Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Iron Flame - Flammengeküsst by Rebecca Yarros

39 reviews

e_emmaa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

prettylightsandcitynights's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death

Minor: Abandonment

the_rabble's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

CW fantasy drama with theater kid delivery. If that's not your flavor, read don't listen. I find the pacing of the audiobook narrator's action sequences really distracting (has onstage monologue energy which keeps everything at an 11 and can be more anxiety producing than emotionally impactful) but still enjoy the story and writing style.

Has an excellent sex scene involving a

throne- 10/10 very cunning linguists.

Back half of the book moves, but first half is very masc-Dolores Umbridge, but with an unrepentant murder college instead of a whimsical murder boarding school.

You may want to wait for the entire series to be out.

There's enough of a cliffhanger/hook at the end to be impatient about having to wait.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Abandonment

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I really liked "Fourth Wing", I gave it 4.75/5. It was such a fun book, but I wasn't utterly obsessed with it like everyone else was. However, it held some intrigue for me so I decided to read the second book. I heard from a lot of people that this book was a let down so I was fearful when getting into it, but as I was reading it I was eating it up. I didn't understand how people weren't liking this book cuz I was enjoying myself UNTIL I got to Part 2 then things just went downhill from there. I feel there was just an overwhelming amount of information dumping that became too overwhelming and convoluted. Too many new phrases. Too many locations to keep track of. Wayyyyyyy too many new characters and pointless scenes. The chapter felt so inconclusive. Like there would be an issue or a scene that should've been fleshed out more, but then is completely taken care of in the next chapter. The conflict between Xaden and Violet dragged out for wayyyy too long. Xaden would be so wishy-washy; he'd want to communicate but then also hoard secrets from Violet, but oh my gosh Violet would make me scream sometimes because when it came to Xaden she legit loses all her agency and becomes so head over heels that she loses her common sense

Her taking an eight-hour flight to Samara just to see him even though he was fine. And sometimes it's like time-and-place with these two cuz literally after Violet almost kills Cat, Xaden eats her out in the throne room where the Assembly just had their meeting. Like c'mon guys!

. It was cute at first, but then after a while, it just annoyed me. I wanted to scream at Violet like "girl, GET UP off your knees!". I also want to note that WE WERE ROBBED by not getting those letters. I feel like they would've given their relationship more emotional passion, you know considering toward the end he's still not really open with her. Their romance in this book just seemed underwhelming, to say the least.

There were plot points that were given that were backtracked and never really brought up again

Like I still don't understand Varrish's purpose. I thought he was going to be a constant threat throughout the story and then he just gets killed in the first half? I wasn't expecting his character to have depth or anything, but I did want to know more about why he was there. I think that was supposed to be inferred when it should've been told.

. Contradicting scenes used for drama

We're indirectly told by Bodhi at the beginning that Xaden had a big thing for a girl named "Cat". And instead of Violet bringing it up right away we don't explore this until later in the book. We're told that Xaden possesses no feelings towards Cat at all and that their relationship was an arranged marriage. Which is so stupid to me because then why have that scene with Bodhi basically inferring that Cat was Xaden's first love? And honestly having that would've made more sense actually cuz Violet and Cat were fighting FOR WHAT exactly. It was all so stupid.

.

Honestly close to the 500-page mark I started to not care cuz I was so confused as to what was happening and just the general politics of what was going on. Of course, my own comprehension skills play a part in this, but I also feel like she didn't explain a lot of things well. And I'd like to add that I don't writing battle/fighting scenes is the author's strong suit. Maybe it's just me but I found it difficult to imagine her descriptions a lot of the time. I also felt like a lot of important questions went unanswered. 

Sill unsure why Xaden HAD to become venin to save Violet? The dreams were too cryptic to really get anything out of them. I still don't understand how venin exists in the first place. That might've been explained in book 1, I don't know. And I wish they delved into how the wardstones are powered because how was their mother able to do it or how was Brennan just able to power it? Also, Andrana not being punished for killing Solas is a little too convenient for me. I hope we get more answers on the species of dragon she is. I need answers. Also, I hope we get more insight into the history of Basigath because the contrast between how the gyrphon fliers and the dragon riders operate is interesting. It makes no sense how this war college would casually let their students get killed.

 

I'm glad Dain got his redemption. I'm not his no.1 fan or anything, but I do feel like he's over-hated.

I was also going to rate this book a 3.5/5, but I really enjoyed the final scenes of the book. I know for most of my review I've pointed out so many negatives about this book, but I do think this was a decent sequel. I did enjoy seeing Violet's inner turmoil when it came to her friends, Tairn and Andarna are always a delight, and Ridoc is just so funny (hope we get more of him).  I feel like the author was just put under a lot of pressure to produce a second book due to the overwhelming success the first book got. I hope she's able to take her time with the series continuing forward. Hopefully, the third book can answer some of the unanswered questions and redeem the series.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment and Colonisation

violetrage's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.5

I know this is a romantasy, but I wanted more dragons and less relationship drama and sex. The angst and sex is reeeeally over the top. I started skipping it about halfway through. I’ll likely read the next book when it’s released, but by the end of this book the story was losing me. 

Dragons - 5 stars
Plot - 3 stars
Characters - 2.5 stars
Sexual Endurance - 5 star but staaaawp already

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

the_true_monroe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment

lizziaha's review against another edition

2.75

I think that this book was ultimately just too formulaic. I felt like I was just rereading the first book. Yarros even tried to replicate the whole enemies to lovers vibe, which was annoying given that the characters were already lovers. On that note, Violet just annoyed me in this one. Many of her choices seemed to exist only to drive the plot, rather than because of her characterization. Despite the lack of growth for Violet and Xaden, I did love to see some of the other characters really grow into their own in this book. Some of them truly took me by surprise. I wish Yarros had focused a little more on other characters instead of rehashing the same things over and over again in Violet’s head. And speaking of rehashing—there were a few too many action scenes in this for me. It felt repetitive and made the book drag out for longer than it needed to be. And despite the high stakes, I didn’t feel the tension that they deserve. Violet never really fails at anything, and it starts to feel too easy at a certain point. The series definitely has interesting worldbuilding and concepts but I don’t think it’s executed as well as it could be. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Kidnapping and Abandonment

lakinglaze's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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’m so impressed with this follow-up in the Empyrean series! The action, the reveals, the break-neck pace, the joys, the shocks — just all of it!! I love these characters so much and I can’t wait to see what happens next. I just want happiness and love for my shadow boy Xaden! I hope that’s not too much to ask Rebecca…

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail