Iron Flame

DNF at 20%, whoever gave this 5 stars is lying. I made my friends tell me how it ends and it affirmed my decision to quit.

This is incredible! Such a complex and well tight story and what an ending!!

I never thought I would find myself so invested in the lives of drama twisted into dragons, but here I am. I sobbed multiple times in this book for the emotional turmoil that I underwent watching two very in love people not trust each other as well as the numerous other times this book took me by the throat and held on. This is definitely five stars for the vibes, the characters, and the way they all now live permanently in my heart. Can’t wait for book 3.

💬: N/A

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, romantasy, dragons, adult

📚Page Count: N/A

🎧Audiobook Length: 11h 39min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4.5/5

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IRON FLAME DRAMATIZED ADAPTATION - PART 1

TW - <spoiler>Blood, Physical abuse, Medical content, War, Death, Grief, Murder, Animal death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Cursing, Violence, Confinement, Gore, and Kidnapping</spoiler>

Iron Flame Dramatized Part 1 is the first half of the dramatized version of the novel "Iron Flame" written by Rebecca Yarros. The dramatized version of Iron Flame starts off where the dramatized version of the first book in the series, Fourth Wing, left off. It's Violet's second year of Dragon Rider College and there's a new Vice Commandant that's making her life hell, in addition to that she has to deal with the secrets that she learned at the end of Fourth Wing, including <spoiler>the supposedly mythical creature the Wyvern is real and they have been attack towns and outposts on the edge of the country. </spoiler> Will Violet be able to survive her second year and will she be able to help keep the secrets of the marked ones?

I didn't really enjoy my reading of the Fourth Wing novel but I did enjoy the dramatized adaptations. I think this time around, with Iron Flame, I'm going to continue listening to the dramatized adaptations because they seem to be more exciting than the author's writing and the original books. Part 1 of the Iron Flame adaptation was really exciting and it kept my attention for the duration of the audiobook.

There's an intimate scene in here and because I'm a 33 year old woman listening to 22 year old's get it on, I'm not very interested or invested in the scene. Like Fourth Wing Dramatized Part 2, I'm giving the spicy scene 2 chilies 2🌶️ out of five chilies.

Overall, Iron Flame Dramatized Part 1 was really exciting and entertaining. I think I'm just going to wait until part two comes out in two month, I don't want to bother reading the actual novel in this case because I personally do not like the author's writing style at all. This adaptation was great, I'm giving it 5 stars out of 5.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on [Hoopladigital.com]

Me, finishing Iron Flame & texting my book bff “oh my god oh my god oh my god I finished Iron Flame. I have passed away, I am in utter shock.”

Well done Rebecca Yarros, well done. There was so much hype around the release of Iron Flame the month leading up to it that I was a bit skeptical of its greatness and chalked it up to tiktok hype. I am pleased to say it was a fantastic novel and I cannot wait for the rest of the series. Rebecca, I have so many questions!!

Let’s get into it, because there is a lot to unpack here. This review will be spoiler heavy, so heed my warning.

DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW UNLESS YOU WANT THE BOOK TO BE SPOILED.

I really really liked Iron Flame. The character development, themes, plot, spice, and everything else came together to create an immersive world and pull you into the story. Violet continues to be a bad ass while also continuing to learn how to deal with her lesser strength, her relationship with Xaden, and now some huge secrets she has to keep – even when being tortured for the information.

Xaden continues to be sexy, strong, and secretive – much to Violet’s dismay. The progression of their relationship was super good and with that ending??? I CANNOT WAIT FOR BOOK 3.

The Iron Squad continues to be friend-group goals, Jesinia comes more into play, and we even meet some new characters that offer an interesting twist into everything (I’m looking at you, Catriona).

I want to dive into a few different themes in the book because I have so much to say that I could write a novella about my thoughts. Instead, I will try to limit myself here.

The big theme we start off with is trust. We start off Iron Flame with Brennan being alive after having been presumed dead for the last 6 years. Not only did he fake his death, but Xaden and the rest of the resistance crew all knew and kept it a secret from Violet. We left off Fourth Wing with Violet realizing Tairn and Andarna kept the resistance a secret from her. Now back at Basgiath War College, Violet has to keep Rhi and the rest of the Iron Squad in the dark about what happened at Athebyne, and Xaden has to work to regain Violets trust. That is a lot of dishonesty, secrets, and strained relationships from all sides. This was such a good theme not only in the beginning of Iron Flame, but through the whole novel. I loved seeing the evolution of the trust worked on and regained between all these different groups, it was interesting and heart wrenching and oh so good.

The evolution of Xaden and Violet’s relationship. This was a really great theme throughout the entire book. Their chemistry is incredible, and it is heart wrenching to see them not be together but want to be. Xaden and Violet are great together, but they really needed to work on their trust and and openness if they were ever going to make it work. “How can I love you when I don’t even know you” was one of the most powerful quotes from Violet related to this, and just really shows how deep both their trust issues and affection for each other went.

