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Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Genocide, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Classism
Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol
I love this world and I love these characters. All of them. Even the villains... they are perfect, cruel, merciless...
The only reason this read isn't 5 stars is because the book has a lot of unnecessary stuff. The beginning is slow (but it was the same with 'Fourth Wing') but then the story gains the right momentum. I feel this book is unnecessary long: if they just talked - they share a mental bond, GOD, just mentally talk or whatever - many of the problems would be solved; and I think that are a lot of little details that were left without explanation.
But I don't want to judge too much, maybe all the explanations are in the next book! Yes, because after this ending I expect perfection for the third book. Everything MUST be ok.
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent
Minor: Abandonment
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Medical content, Alcohol
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, War
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, Colonisation
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol
The plot is packed, which was one of the book’s — and story’s — downfalls. It felt like too much was trying to be crammed into one book. The story would have benefitted from most (if not all) of the plot points and characters being more fleshed out.
As a side note, it feels like more effort was made in the first book to have an actively diverse cast of characters. There also wasn’t as much character development in this book, which is something the first one already lacked quite a bit. That being said, I loved seeing all of the characters, especially Violet, trust and rely on each other more and become a really solid unit.
All in all, the book was enjoyable with fantastic twists and turns. I loved the stronger focus on politics and war strategy, as well as the found family within the Iron Squad and its newcomers. It just seems like fast pacing is what’s being aimed for with this series to its own detriment. Even more so than Fourth Wing, Iron Flame feels too rushed, like developing both plot and character were sacrificed in favour of fitting as much in as possible. Which is bonkers, considering the book is 600+ pages long. The premise, world building, characters, and story are all so interesting and promising — I can only imagine how incredible this series would read if it were given the space to do so, with an author / editor / publishing house team that were willing to spend more time and care on it rather than prioritising churning the sequel out so quickly. Or maybe Rebecca Yarros just always writes this way.
But gosh darn did she get me and I read it in 13 hours, unable to put it down for long. So, I’m boo boo the fool.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Grief
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Torture, War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent
That said, it's not a bad read/listen. There are quite a few moments that are fairly predictable but just enough twists to keep you guessing. I did feel quite a bit of emotion at the end so kudos to the author/narrator for being able to immerse the reader in such a tear-jerking scene.
I also feel like this book could have been split into two, because the amount of information that is in both "parts" can get hard to keep up with after so long. The twist at the last two chapters had me gasping. Now, I must suffer the wait.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, 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, War
Minor: Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail