Scan barcode
princessrory's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, and Gaslighting
bringmybooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
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
5.0
✨ 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 ✨ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷
Look, I haven't felt the way I feel about this fantasy series since my heyday of fantasy, aka 15-20 years ago. Are these books <b>the best</b> books ever written? No, of course not. I, for one, have never tried to say that they were. BUT AS I HAVE SAID RE: FOURTH WING, THEY ARE FREAKING FUN.
And I love reading them! I love the story (yes, even the parts that make no sense to me or that I have to reread numerous times to make sure I've got it all down). I love the characters. I LOVE THE DRAGONS. The sexy times are v sexy, the tense times are v tense, the danger times are v danger.
It's. Just. Freaking. Fun.
And I can't wait for the next one.
Look, I haven't felt the way I feel about this fantasy series since my heyday of fantasy, aka 15-20 years ago. Are these books <b>the best</b> books ever written? No, of course not. I, for one, have never tried to say that they were. BUT AS I HAVE SAID RE: FOURTH WING, THEY ARE FREAKING FUN.
And I love reading them! I love the story (yes, even the parts that make no sense to me or that I have to reread numerous times to make sure I've got it all down). I love the characters. I LOVE THE DRAGONS. The sexy times are v sexy, the tense times are v tense, the danger times are v danger.
It's. Just. Freaking. Fun.
And I can't wait for the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, 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
mermaidswithcoffee's review against another edition
Because the authors violent colonial world view became really obvious both by being the second book in the series and the timing of the release of the book with the Palestinian holocaust.
It’s violent in a really colonized way, with unnecessary death and weird justifications. It reads like kids playing at war as if that’s a good and necessary thing. As if children need to be violent and awful to survive a mysterious eastern other. When the truth is THEY are the monster their parents created and the “other” are just trying to live, not kill them. It was present in the first book but I didn’t catch it, now it screams colonization and I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.
One example: She literally goes into detail about how these children soldiers make sure to dye their hair while hiding out at a traitor compound while they are supposed to be doing war games. Aren’t the teachers suspicious when they come back with freshly died hair when they were supposed to be barely surviving and on dragons? How did they find pink hair dye at the hidden revolutionary compound?!!! It just screams “girl boss”. “Isn’t it so cool that they have cool hair while murdering people?!!”
Another example which finally got me to DNF, which I hate doing, was when Violet justified the killing of her classmates. Said it was necessary to prepare her. With the ongoing genocide of Palestine it made me sick. Thinking of what lies and justifications the US and other white dominate countries have for why they have to bomb civilians.
There are way more problems, like her disability, the main reason I read this book in the first place. Just like everything else her disability is appropriated and rings so shallow. I have a literal connective tissue disease like Violet but I can tell you the representation is not real. I was so excited to see it and so disappointed to see that just like revolution in this book, it’s a stolen poor imitation of it.
I recommend the 5th season if you want world building and actual revolution not just the aesthetic of revolution.
It’s violent in a really colonized way, with unnecessary death and weird justifications. It reads like kids playing at war as if that’s a good and necessary thing. As if children need to be violent and awful to survive a mysterious eastern other. When the truth is THEY are the monster their parents created and the “other” are just trying to live, not kill them. It was present in the first book but I didn’t catch it, now it screams colonization and I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.
One example: She literally goes into detail about how these children soldiers make sure to dye their hair while hiding out at a traitor compound while they are supposed to be doing war games. Aren’t the teachers suspicious when they come back with freshly died hair when they were supposed to be barely surviving and on dragons? How did they find pink hair dye at the hidden revolutionary compound?!!! It just screams “girl boss”. “Isn’t it so cool that they have cool hair while murdering people?!!”
Another example which finally got me to DNF, which I hate doing, was when Violet justified the killing of her classmates. Said it was necessary to prepare her. With the ongoing genocide of Palestine it made me sick. Thinking of what lies and justifications the US and other white dominate countries have for why they have to bomb civilians.
