Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

60 reviews

cozy_gremlin4's review against another edition

Super disappointed. Absolutely no more plot, it's messy, immature and focuses too much on the romantic interest for me. The random sex scene pull me out of the story (I skip them) and the pace is super slow for very little actual plot happening. I couldn't push myself to finish it; it was a significant downfall from the first book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Hate crime, Violence, Confinement, Torture, Misogyny, Physical abuse, War, Blood, Classism, Death, Murder, Gaslighting, and Panic attacks/disorders

paocmanfra's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked this book a tad less than the first and once again took me a bit to get into the flow of. I have to say my love of the main characters really took a dive in this book. I specifically took a huge issue with Xaden and the dynamic of not disclosing things to Violet unless she asked. In some cases, like

his second signet

, I could understand because

it’s literally life or death

. It was hard for me to come back from

him never being fully truthful about Cat

. I had a lot of ups and downs with this book. Overall I felt like this book lacked the same punch as the first one did, but damn does Rebecca Yarros know how to hit us with a good cliffhanger.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Gaslighting and Injury/Injury detail

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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

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

4.5

What. Even. I have to wait until DECEMBER? I really can’t. The ending of this book is such a cliffhanger and a twist I was not anticipating. I enjoyed this book, but felt some of it could’ve been condensed. I also felt that some of the magic wasn’t explained as well as I would’ve liked, but all in all, this was a good part 2. The characters are embedded in my heart now, and I hope they all have a happy ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Blood, War, Drug use, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Torture, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Violence, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Vomit, Murder, Medical content, Kidnapping, Gore, and Gaslighting

jenniferbowman's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Great overall story, but would prefer a quicker pace that builds rather than multiple mini-events with lots of “waiting” time in between.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Misogyny, Death of parent, Grief, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, War, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Death, Violence, Emotional abuse, Cursing, and Xenophobia

blacksphinx's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

My feelings from the first book hold steady - an entertaining popcorn read with the worst aspect by far being the romance. I groaned every time Xaden showed up because I knew I was going to be subjected to page-long kiss descriptions and poorly written sex scenes. Violet has so much stupid emotional drama over this boy, I hated it. It really dragged down the middle of this book, especially the jealously subplot. I kept reading because I wanted to know how the conflict with the venin was going to shake out and because I wanted to learn more about the dragons. There were some nice developments on that front, and the set up for the next book will keep me reading.

Some things stood as as really jarring. There is a returning minor character whose actions are all over the place in an illogical way. I cannot reconcile their behavior. It also bothers me that

torture is constantly portrayed as a valid and reliable way of getting information, when in real life torture is completely ineffective. The fact that the author is military-adjacent only makes me feel more sour about this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Vomit, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Genocide, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Ableism, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal death, Colonisation, Alcohol, Medical content, and Bullying

cmason101's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, War, Child abuse, Murder, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Gore, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

mzquirk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

As long as this one was compared to Fourth Wing, I felt the length was a bit much compared to the meat we actually got. Did I like it, yes. But there's some things in there I could've done with out. But I also understood what we needed to get out of this book as well, to help set up what is to come. And I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Things I could do without - Violet's wishy/washy "I'm made, I'm not mad, he's gorgeous and I hate him"-ness. ...and that is it. That's all. I was annoyed by that and only that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Sexual content

Moderate: War, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Death, Bullying, Blood, Animal cruelty, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

thepeculiarlibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

takes a minute to get through, but goddamn that plot twist at the end…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, War, Death, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

lrowan's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, War, Gore, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Torture, Ableism, Cursing, and Death

jess098's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Torture, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Gaslighting, Ableism, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury