Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - Iron Flame

Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

59 reviews

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense fast-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

5.0

This follow-up to "Fourth Wing" did not disappoint. It continued with non-stop action, twists and turns, and romance to make for terrific storytelling. It'll be hard to wait another year for the next book.

Content Warnings

anne_reader's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

Content Warnings

marissa_nancy_nicole's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

fuchsiarascal's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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 talk about the good and the bad. Because, overall, I loved it, but there were definitely things that I didn't like.

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

(so many cadets leaving the college once the truth was revealed)

. Varrish was an excellent villain, working fully within the power of a corrupted government and school. And I'm personally cheering for Dain's redemption arc, even if he was an overprotective prick in the first book.

I love that he immediately supported Violet as soon as he knew the truth, and was ready to before then if she had only talked to him.

I don't love him, but he's alright.

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!

Content Warnings

rachelwiththelonglegs's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

I can see why a lot of people would rate this 5 stars. I give 3.5 because I hate war and this was very heavy on the action. But it’s about a war college and it was expected.

Also I was recovering from surgery when I started the book and there was a ton of emphasis on detailed injuries

for the torture-heal-torture cycle that

and I had to take a break from reading for a few weeks. Probably would have rated it higher if I wasn’t! Probably the worst part of this book!

First book was better but I hated this ending. I’m so mad but overall enjoyed the journey. Will still read the third book!

Content Warnings

barbarianmissy's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

Really love this series so far and I’m super hyped for the next one in December!

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. 😎

Content Warnings

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

Oh My Goodness!!!!! I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t think it was going to be this good. Multiple times I had to put the book down to get a grip on myself, before I continued. It was action packed, not a page of this book was extraneous. I can’t say enough good things, highly recommend.

Content Warnings