There are way more problems, like her disability, the main reason I read this book in the first place. Just like everything else her disability is appropriated and rings so shallow. I have a literal connective tissue disease like Violet but I can tell you the representation is not real. I was so excited to see it and so disappointed to see that just like revolution in this book, it’s a stolen poor imitation of it.
I recommend the 5th season if you want world building and actual revolution not just the aesthetic of revolution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Slavery, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War
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
beasneaz's review against another edition
Not finishing this book was for a handful of reasons.
1. The plot didn’t engage me in same way that the first book did. I feel like this book does not need to be as long as it is, and the plot, up to the point where I stopped could be written in a more engaging way.
2. Rebecca Yarros co-opted the Gaelic language without doing proper research or paying homage to the language and culture she was using. This wouldn’t be okay if it was a more commonly spoken language, so she should not get a pass for a “more obscure” language such as Gaelic. She is not the only author guilty of this, but once I became aware of the issue it became too difficult for me ignore.
1. The plot didn’t engage me in same way that the first book did. I feel like this book does not need to be as long as it is, and the plot, up to the point where I stopped could be written in a more engaging way.
2. Rebecca Yarros co-opted the Gaelic language without doing proper research or paying homage to the language and culture she was using. This wouldn’t be okay if it was a more commonly spoken language, so she should not get a pass for a “more obscure” language such as Gaelic. She is not the only author guilty of this, but once I became aware of the issue it became too difficult for me ignore.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
spootilious's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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? No
1.5
Read: November 29, 2023
Title: Iron Flame
Title: Iron Flame
Series: The Empyrean #2
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Rating: 1.5 / 5
Review:
Rating: 1.5 / 5
Review:
Let me start by saying, I’ve been trying…. SO HARD… to like this book and I just… Can’t.
I didn’t care much for the first either, but I’ve been hoping that the series will redeem itself… so far that has not happened.
Did I enjoy reading the book? I suppose so. Is the book good? Absolutely not.
There are two issues more than anything that stand out before I simply provide a list of what I liked and did not like about the book: 1. Yarros seriously needs to find an editor the writing is just terrible! And 2. There is ZERO originality in the series.
Okay… Onto the list of this I liked:
1. The story concept is a good one. And if another author (a skilled one) had written this story I’m sure I would have LOVED it.
1. The story concept is a good one. And if another author (a skilled one) had written this story I’m sure I would have LOVED it.
2. I like Dragons.
Onto the list of things I didn’t like:
Onto the list of things I didn’t like:
1. I don’t think Yarros understand that in order to build the climax of a story you have to have a consistent baseline that is lower than the climax itself. If the punches never stop then the ‘final blow’ won’t feel any different than the first 100 jabs. There is absolutely zero downtime between ‘big’ events throughout this book and thus the ending (and everything really) wasn’t memorable in the least. Yarros didn’t get herself space to build on when she set the base line on the same level as the climax of the book. Honestly, I’ve never read an author who wasn’t self aware enough (or skilled enough… whatever the case may be) to realize this and it’s EXTREMELY disappointing.
2. Almost all the characters (minus a small handful) weren’t memberable and very flat. I can’t even remember all of Violet’s squad members… I might be able to name… 3? And that’s after the merge. All the characters are 1 dimensional and unremarkable… Too many names not enough characters.
3. As mentioned in the things that I liked, the story is good. Which is a problem because Yarros isn’t. It makes the story disproportionate to the author’s skill level. Which is nothing against Yarros, no one starts off skilled, but when your story is better than your abilities it causes problems.
4. This, like Fourth Wing, felt like a young adult novel wanting to be adult by adding sex and violence. Not a good mix.
5. The main character is EXTREMELY hypocritical, expecting so much from so many people when she does the same exact things with no consequences.
6. There is no real character development for any of the main characters.
7. Violet once again gets away with EVERYTHING with practically no consequences, and conveniently finds the solution to all their problems every time just in time. (superman syndrome) Which is amusing considering this isn’t a ‘chosen one’ series.
8. The pacing is TERRIBLE. Which goes back to the whole jab jab punch thing. All jabs… no punches.
9. Every female character in this series are defined by male characters, with the exception of maybe 2 (Mira and Ri which are in the background).