Seeing Xaden try so hard to prove himself to Violet time and time again was honestly sexy and I can’t believe she didn’t cave sooner; I would have! As Iron Flame went on, they continued to work on their honesty and openness and their chemistry continued to flame, it was almost unbearable. When Varrish kept preventing them from seeing each other, ughhhhh! It was a great plot point but I was so sad for them each time. When Xaden was fighting to have the night free to see Violet while Sgaeyl and Tairn got to be together? OMG.

There were a lot of great themes and plot lines in this book, too many to break down individually. There was a ton of introspection, relationship issues, communication work, secrets, character development and so much more that went on in Iron Flame that you really can tell Rebecca is setting us up for one hell of a series going forward.

I loved the addition of Cat, her special power, and her history with Xaden and subsequent hatred of Violet. There is nothing like a scorned lover and man she feels scorned hard. I love that her power is to amplify emotions, and she makes Violet super jealous and self conscious. It was a good plot point and great avenue for continued character development of Violet. I even liked that they had to begrudgingly work together as the book went on.

Other themes and things I want to mention/ point out but not get into… maybe I’ll have to do a review post part 2 once I re-read it.

Other themes

• Secrets and the damage/protection they do, and the fine balance
• Insecurity and inner thoughts/emotions you don’t let yourself think about until they are right in your face
• Right and wrong, the choices we make, and why
• Sacrifices for love and the safety of the people

Things I loved – SPOILERS BELOW

• Violet vs Codagh scene
• The relationship and work Rhi and Violet have to do to salvage their friendship and the trust Violet puts into them? UGH YES
• The torture scenes? SO GOOD, it was described really well and I thought Rebecca Yarros did a fantastic job. Varrish is so cruel and terrible, and to have Nolan be there too? NOOOOO
• When Dain comes into the picture….. just wow holy shit, great development.
• THE SPICE SCENE on the throne of Tyrrendor, WHEW.
• I love that almost everyone knows how to speak sign language with Jesinia, that is so awesome. I love Jesinia’s character development too!

The continued world building and history was great, I love that you thought you knew so much in book 1 and then in Iron Flame you realize you actually know nothing and were very sheltered inside the Basgiath War College. You learn about the whole other part of the continent out there, the fliers, the other people, and more about the dreaded venin. There are people being left alone to die without support or saving from Navarre. The venin are running rampant while leadership continues to lead Navarre to believe that they don’t even exist. Then, to top it all off, you learn that the scribes 400 years ago rewrote all of history and hid everything away to keep the people in the dark. It all continued to build to the story and start to set up the rest of the series, and it really drew me in. I hope we continue to learn more, especially about the empyrean.

Also I need to know more about the 7th type of dragon??? Andarna girl can’t wait to learn more about you.

There are SO many other things I want to mention and talk about, but overall I LOVED Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. It was so good and I definitely will be rereading it in the next 30 days.

Worthy of a million re-reads.

Better writing than the first, which is saying something I guess.

I'm not okay.

6.5/10: A solid and entertaining sequel to what was really a middling, but heavily hyped, first book. I'm not in the target audience for this series, but I'm finding myself really enjoying it. This book at least partly convinced me that beyond the TikTok hype, it has some sort of individuality and creativity that makes it stand out from the other YA/NA fantasy romance books out there.

Many criticisms of Fourth Wing revolved around the plot holes and Rebecca Yarros's unfamiliarity with the epic fantasy genre. This book leaned much more heavily into the fantasy side of storytelling than its predecessor, and Yarros's enthusiasm for and novelty with the genre were both readily apparent. The book is much too long, mostly because of the density of the romance-novel conversations that appeared almost every chapter (“we need to talk about what this means for us”) etc. However, she gets credit for tackling some pretty ridiculous-scale battles and generally doing a better job than many epic fantasy authors in narrating them effectively. I think this book puts the nail in the coffin for the idiots who are arguing that the series is not fantasy...

But it is really glorified OC fanfiction. The AO3 style language and writing continues to be a problem to read in print, although the brash side thoughts that enraptured people so much in the first book are thankfully eliminated here. Xaden's character approaches Gary Stu levels of competence and morality, and while Yarros introduces a golden opportunity early in the book to compromise his character, she refused, which for me reduced the impact of his arc. The romance-heavy dialogue cannot support the massive cast of characters that Yarros has clearly put a lot of work into. And the sex scenes are few and largely disappointing.

This book is much darker than Fourth Wing. I was surprised at the sometimes grimdark feel of the plot and characters. Yarros did a good job conveying stakes and urgency, particularly in the last third of the book, which was very strong. I felt like I got to know each of the characters around Violet better, particularly her squad and her family.

I liked this slightly better than Fourth Wing and will continue reading on, but for now I am still limiting my recommendation of the series to romance fans and people with nostalgia for reading fanfiction late at night.

