Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

292 reviews

kellyofcali's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first one, but I still sped through it and I enjoyed being back in the world! I did think it lost something especially in the main characters' relationship - the dialogue felt unlike them and it was all a bit forced. It felt a bit crowded as well, but I did especially enjoy the end action sequence!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

cakrolik's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

eleek0609's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and War

filipa_maia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

What was this book? I feel like I was hit by a high speed dragon after finishing it.

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment

avacyn731's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

monsarona's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyable ride overall, even if it did drag a tiny bit. It definitely feels more unique as a story to the first book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

emmanem_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Violence, Grief, and War

amy_in_the_city's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

This book was such a slog to get through. It was like a third-act breakup stretched across hundreds of pages because Violet and Xaden spent most of the book fighting. They were hardly ever together and when they were, they were having the same argument over and over. It was extremely tiresome, and I felt this romance novel was missing the romance. A lot of their issues seemed very contrived, like Violet was just looking for things to be mad or insecure about. She makes a whole issue about Xaden not saying he loves her, only that he's fallen for her. What does she think "fallen for" means exactly? I understand she was still upset with him for not telling her some big secrets in the first book, but I think it was way overblown and drawn out. It was also a bit hypocritical of her to be upset at Xaden for not telling her all the super-secret mission details while she was also not telling everything to her loved ones and was going behind Xaden's back on her own mission. All of the internal conflict was exhausting, and I kind of just wanted them to break up already so I wouldn't have to read about it anymore.

I also really didn't like that they had Violet and Xaden's ex fighting over him. It was childish, and I'm just done with books pitting women against each other because of some guy. 

Xaden was just kind of there, without much personality. All of the side characters were also lacking development. I couldn't remember much about the friends and professors from the first book despite reading it only 4 months ago and was always mixing the characters up in my mind, but it didn't matter much as they weren't very present in this book. 

I did like the non-relationship parts of the book, for the most part. I thought learning about the wards and more about Andarna were both interesting, as was the final part of the book. Even during the really exciting plot stuff happening, I was still easily able to put the book down and not feel the need to pick it up again for another day or two.

Just when I thought I was ready to give up on this series, that cliffhanger ending happened. I might give the next book a chance, but I'm really not interested in reading 3 more long books if they're like this one.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism and Animal death

lynx9010's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad 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

4.5

Absolutely loved it book. Only issue I had was

Violets constant complaining about trust every other page

it got annoying after while until it was resolved closer to the end of the book. But still it was worth the read.

I absolutely cried when Liam came back during the interrogation/torture scene. I cried in Fourth Wing when he died and then now his ghost is here helping Violet.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

grosemareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.75

This book is huge, and moves slower than fourth wing, but it’s just as dense if not more so. The length and density makes it difficult to binge read, it’s easier to read in smaller chunks. Can’t wait for Onyx Storm!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail