Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

157 reviews

christinereads1823's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

Great sequel. Yarros's world building is intricate and magnetic, woven so tightly with the development of plot and character arcs that the book is practically impossible to put down.  
The twist ending seems utterly cruel, and I'm oddly excited to see what the third book does with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

halept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

5.0

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! I listened to the audiobook version, and the performance is perfect! The cliffhanger has me very stressed, waiting for the next installment!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

bcope84's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

janka_grzanka's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Kiedy skończyłam tę książkę pomyślałam "Dlaczego to nie jest jak "Harry Potter"? Przecież wtedy byłoby to dużo łatwiej czytać" A potem się ucieszyłam z tego. Bo pod wieloma względami ta seria jest dla mnie jak "Harry Potter" (nie chodzi mi tu tylko o toxic autorki), kiedy miałam 10 lat. Jest jednak inna, dla innej grupy wiekowej. Jest dużo bardziej dramatyczna, emocjonalna. Absolutnie pokochałam tę książkę. Dlaczego więc nie dałam jej 5⭐️? Ponieważ ostatnie 200-300 stron mnie straumatyzowało i po prostu I can't get over it just yet. Pewnie jak nabiorę dystansu to to zmienię.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Vomit and Gaslighting

divergent159's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

izzygyrl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It has its moments where your jaw drops but also moments where you roll your eyes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

nanastradamus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

3.5

Iron Flame is fast paced and has a great (if somewhat clumsy) story — entrapment via ‘one more chapter’. As I was expecting following Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros knows how to write a compelling story but misses the mark on great writing / prose. I appreciate the purposeful use of modern, plain English which makes the fantasy genre so much more accessible. But just because it’s written in plain(er) English doesn’t mean the book wouldn’t be even better to read if the prose made the reader feel something. There hasn’t been one line or phrase in either of the books that has made me stop and go over the beauty or mastery of what I’d just read before moving on. The only time Yarros has made me emotional was during

Liam’s death and when Violet hallucinates seeing him while being tortured

. With a bit more effort, she could make the whole book have that sort of effect. But maybe not prioritising spending much time on the writing itself was a purposeful decision.

The plot is packed, which was one of the book’s — and story’s — downfalls. It felt like too much was trying to be crammed into one book. The story would have benefitted from most (if not all) of the plot points and characters being more fleshed out.

As a side note, it feels like more effort was made in the first book to have an actively diverse cast of characters. There also wasn’t as much character development in this book, which is something the first one already lacked quite a bit. That being said, I loved seeing all of the characters, especially Violet, trust and rely on each other more and become a really solid unit.

All in all, the book was enjoyable with fantastic twists and turns. I loved the stronger focus on politics and war strategy, as well as the found family within the Iron Squad and its newcomers. It just seems like fast pacing is what’s being aimed for with this series to its own detriment. Even more so than Fourth Wing, Iron Flame feels too rushed, like developing both plot and character were sacrificed in favour of fitting as much in as possible. Which is bonkers, considering the book is 600+ pages long. The premise, world building, characters, and story are all so interesting and promising — I can only imagine how incredible this series would read if it were given the space to do so, with an author / editor / publishing house team that were willing to spend more time and care on it rather than prioritising churning the sequel out so quickly. Or maybe Rebecca Yarros just always writes this way.

But gosh darn did she get me and I read it in 13 hours, unable to put it down for long. So, I’m boo boo the fool.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Grief

elntastic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.5

What a trip this book was…first and foremost: I didn’t love it as much as the first one but it’s still an amazing book nonetheless. Most annoying was def the interactions and the drama between Violet and Xaden…most if the time I didn’t even understand why she was mad or what her point was and it seemed as though she didn’t either. The whole „ask me“-thing annoyed me as hell! Like just tell her ?! Why make a „game“ out of it? I often also felt that the author made the reader miss out on a lot of their interactions and I felt like I missed out on much of the two of them together. This book was much more focused on Violet and her development as a character and a rider as well as her relationship with her friends, which I did like but I just wish there was also more Xaden in it. The fact that we only got one decent sex scene kinda disappointed me tbh but that’s just personal preference hahah. One thing I especially liked was Andarnas development and sassiness! I felt like she wasn’t as important in the first book but in this book she def was! And I love her so much! In conclusion I suppose we can all agree that the ending was heartbreaking and it def made me tear up but I don’t think all hope is lost. I‘m sure Violet will find some way as she always does. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

bookboyfriend4life's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail