Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

54 reviews

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

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Content Warnings

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

barda's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

1.75

I wasn't the biggest fan of the first book, but this one is even worse.

The one positive is that I still do like the dragons, and find them to be much more compelling than any of the human characters. However, they're still not very fleshed out (especially Adarna), and I genuinely can't tell if that's because the author is trying to create an air of mystery about them that will be solved in later books, or if she's having trouble figuring out dragon culture and characterisation.

I feel that encompasses the main flaw of this book - that the author is making everything up as she goes along. This would explain the paper-thin worldbuilding (with country names and towns being thrown around without any context), inconsistent use of magic (where did all of this rune magic come from????), and exceedingly silly plot twists (the whole

Jack coming back to life

plot made no sense in-universe). 

I also felt like I didn't care about the characters. She kills off a lot of characters, which normally would be fine (and if done properly, like in A Song of Ice and Fire, can make a book feel more compelling and thrilling), but I didn't feel any emotional connection to any of the characters killed off (and apart from Liam, it seems like Violet didn't either). The romance between Violet and Xaden is also very mediocre, with lots of unnecessary drama created between them just from a lack of communication. 

I rated the first book a higher rating as, even though it had the same problems as this one, it was more entertaining; I found this book to be 200 pages too long, with a lot of it dragging in the middle. 

In short, it's just not very good, even with the dragons. I would happily just take a book about the dragons and forget about all the human characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: War, Blood, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Cursing, Confinement, Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Vomit

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 

Series: The Empyrean #2 

Author: Rebecca Yarros 

Genre: New Adult Fantasy
 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. 

2. I like Dragons. 
 
 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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, War, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit

vivivi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ohhhhhh things keep happening ahhhh 

It's one thing after another! People are dropping like flies! 

Really hard to put down. 

Finally able to catch my breath at the halfway mark. 

And somehow we manage to come back to a school setting, which I love. 

Things are looking bleak. I'm in the final 2 hours of the audiobook. Anything can happen. Anyone might die. Ahhh 

Holy cow that ending. Two cliff hangers in a row!! Amazing. Love it. Also, I need the next book. 

Are reviews supposed to make sense? I can't make any sense at the moment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, War, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Death, Confinement, Vomit, Violence, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Kidnapping

katvou'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Gore, Medical content, War, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Body horror, Drug use, and Bullying

Minor: Suicide attempt, Excrement, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Self harm

micaelamariem's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

While not as good as Fourth Wing, I still enjoyed this book! It still sucked me into this fantasy world which is the escapism I’m always looking for. I love the dragons and the revolutions. I hate the jealousy trope though as well as the miscommunication trope and this was chock full of it. I am hoping that part of the relationship is all resolved and won’t have to be revisited in the rest of the series. I love Andarna so much. And the whole fourth wing second squad flame section. A lot of my theories were wrong but I’m looking forward to seeing where the books will go. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Colonisation, Confinement, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Torture, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, Violence, and Vomit

taryn_g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, War, Murder, Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit

maggies's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

Where Fourth Wing set up the world and characters of the series, Iron Flame significantly expanded these. Like, doubled+. Wish we'd had a character list to reference, including

gryphons and fliers

because your girl was lost. I still don't know/remember who half the dragons and their riders are! I've rated Iron Flame lower than Fourth Wing because there were small plot moments I didn't like, but overall, I think (hope) that it'll be a good bridge to the rest of the series. There are so many places it can go now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Confinement, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Grief, Vomit, War, Murder, Gore, Gaslighting, and Ableism

knunderb's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Violet was really annoying and really stupid for someone who is supposed to be a genius in this book. <Spoiler> And, I don't think that Xaden's choice at the end aligns well with his character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Vomit

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Cursing, War, Blood, Murder, and Violence