Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Iron Flame - Flammengeküsst by Rebecca Yarros

273 reviews

adventurous dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

My feelings from the first book hold steady - an entertaining popcorn read with the worst aspect by far being the romance. I groaned every time Xaden showed up because I knew I was going to be subjected to page-long kiss descriptions and poorly written sex scenes. Violet has so much stupid emotional drama over this boy, I hated it. It really dragged down the middle of this book, especially the jealously subplot. I kept reading because I wanted to know how the conflict with the venin was going to shake out and because I wanted to learn more about the dragons. There were some nice developments on that front, and the set up for the next book will keep me reading.

Some things stood as as really jarring. There is a returning minor character whose actions are all over the place in an illogical way. I cannot reconcile their behavior. It also bothers me that
torture is constantly portrayed as a valid and reliable way of getting information, when in real life torture is completely ineffective. The fact that the author is military-adjacent only makes me feel more sour about this.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

I really really wanted to love this but the repetitiveness of it got to me. It could have been shorter if removing the fluff to make it longer. Also, the writing is horrible. 
Otherwise, the story was good. 
Huge cliffhanger. The third book isn't even written yet.

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

As long as this one was compared to Fourth Wing, I felt the length was a bit much compared to the meat we actually got. Did I like it, yes. But there's some things in there I could've done with out. But I also understood what we needed to get out of this book as well, to help set up what is to come. And I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Things I could do without - Violet's wishy/washy "I'm made, I'm not mad, he's gorgeous and I hate him"-ness. ...and that is it. That's all. I was annoyed by that and only that. 

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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

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Oh my. That was so much better than I expected. I’m reeling and lost for words to describe my thoughts.  I def recommend it. 

There are some flaws in the writing and plot that I’d want to change/edit which is why I had a hard choice between 5* and 4.5* because it doesn’t meet my fierce criteria for perfect five stars. But I loved this and planned to reread it more than once so I figure those flaws aren’t material.  

I spotted some of the plot twists but not others. I am grateful somethings were elusive. There are clues. And some twists too too long to be spotted by our main characters. 

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I keep hearing mixed reviews about this book in the series. I personally LOVED it! While it's definitely a different pace than the first book, it's still an excellent read. A lot of people complain about the pace of the book being too fast or that Yarros seemed rushed while writing, but honestly, it's just the timeline of the book. If she really put everything in the book (like the fluff) some readers may have lost interest. 
I also see a lot of readers say there was not enough world building in this book. While that may seem true, we also have to remember that Violet just got her world turn upside-down and everything she thought was the truth, "gospel" even, is no longer true. She has no idea what to believe anymore. She  has no clue what this new world holds. So, I personally think Yarros does an excellent job of really putting the us into the perspective of Violet in the way that we only know as much as Violet knows. Therefore, as she learns more about the world outside of the wards, we in turn  will have more world building.

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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