Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

43 reviews

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book was so fun and entertaining to read! Though compared to the first in the series, the pacing was slower in the beginning and too fast towards the end. The ideas in this book felt less flushed out and I sometimes had to reread parts to make sure I understood what happened. The spice was 👌 though Xaden and Violet had a lot of miscommunication from not setting expectations for how they communicate and it got old. I love how we got to know the side characters better in this book! The squad is awesome. There were a few crazy twists at the end that make it so hard to wait for the next book! I’m not sure where this series is going for a total of five books, but I feel like this book could have easily been split into two.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Classism

Minor: Ableism and Alcohol

sauvageloup's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

another extremely gripping read!

pros:
- the writing is just addictive, even though 600+ pages of small text, I didnt want to put it down.
- overall, i enjoyed this more than the first i think, there were less tropes i didnt like and the writing felt better.
- xaden does finally tell violet his secrets which was character growth.
- the twists and turns were fun to read and I didnt predict many, if any, of them.
- while impulsive, violet does show her intellect in figuring shit out and I liked

how protective she was of Sloane and that she confided in her friends despite xaden's reservations.

- I like the reveal about

andarna being a whole different species, even if it did make violet even more of a "Special" woman, in that andarna picked her out of everyone. And I liked andarna's sass and rebellion as a teenage dragon, as well as her wing being damaged by her disruptive sleep. that felt like good consequences for how Andarna saved violet's life

 
- I liked the bits of humor, with ridoc and tairn's sarcastic sass, as well as Andarna's.
- the angst overall was excellent, there was all different types and all of the characters went through the wringer in one way or another!
- I also liked the team dynamics a lot, with ridoc, imogen, rhiannon and the rest banding round violet and teasing her.

cons:
- biggest issue was just how many names there were. i just lost track. needed a list of characters and their roles desperately. I couldnt remember who garrick was, was still learning dragon names at the end, and thought Tairn was the biggest dragon. i did read it fast, but it did suffer from the fantasy book disease of an overstuffed cast (imo).
- the argument between xaden and violet was repetitive, which was noted but still a bit frustrating. like, the growth in xaden finally revealing his big secret(s) seems to just be that violet wore him down and he was worried they'd die. so.
-

I didnt like violet's mum being redeemed tbh. I prefer the message that it's ok not to reconcile with abusive parents, and I didnt really enjoy the revelations about her mum making xaden protect violet and her mum dying for her. maybe a personal preference tho.

- Cat was an annoying development and I didny really enjoy any of her sections. I think women managing to work together and get on dispite history involving a man is far more interesting than being petty. I know its brought up that Cat just wants xaden's crown, but it still felt like the catty (hah) ex trope.
- also, just personally, I skipped some of the sex. i thought the sexual tension between them was written great, but I would have been happy with a fade to black. but that's just how the book is.

all in all, this was highly addictive and I loved a lot of the ideas and the bits of humour. despite some significant flaws, definitely want to read the next!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

natashareadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

What the ffff-!! 

Ok, so I am still processing, trying to figure out what I just read and how I am feeling about it 😂😂. 

Iron Flame follows the events of Fourth Wing. 

Everyone including Violet expected Violet to die during her first year at Basgaith- but it turns out that Threshing was just the first test to weed out the weak-willed and unlucky.

Now the real training begins. But it's not that it is malicious and brutal, or that it is designed to stretch a riders pain capacity beyond endurance. No it is the new Code Commandment who has made it his personal mission to teach Violet how powerless she is and to betray the man she loves. The man who broke her trust. 

Even though Violet's body might be frailer than everyone else's, her will is iron. 

But determination to survive won't be enough. 

Soooo, where do I begin? 

Let's start with the issues- I feel like the release was somewhat rushed. It seems sooo many people have had issues- from businesses that were promised the black pages for preorders, having those cancelled, to the wrong title being on the covers, to the missing dragons on chapter 17 (which include my copy I got from Indigo/Coles in Canada, to the lone copy I found in NYS- but I will take the missing dragon over any other issues), but I've even heard missing pages/chapters. Honestly, I don't know where the problem was, it shouldn't have en this big of an issue to begin with. 