DNF

I am so bummed by how lousy this suddenly got. I was surprised that I enjoyed Fourth Wing as much as I did, and started the sequel immediately. Fourth Wing was a good mix of dragons, magic, and a romance plot that isn't too cringe. But the sequel was suddenly a wall of angst. So much angst. All angst! I only made it to chapter three, and decided to double check online, because the turn off was so intense. Does this improve? And the general consensus seems to be that it does not. I may read a synopsis, and give the third book a try at some point, because I was invested in the overall story and world, even if the romance portions read like a R-rated YA book. But as it stands, I think I'll be moving onto something else for now!

I shouldn't have liked this book so much but I did. The first in the series felt very juvenile. Young adult fiction. I liked it tho it made me giggle like a teen. But this second book got a lot more intense. So many adventures I wasn't expecting. I loved how the family develops. And that bonds are being built from the first book. I really enjoyed this and read it so quickly. I love the passion between Xaden and Violet even if a little misguided and toxic. They're both just trying to heal and save the world I get it. I can't wait to get a hold of onyx storm

the book wasn't that great, and was also wayyyy too long. however, the ending was amazing, and there were also a few good plot twists. will probably read the third book ¯_(ツ)_/¯

“I'm pleasantly fuddled but not entirely sloshed” - Violet Sorrengail

A perfect way to surmise my overall review of this book. Not as gripping as the first but had me reeling in the end. Things I wasn't a fan of was the relationship aspect (to trust or not to trust?!) but I can understand the struggle and need for character development for both Xaden and Violet. I loved getting to know more characters and the friendship bonds plus sibling dynamics between the Sorrengails. There was so much more detail in this book which can be helpful but also overwhelming. So many different scenes, emotions, storylines, and twists...it felt like two books as I try to think back about everything that happened. Almost nothing surprised me anymore...until that ending! Welp, on to Onyx Storm...

So longggggg i actually can't remember my exact thoughts on this book but UMM im pretty sure i started enjoying it a lot more in the second half when i properly started focusing on reading it so thats my bad. i didnt share the idea that xaden and violet were annoying - i thought they were sweet but that said hes not my type unfortunately j wish i could thirst over him more lollll

there are too many named characters. in these books. omd i can't remember them all and they just. i wish there were less characters so they would get more development? characters like bohdi and garrick and RHIANNON BRO i want to love them more but they're just. they don't have much substance to them

…

The sentence structure is horrible.

The world building isn’t fleshed out.

The character development is worse than it was in Fourth wing.

The pacing was all over the place.

Iron fLame has no value and no depth.

I’m only reading this series to understand why it’s so popular with the masses. So far and two books in I have yet to see the reason.

A great sequel to an amazing book. I have a couple complaints but overall this does everything the first did, just a little worse at times. But still told an amazing story and held my attention at every page.

I did not love this one quite as much as the first one. But it was still a great story. We got more background to certain things and expanded our world.

I can't wait to move on to Onyx Storm.

Side note. Still in love with xaden.

Eventually, I'll write reviews for these books, but the short of it is that I loved this so much more the second time around.

Вже краще ніж попередня. Якщо б ще порізали сцени переживань і незрозумілих думок, вийшло б дуже класне фентезі. А так треба прориватися через еротику і різні сцени від яких і так нема ніякої користі.

Once again, I'm having the time of my life. Also sobbing my eyes out. And laughing. And sobbing again. Is it the best writing? Or the best plot? No. Am I having an immensely good time (aside from all the emotional breakdowns I've had)? Yes. And tbh, I don't care about anything else. Enjoyment factor is a 5/5 for me.

oh man~ just finishing it idk how to feel…. Like the whole story I loved and enjoyed. The ending makes me feel annoyed but nervous >< annoyed I suppose in a good way. Definitely left me needing to start onyx storm right away.

I can see why people didn’t enjoy it as much as the first but I had fun with it still and was laughing and sobbing through out so in my opinion it’s worth continuing after the first !!

Read it immediately after fourth wing and finished in a few days. Pacing of the book is very good, hungry for knowing what was about to happen.

Only the ongoing I love you, I hate you, I love you... Parts are bit meh and annoying after the first book. But other than that I really like the story.

El primero fue mas atrapante y mejor en muchos sentidos pero, este igualmente me dejo con la boca abierta innumerables veces y demasiadas emociones juntas.
Ahora mismo son las 4:12 de la mañana y no dejo de llorar, tengo TERROR

I like how the war plot thickens, I found the smut and the miscommunication trope to be excessive.

Alot of info dump but i've honestly had a good time. I will also read the 3rd book

I generously rated Fourth Wing four out of five stars. To be honest, only the last 20% of the novel really gripped and surprised me, and made me want to see The Empyrean series fully through to the end and rate the book positively. I cannot in good conscience rate this book the same or higher, because it has some very prominent flaws.

Iron Flame picks up pretty much where we ended up in Fourth Wing, and further explores the worldbuilding, the motivations of those in power, and, well, Xaden. Standout characters to me were Dain, Rhiannon, Ridoc, and Andarna