10. Yarros keeps telling the reader how smart and strong and unique violet is but violets actions never really show it. She always has to be saved or comes to these big epiphanies when guided but not on her own. She doesn’t stand out.
11. Toxic relationship(s) on both (and every) side
12. So repetitive both in dialog and plot points.
13. The hole book felt like a scramble to try and fill in every plot hole found in book 1 while ignoring all the ones in book 2. Which means book 3 will probably be the same.
14. Honestly the entire novel felt like a regurgitated version of Twilight but with Dragons.
15. Which brings us back to the first issue of being completely unoriginal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Death, Gore, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Addiction
vaguely_pink's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
5.0
Fourth Wing was mid at best for me, so color me shocked when I absolutely could not put down this book and realized that this was good.
(It's worth noting at the beginning here that this book needs a heavy trigger warning for torture, so if that's the only part of this review you read ((as if anyone reads my reviews )), I'll be okay.)
A lot of the issues I had with Fourth Wing were nonexistent here. Violet is no longer info dumping all the time. The world has been built in book one (no matter how lazily), so the lore we get here is well crafted and executed. It sort of felt like Fourth Wing was just the book she had to write so Iron Flame made sense.
The character writing is also much improved in book two. Particularly when it comes to Violet and Xaden's relationship. (Although I will never forgive Ms. Yarros for naming him Xaden.) This genre has so many male love interests that are too perfect and exist only to teach the FMC something about herself (Manic Pixie Dream Bat Boys™), but Xaden is flawed as hell. They fight and I can't take anyone's side because they're both wrong and toxic as hell sometimes. They both have major character growth throughout the book, and we love to see it.
The more minor characters are much more enjoyable too. In Fourth Wing I could barely keep everyone straight in my head, so it was hard to appreciate the found family banter. In Iron Flame, it's all there and wonderful. Would die for Ridoc.
And of course we love to see this kind of disability representation. And not only EDS, but some great PTSD portrayals in there too. As a neurodivergent disabled girlie, there was lots to warm my cold heart. And all the great family drama in there too. Juicy.
This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. While I could predict every single twist to Fourth Wing, I had no idea what was coming next in Iron Flame. I still maintain that the Empyrean series so far is nothing revolutionary. Despite what the blurb on the cover says, this is exactly like every fantasy you've ever read. But damn if this Divergent/Eragon/wizard-books-that-shall-not-be-named mash up isn't fucking fun. Very excited for the next installment.
(It's worth noting at the beginning here that this book needs a heavy trigger warning for torture, so if that's the only part of this review you read ((as if anyone reads my reviews )), I'll be okay.)
A lot of the issues I had with Fourth Wing were nonexistent here. Violet is no longer info dumping all the time. The world has been built in book one (no matter how lazily), so the lore we get here is well crafted and executed. It sort of felt like Fourth Wing was just the book she had to write so Iron Flame made sense.
The character writing is also much improved in book two. Particularly when it comes to Violet and Xaden's relationship. (Although I will never forgive Ms. Yarros for naming him Xaden.) This genre has so many male love interests that are too perfect and exist only to teach the FMC something about herself (Manic Pixie Dream Bat Boys™), but Xaden is flawed as hell. They fight and I can't take anyone's side because they're both wrong and toxic as hell sometimes. They both have major character growth throughout the book, and we love to see it.
The more minor characters are much more enjoyable too. In Fourth Wing I could barely keep everyone straight in my head, so it was hard to appreciate the found family banter. In Iron Flame, it's all there and wonderful. Would die for Ridoc.
And of course we love to see this kind of disability representation. And not only EDS, but some great PTSD portrayals in there too. As a neurodivergent disabled girlie, there was lots to warm my cold heart. And all the great family drama in there too. Juicy.
This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. While I could predict every single twist to Fourth Wing, I had no idea what was coming next in Iron Flame. I still maintain that the Empyrean series so far is nothing revolutionary. Despite what the blurb on the cover says, this is exactly like every fantasy you've ever read. But damn if this Divergent/Eragon/wizard-books-that-shall-not-be-named mash up isn't fucking fun. Very excited for the next installment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol