Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

141 reviews

rowstream's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit and Blood

Minor: Chronic illness

amy_in_the_city's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book was such a slog to get through. It was like a third-act breakup stretched across hundreds of pages because Violet and Xaden spent most of the book fighting. They were hardly ever together and when they were, they were having the same argument over and over. It was extremely tiresome, and I felt this romance novel was missing the romance. A lot of their issues seemed very contrived, like Violet was just looking for things to be mad or insecure about. She makes a whole issue about Xaden not saying he loves her, only that he's fallen for her. What does she think "fallen for" means exactly? I understand she was still upset with him for not telling her some big secrets in the first book, but I think it was way overblown and drawn out. It was also a bit hypocritical of her to be upset at Xaden for not telling her all the super-secret mission details while she was also not telling everything to her loved ones and was going behind Xaden's back on her own mission. All of the internal conflict was exhausting, and I kind of just wanted them to break up already so I wouldn't have to read about it anymore.

I also really didn't like that they had Violet and Xaden's ex fighting over him. It was childish, and I'm just done with books pitting women against each other because of some guy. 

Xaden was just kind of there, without much personality. All of the side characters were also lacking development. I couldn't remember much about the friends and professors from the first book despite reading it only 4 months ago and was always mixing the characters up in my mind, but it didn't matter much as they weren't very present in this book. 

I did like the non-relationship parts of the book, for the most part. I thought learning about the wards and more about Andarna were both interesting, as was the final part of the book. Even during the really exciting plot stuff happening, I was still easily able to put the book down and not feel the need to pick it up again for another day or two.

Just when I thought I was ready to give up on this series, that cliffhanger ending happened. I might give the next book a chance, but I'm really not interested in reading 3 more long books if they're like this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Bullying, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Ableism and Animal death

skyfluff's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Bullying, Death of parent, Gore, Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

ko_rax's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Iron Flame is the sequel of Rebecca Yarros' romantasy, preceeded by Fourth Wing, featuring further development of the revolution and conflicts arising in Violet's interpersonal relationships.

First things first: I cannot stand the protagonist, Violet. I have not liked her in Fourth Wing, either. Violet portrays toxicity for me, something I can do well without. Even so, I was hoping for her to have some character development (that proves good character building) and am troubled to find that I cannot discern much of it here.
Her conflicts dragged to a point that I feel like her slow-paced inner work does not match the high-strung tension of a fast-paced plot

that only ever took a breather during smut scenes

. That is not to say that inner work should be quick: Her disagreements felt repetitive -

a point that Violet herself acknowledges

- and it took away from the quality of the rushed plot, instead adding value by pushing lacklustre character development. Also, I wish 

Xaden took back saying that Violet is a rational being - she is not.

For a novel focused on romance, I dare say that it was lacking heavily in the romance department. I can only hope for The Empyrean series to improve from now on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Death, and War

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Animal death

grosemareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This book is huge, and moves slower than fourth wing, but it’s just as dense if not more so. The length and density makes it difficult to binge read, it’s easier to read in smaller chunks. Can’t wait for Onyx Storm!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Blood, War, and Vomit

strixy16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Body horror, Cursing, Torture, War, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Gore, Violence, and Death of parent

booksemmahasread's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Violence, Child death, Physical abuse, Grief, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and War

dreamitallaway's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, War, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, Death, and Miscarriage

stitchbooks22's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Body shaming, Genocide, Medical content, Death, Abandonment, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Classism, War, Chronic illness, Grief, Violence, Bullying, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Vomit, Xenophobia, Murder, Torture, Medical trauma, Ableism, Animal death, and Gaslighting

lorraine19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I put this on par with the first book. Definitely more heavy on the trigger warnings. There are some absolutely brutal scenes that make deaths from the first book seem tame. Don't take that warning in the beginning of the book lightly. That being said, this book plays on all the emotions and is just wonderfully written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, War, Sexual content, Cursing, Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Violence, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death, Classism, Drug use, Vomit, and Alcohol