Now that that is out of the way, let's continue onto the story within the book.

I still love this world, and these characters. 

I get the conflict between Xaden & Violet, but felt like it dragged on a bit longer than it should have. The biggest issue being trust & communication after the events of Fourth Wing continued on through the whole of Iron Flame. 

I also feel like the book was longer than it needed to be- I get that it was building up the story & the ending conflict/battle, but there is also a whole lot of nothing happening too. So it could have been condensed some. 

But besides those, like I said, I LOVED the world, and the characters. 

Even despite Violet's weaknesses she is still strong. And I absolutely love that strength about her. 

And I still love Xaden- for everything he has been through and everything he is. All his lies and secrets. He is still my favorite character. 

I still love Rhiannon, Ridoc, Sawyer, and all the other characters too. 

And WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?! I am going to lose my mind until I get the next book, because well, as always, I need answers, i need conclusion, and i need more 😂😂. I loved this book, and cannot wait for more from this story. 
4⭐ out of 5⭐. 

3🌶️ out of 5🌶️. Multiple scenes throughout in detail. 

Tropes: 
→ fantasy romance /romantasy
→ enemies to lovers 
→ forced Proximity 
→ academy (war college)
→ New Adult romance 
→ chronic illness (h) representation 
→ morally gray H 
→found family 
→ slow burn 
→ overcoming adversity/underdog 
→ dysfunctional family

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

aytac's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lemonwrlds's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

lexim's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Violence, and War

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Classism

ashleynp24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

While I liked the book, it was definitely a slower burn than the first book until the last few hundred pages. I felt that Violet and Xaden’s relationship was rocky the entirety of the book as they fought over the same thing repeatedly and I felt like even though they made up, the conflict itself, the entire reason they fought the entire book, wasn’t resolved in a way that made sense.

I also didn’t love the weird love triangle with Cat. I felt like she was just a really angry character with not a lot of depth besides “I want power and Xaden will get me that” because she was never really a threat to their relationship even though Violet and her had a rivalry over him???? I don’t love when strong women fight over a man.

Ridoc and Sawyer were my favorite characters throughout this book and were really fun to read more about them and Rhi. Their relationships were my favorite dynamic in the book and I liked that they were finally included in the plans about halfway through.

Tairn dealing with a teen Andarna was also really fun and kept up a little bit of the lightheartedness the novel needed.

I get trying to give Dain a redemption arc, but it was kinda annoying to me bc I don’t think he deserved to be forgiven just because he saved Violet from being tortured??? 

I didn’t expect Xaden’s second signet at all, but I’m wondering if Violet has one from Andarna because she has 2 dragons? Alo I’m shook about her being a 7th dragon breed.

Also, why the hell would Violet and Xaden both almost die at the end to save the other when their lives are tied together??? Like did Violet not think about the fact imbuing the stone to save him would kill her, which would then kill Jim because they’re connected??? That made no sense to me then as well why Xaden became a venin? Like I don’t get his mind in terms of how that would help either of them. 

Lastly, Brennan was super annoying during this book. I get he was hurt by his mom but the moment she sacrificed herself to save them all he’s all crying?? What was that about? I get he was salty, but the entire book was him not believing in his sisters or mom.

I did really enjoy the history of the cities in this book, along with the political aspects as well. It really helped with the world building and pushed the plot along really well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lauram_16's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense slow-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

What.The.F*ck.
Kept me on edge (like fourth wing) but it got more confusing as pages went by. Filled with the info and world-building we missed in tbe first one. 

Usually the second book in a series is a bit heavy and hard to read, setting the plot is difficult and sometiems slow, it is slow but filled with action and most of the chaoters end in a cliffhanger (which personally I loved it). The pace was sometimes weird but not necessarily in a bad way.


As always, the dragons and their internactions is the best part and I loved how knit close they all are by the end, how the friendship in the squad gets better and better and I LOVE Jersinia (hoping to see more of her in the next books). 

Overall, I think it's best than the first one, with more drama and politics, setting the plot for the next books but that ending... Rebecca we need to talk. Seriously. It affected me greatly (but I'm a bit disappointed though, not the first time reading something like that). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

silverhill's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism