Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Iron Flame - Flammengeküsst

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Iron Flame - Flammengeküsst by Rebecca Yarros

273 reviews

spootilious's review against another edition

1.5

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

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.

Content Warnings

lorenmarie7's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

Content Warnings

vivivi's review against another edition

5.0

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

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.

Content Warnings

sarasreading's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This one doesn't really pick up until almost halfway through, which took some getting used to, since the first one is pretty action packed right out of the gate.

The dragons continue to be the best part. I would read books just about them with zero humans.

And if you love a book where the couple has the same fight twelve times over, and are a little too over the top about their obsession with each other, then this is the book for you.

I was able to look past that, and some extra bloat in this book, because there are some really great parts and things I want to learn more about and/or need answers to. It was too long, but I'll be reading the next one!

Content Warnings

comfy_anna's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark 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

Content Warnings

micaelamariem's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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.

Content Warnings

amylynnknitsreads's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was astounded seeing that the audiobook was 28h long. But it was a pretty good 28h.

I enjoyed the further world building. I enjoyed learning more about established characters and new ones.

I was annoyed by Violet and Xaden's communication issues, but realized it was pretty on point for two very screwed up people. And they are two very screwed up people.

I saw where a few people are annoyed by the introduction but lack of exploration of Auric, but I actually think it makes sense. How many second years actually interacted with the OG crew outside of Dain in Fourth Wing? I liked the Fliers joining the party and actually thought that Cat's introduction helped Violet as a character.

I saw the end coming, mostly bc...well there's still a bunch of unanswered plot to get to, and this allows a deeper dive into the ancient history of the world Yarros has built. Also, y'all the series is called Empyrean and we haven't even met that crew yet. Pretty sure we're going to by the end of the series.

Content Warnings