wanna know some context on minor events) :
— Violet sitting in a class where the students are being taught quite literally about how Navarre was colonized and so many cultures had to assimilate to the ways of the people colonizing them, and instead of retaining anything or thinking how her boyfriend & her friends are impacted by this, she instead gets up and has to leave to go have a horny moment in the shower a city away because she was oh so worried her boyfriend was hurt.
— The characters were trapped behind a locked door and spent so much time wondering how they’d escape, and the only way out the entire time was that Violet had to bonk the door with the end of her knife. I’m not kidding, that’s legit what happened.
—Where are the letters that Xaden gave Violet? Yes, we get some info in the headlines of some chapters, but if an author writes how their characters wrote letters to each other and then doesn’t include those letters? Why even write a book at that point with THAT as the plotline?
— The brand new plot in a book that doesn’t even address the plot of the previous book.
— The fact that you get half way through Iron Flame and don’t even get any kind of story whatsoever. It’s just Violet going through school, a shitty relationship, and not even trying to figure out anything about what is going on in secret. Like this isn’t even slow burn, it’s hardly a sizzle to be honest. Not an ember to be seen. It’s just dead.