Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

15 reviews

fraugremlin's review against another edition

1.0

I bought this book this month and havent been able to bring myself to finish it because of one huge glaring issue... The "relationship crisis" filler.

Basically, MC has it in her head she cant trust Love interest because,,, he lied to her? REMINDER they are military and he is literally commiting treason and she has a mind reader childhood friend that betrays her trust in the previous book. He offers his life story to her and willingness to be open about himself but puts his foot down on revealing any secrets that could get him, his family and friends and even her killed. Seems reasonable, right?

Well, apparently, to Violet, its not. its an extreme breach of trust and she breaks off the relationship with him because "how can i be with someone who cant trust me?"

THEN we discover the entire plot of book 2 is around them going through POW scenarios about being interigated and not breaking to reveal secrets. ALL THE MORE REASAON HE IS BEING REASONABLE AND SHE IS NOT. But no, the author thought that because, oh well every book ever has a toxic relationship dynamic, that there needed to be uneccesary padding because reasons.

Extremely stupid and arbitrary BS that perpetuates Toxic relationship culture and needs to stop.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Death, War, Violence, Cursing, Torture, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

stitchbooks22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Body shaming, Genocide, Medical content, Death, Abandonment, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Classism, War, Chronic illness, Grief, Violence, Bullying, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Vomit, Xenophobia, Murder, Torture, Medical trauma, Ableism, Animal death, and Gaslighting

anilein's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Cursing, Violence, Gaslighting, Murder, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Grief, Death of parent, Blood, Bullying, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Medical content, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

tuc39033's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Kidnapping and Emotional abuse

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

5.0

Absolutely mind blowing sequel! I loved seeing more of the character development and story progression! This book had me hooked from the start, just like Fourth Wing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Sexual content, and Kidnapping

cmason101's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, War, Child abuse, Murder, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Gore, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

coastal_omi's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Death

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Xenophobia, Confinement, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Classism, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Colonisation, Stalking, War, Dysphoria, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, and Vomit

spootilious's review against another edition

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

1.5

 

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, War, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit

passionatereader78's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Murder, War, Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexual content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Grief, Emotional abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Kidnapping