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jamiemiller's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
anotheraudrey's review against another edition
2.0
too much arguing, not enough explaining or world building. but also, too long? too much angst in the relationships between everyone with NO communication?
also, not nearly enough dragons this time. i spent way too many hours listening to this.
also, not nearly enough dragons this time. i spent way too many hours listening to this.
gretchlikestoread's review against another edition
3.0
3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved Fourth Wing so much but I was a bit let down by Iron Flame.
What I loved:
- the plot itself is incredible
- I love the Violet/Xaden relationship
- Rebecca Yarros still manages to pull plot twists that have me freaking out
What I didn’t love:
- there was a lot of the “oh shit/fuck” to describe how Violet’s feeling and it just feels like lazy writing to me. It’s on every other page. We get it.
- half the time I had no idea what was going on. A lot of characters/places pulled out that was maybe mentioned once and it was just exhausting.
So yeah, I didn’t love this one but will I be reading the next one? Absolutely!
I loved Fourth Wing so much but I was a bit let down by Iron Flame.
What I loved:
- the plot itself is incredible
- I love the Violet/Xaden relationship
- Rebecca Yarros still manages to pull plot twists that have me freaking out
What I didn’t love:
- there was a lot of the “oh shit/fuck” to describe how Violet’s feeling and it just feels like lazy writing to me. It’s on every other page. We get it.
- half the time I had no idea what was going on. A lot of characters/places pulled out that was maybe mentioned once and it was just exhausting.
So yeah, I didn’t love this one but will I be reading the next one? Absolutely!
califrey99's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This needed to be two books.
lthintz's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
weird_momma1994's review against another edition
5.0
Such an amazing sequel to Fourth Wing! More spice, more action for sure, and the fact that some mystery and problem solving was way more involved in this one! “Chefs kiss” Great writing!! Reading through this book had me feeling all the emotions, shedding actual tears, and even my little giggles at the sarcasm!! A definite favorite for the year for me!
forceofjuli's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
bluegamora's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked the overall story and loved the final plot twist, but ngl, this book was a pain to go through and felt never ending at times.
Pros:
- The story arc with the wards, I really liked the whole process.
- I didn't mind that Xaden and Violet were kept apart in the beginning. It created some good tension up to the moments when they were together again. I just wished that more was done with that built up tension.
- Dain's redemption, I think it could've got a little more predominance in the book.
- Good action scenes
- Loved the dragons
- The torture part was well done
- That final plot twist was chef's kiss. The last chapters of the book, since the conversation with Andarna, were what redeemed it for me, for the problems it has.
Cons:
- On my e-reader, it was 1080 pages. On Goodreads it says the book is 600-ish pages. It actually felt more like 1200 pages. This book could've been 2. Given that I couldn't put down the first book, I was surprised when I found myself hesitating on picking this one up sometimes.
- Alternately, instead of being split in 2 books, it could've been stripped of a lot of plot. There was just too much in it. I was reading some reviews right after I finished the book and realized I had already forgotten multiple scenes of the first part, because there was too much happening in the book.
- I may be wrong, but I feel that the author tried to explore a lot of angles at the same time and failed on a lot of them because she only scratched the surface of it. Examples: trying to show the union of the 3 siblings, the whole "my squad is my family", the collaboration between riders and fliers, and regaining the friendship with Dain.
- Cat's subplot should've either been more fleshed out or kept out of the book. As it is, it's weak. And the way Cat's attitude towards Violet did a 180 was really unfulfilling.
- The whole part about fetching the luminary was dispensable for me. It could've been a paragraph about how the Assembly negotiated with the Viscount that they would teach the fliers in exchange for a luminary and save me an hour of reading a pointless part of the book.
- There was a lot of things that were not explained at all, or just badly explained. I didn't understand Xaden's signet fully, and the small part that was explained did not seem consistent with the scenes where he used it in the first book. And why did they need 100 riders or weeks to power the stone but then just one rider in minutes was enough in the end?
- Don't even get me started on the communication issues between Xaden and Violet. It got very annoying and repetitive. The whole "I will tell you everything, you just need to ask" is ridiculous, and if Violet was as smart as she supposedly is and really wanted to check his honesty, the first question would've been: "what's your deepest darkest secret?"
- The way Xaden completely disregards every life on Aretia to do whatever Violet wants every time... I hate it, it's like he no longer has any purpose besides loving her. Major turn off.
In the end, I can say that I mainly enjoyed the book and the ending was good enough for me to give it 4 stars, but I will not be rereading this book and probably will not be as excited to read the next.
Pros:
- The story arc with the wards, I really liked the whole process.
- I didn't mind that Xaden and Violet were kept apart in the beginning. It created some good tension up to the moments when they were together again. I just wished that more was done with that built up tension.
- Dain's redemption, I think it could've got a little more predominance in the book.
- Good action scenes
- Loved the dragons
- The torture part was well done
- That final plot twist was chef's kiss. The last chapters of the book, since the conversation with Andarna, were what redeemed it for me, for the problems it has.
Cons:
- On my e-reader, it was 1080 pages. On Goodreads it says the book is 600-ish pages. It actually felt more like 1200 pages. This book could've been 2. Given that I couldn't put down the first book, I was surprised when I found myself hesitating on picking this one up sometimes.
- Alternately, instead of being split in 2 books, it could've been stripped of a lot of plot. There was just too much in it. I was reading some reviews right after I finished the book and realized I had already forgotten multiple scenes of the first part, because there was too much happening in the book.
- I may be wrong, but I feel that the author tried to explore a lot of angles at the same time and failed on a lot of them because she only scratched the surface of it. Examples: trying to show the union of the 3 siblings, the whole "my squad is my family", the collaboration between riders and fliers, and regaining the friendship with Dain.
- Cat's subplot should've either been more fleshed out or kept out of the book. As it is, it's weak. And the way Cat's attitude towards Violet did a 180 was really unfulfilling.
- The whole part about fetching the luminary was dispensable for me. It could've been a paragraph about how the Assembly negotiated with the Viscount that they would teach the fliers in exchange for a luminary and save me an hour of reading a pointless part of the book.
- There was a lot of things that were not explained at all, or just badly explained. I didn't understand Xaden's signet fully, and the small part that was explained did not seem consistent with the scenes where he used it in the first book. And why did they need 100 riders or weeks to power the stone but then just one rider in minutes was enough in the end?
- Don't even get me started on the communication issues between Xaden and Violet. It got very annoying and repetitive. The whole "I will tell you everything, you just need to ask" is ridiculous, and if Violet was as smart as she supposedly is and really wanted to check his honesty, the first question would've been: "what's your deepest darkest secret?"
- The way Xaden completely disregards every life on Aretia to do whatever Violet wants every time... I hate it, it's like he no longer has any purpose besides loving her. Major turn off.
In the end, I can say that I mainly enjoyed the book and the ending was good enough for me to give it 4 stars, but I will not be rereading this book and probably will not be as excited to read the next.
natasa_cirstea's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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? No
4.5