Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

100 reviews

comfy_anna'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual content, Death of parent, Grief, War, Bullying, Torture, Kidnapping, Confinement, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Medical content, and Murder

amylynnknitsreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny 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

3.5

I was astounded seeing that the audiobook was 28h long. But it was a pretty good 28h.

I enjoyed the further world building. I enjoyed learning more about established characters and new ones.

I was annoyed by Violet and Xaden's communication issues, but realized it was pretty on point for two very screwed up people. And they are two very screwed up people.

I saw where a few people are annoyed by the introduction but lack of exploration of Auric, but I actually think it makes sense. How many second years actually interacted with the OG crew outside of Dain in Fourth Wing? I liked the Fliers joining the party and actually thought that Cat's introduction helped Violet as a character.

I saw the end coming, mostly bc...well there's still a bunch of unanswered plot to get to, and this allows a deeper dive into the ancient history of the world Yarros has built. Also, y'all the series is called Empyrean and we haven't even met that crew yet. Pretty sure we're going to by the end of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Grief, Violence, War, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, and Gaslighting

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

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

aileron's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, and Kidnapping

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

passionatereader78's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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: Body shaming, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Murder, War, Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexual content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Grief, Emotional abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Kidnapping

keya_caivalur's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Xenophobia, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, and Gore

Minor: Addiction

katierosecrane's review against another edition

adventurous 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

There were aspects of the book that were harder to follow in the fantasy world (not a fantasy reader). I think she did the beginning of the book well and the second part of the book was good too. The ending is amazing. There is just a small section that I couldn't really imagine well, but I love this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Violence, and War

I thought the first portion of the book was a good transition into Iron Flame. The middle portion was slower, don't get we wrong there are some good sections in there but for me that was the hardest part of the book for me to get through. The ending though. I first off don't think it is quite as a surprise as most, however it is still a good cliff hanger. For me though I have high hopes that everything will work out in the third book and pretty fast too. SPOILER: Theories -I think Violets mom is venin and became venin while she was pregnant with Violet -She stresses the point about doing anything for her kids so maybe she was protecting Brennan or Mira and had to get more power by becoming vernin. -Violet is part vernin because it is passed from bloodlines, meaning her siblings wouldn't be affected by because assuming their father doesn't have it in the blood, their mother wouldn't have had it when she was pregnant with them. -More people are venin than you think, a lot. I think of being venin like a disease. Like cancer infecting tons but affecting the mind with something like dementia but evil. This is just the start of venin spreading. -Xaden's family has always been venin and it can be passed through blood lines. -Violet's dad may not be Violet's biological father.

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