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kimveach's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, War, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Death of parent, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Body shaming, Forced institutionalization, Death, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
anne_reader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Cursing, Death, Grief, Gore, War, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Blood, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Medical trauma
marissa_nancy_nicole's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Animal death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Murder, Torture, Violence, Chronic illness, and Death
Moderate: Gore, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
fuchsiarascal's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Let's start off with one good: the diversity of characters. While I genuinely don't recall characters of color being described other than a couple times (but admittedly, physical character descriptions tend to not stick in my mind, yay face blindness! it's not just for real life!), which is something that I'd love to see improved upon, we have nice representation of different sexual and gender identities. Same-sex relationships are treated just as equal as heterosexual relationships (at least as far as we see in the college; we don't know marital laws in Navarre but one can assume), and we've had a couple mentions of non-binary cadets between Fourth Wing and this book. They're never explicitly stated as, "Hey, look at this non-binary person!" but Yarros effortlessly includes gender neutral pronouns while talking about them. But, of course, I'd love to see more of these characters (they're fairly background characters in Violet's squad), maybe in the next book?
Now, one bad. I very much disliked Violet for most of the book -- the "conflict" standing between her and Xaden having a happy relationship was so immature and forced. Big deal, he didn't tell you about a super secret rebellion that would cost him his life, and at least 107 other people's lives, if people found out. It wasn't his secret to share, and for her to hold that against him was so infuriating. I could have been spared at least 107 pages of this contrived "will they-won't they" angst. Definitely my least favorite part of the book. (I understand now why reviewers focused on the romance were disappointed with this.) If Yarros wanted to include some conflict to keep them from having a perfectly happy relationship from the start, that's fair! But the way it happened was just... immature and frustrating to read.
However, I loved the actual story line that had to do with the rebellion. I didn't expect things to happen so quickly when they finally did around the middle of the book
I loved the friendships with Rhiannon, Jesinia, and Imogen, although I disliked that Imogen falls to the wayside unfortunately about halfway through. I would have LOVED to see their friendship develop further. Although we see Imogen's respect and like of Violet grow throughout the book, the friendship all but disappears once Rhiannon is brought into the fold. Maybe Yarros should spend less time writing about Violet's immaturity with Xaden and focus more pages on developing these friendships further. (I also would have loved to see more time with Sloane and Cat.) Also, it's kind of weird that Rhiannon has been such a central figure and Violet's best friend for two books, but we know absolutely nothing about her girlfriend other than her name? I know, different squad and all, but... I feel like we should actually have some scenes with her. I guess what I'm saying is, more attention to the women, please. <3
Andarna was one of my favorite parts of the book, which is a shame that she spent most of it gone. It was kind of like Yarros didn't know how to work her into half the book so she was just like, "idk, she's sleeping" until she became an important plot device. Still, I love Andarna despite that.
So, obviously I had some issues with the 4 of the writing, but I really did enjoy the plot and all the twists that they had to navigate. I couldn't put this down and accidentally stayed up until 8am reading it the night I got it, oops!
Graphic: Blood, Forced institutionalization, War, Torture, Gore, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death
Minor: Alcohol
rachelwiththelonglegs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Also I was recovering from surgery when I started the book and there was a ton of emphasis on detailed injuries
First book was better but I hated this ending. I’m so mad but overall enjoyed the journey. Will still read the third book!
Graphic: War and Torture
Moderate: Sexual content, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Blood, Genocide, Chronic illness, Murder, and Medical trauma
barbarianmissy's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Apparently a lot of people are hating on it??? I don’t know man, i still love it. Is some of the dialogue a smidge cringey? Yes. Do I absolutely love reading cringe? Of course I do cause it makes me GIGGLE! I do know it’s not for everyone, but I lived for it.
Overall, I thought the story in Iron Flame was super fun and the world building for the series as a whole is great. The battles scenes are spectacular (somehow in Iron Flame I found them even better than the last book???? And I thought the final battle in Fourth Wing was chefs kiss) and the TENSION! YEESH! So much tension going on at all times!
The ending… ugh.
Wowee man, overall this book was super stressful in a really really good way. Dragons are cool. 😎
Moderate: Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, Blood, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Cursing, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
mels_reading_log's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, War, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence
arf27's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Torture, War, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, and Sexual content
potalian's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Medical trauma, Torture, Sexual content, Medical content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Murder, Confinement, Blood, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, and Death of parent
sandonat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
- Better than the first
- Some good moments but some slow moments
Graphic: War, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Grief, Death, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail