Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Iron Flame

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

37 reviews

the_rabble's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

CW fantasy drama with theater kid delivery. If that's not your flavor, read don't listen. I find the pacing of the audiobook narrator's action sequences really distracting (has onstage monologue energy which keeps everything at an 11 and can be more anxiety producing than emotionally impactful) but still enjoy the story and writing style.

Has an excellent sex scene involving a

throne- 10/10 very cunning linguists.

Back half of the book moves, but first half is very masc-Dolores Umbridge, but with an unrepentant murder college instead of a whimsical murder boarding school.

You may want to wait for the entire series to be out.

There's enough of a cliffhanger/hook at the end to be impatient about having to wait.

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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

What. Even. I have to wait until DECEMBER? I really can’t. The ending of this book is such a cliffhanger and a twist I was not anticipating. I enjoyed this book, but felt some of it could’ve been condensed. I also felt that some of the magic wasn’t explained as well as I would’ve liked, but all in all, this was a good part 2. The characters are embedded in my heart now, and I hope they all have a happy ending.

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meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I really liked "Fourth Wing", I gave it 4.75/5. It was such a fun book, but I wasn't utterly obsessed with it like everyone else was. However, it held some intrigue for me so I decided to read the second book. I heard from a lot of people that this book was a let down so I was fearful when getting into it, but as I was reading it I was eating it up. I didn't understand how people weren't liking this book cuz I was enjoying myself UNTIL I got to Part 2 then things just went downhill from there. I feel there was just an overwhelming amount of information dumping that became too overwhelming and convoluted. Too many new phrases. Too many locations to keep track of. Wayyyyyyy too many new characters and pointless scenes. The chapter felt so inconclusive. Like there would be an issue or a scene that should've been fleshed out more, but then is completely taken care of in the next chapter. The conflict between Xaden and Violet dragged out for wayyyy too long. Xaden would be so wishy-washy; he'd want to communicate but then also hoard secrets from Violet, but oh my gosh Violet would make me scream sometimes because when it came to Xaden she legit loses all her agency and becomes so head over heels that she loses her common sense

Her taking an eight-hour flight to Samara just to see him even though he was fine. And sometimes it's like time-and-place with these two cuz literally after Violet almost kills Cat, Xaden eats her out in the throne room where the Assembly just had their meeting. Like c'mon guys!

. It was cute at first, but then after a while, it just annoyed me. I wanted to scream at Violet like "girl, GET UP off your knees!". I also want to note that WE WERE ROBBED by not getting those letters. I feel like they would've given their relationship more emotional passion, you know considering toward the end he's still not really open with her. Their romance in this book just seemed underwhelming, to say the least.

There were plot points that were given that were backtracked and never really brought up again

Like I still don't understand Varrish's purpose. I thought he was going to be a constant threat throughout the story and then he just gets killed in the first half? I wasn't expecting his character to have depth or anything, but I did want to know more about why he was there. I think that was supposed to be inferred when it should've been told.

. Contradicting scenes used for drama

We're indirectly told by Bodhi at the beginning that Xaden had a big thing for a girl named "Cat". And instead of Violet bringing it up right away we don't explore this until later in the book. We're told that Xaden possesses no feelings towards Cat at all and that their relationship was an arranged marriage. Which is so stupid to me because then why have that scene with Bodhi basically inferring that Cat was Xaden's first love? And honestly having that would've made more sense actually cuz Violet and Cat were fighting FOR WHAT exactly. It was all so stupid.

.

Honestly close to the 500-page mark I started to not care cuz I was so confused as to what was happening and just the general politics of what was going on. Of course, my own comprehension skills play a part in this, but I also feel like she didn't explain a lot of things well. And I'd like to add that I don't writing battle/fighting scenes is the author's strong suit. Maybe it's just me but I found it difficult to imagine her descriptions a lot of the time. I also felt like a lot of important questions went unanswered.

Sill unsure why Xaden HAD to become venin to save Violet? The dreams were too cryptic to really get anything out of them. I still don't understand how venin exists in the first place. That might've been explained in book 1, I don't know. And I wish they delved into how the wardstones are powered because how was their mother able to do it or how was Brennan just able to power it? Also, Andrana not being punished for killing Solas is a little too convenient for me. I hope we get more answers on the species of dragon she is. I need answers. Also, I hope we get more insight into the history of Basigath because the contrast between how the gyrphon fliers and the dragon riders operate is interesting. It makes no sense how this war college would casually let their students get killed.

I'm glad Dain got his redemption. I'm not his no.1 fan or anything, but I do feel like he's over-hated.

I was also going to rate this book a 3.5/5, but I really enjoyed the final scenes of the book. I know for most of my review I've pointed out so many negatives about this book, but I do think this was a decent sequel. I did enjoy seeing Violet's inner turmoil when it came to her friends, Tairn and Andarna are always a delight, and Ridoc is just so funny (hope we get more of him). I feel like the author was just put under a lot of pressure to produce a second book due to the overwhelming success the first book got. I hope she's able to take her time with the series continuing forward. Hopefully, the third book can answer some of the unanswered questions and redeem the series.

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violetrage's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.5

I know this is a romantasy, but I wanted more dragons and less relationship drama and sex. The angst and sex is reeeeally over the top. I started skipping it about halfway through. I’ll likely read the next book when it’s released, but by the end of this book the story was losing me.

Dragons - 5 stars
Plot - 3 stars
Characters - 2.5 stars
Sexual Endurance - 5 star but staaaawp already

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cait's review against another edition

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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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the_true_monroe's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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2.75

I think that this book was ultimately just too formulaic. I felt like I was just rereading the first book. Yarros even tried to replicate the whole enemies to lovers vibe, which was annoying given that the characters were already lovers. On that note, Violet just annoyed me in this one. Many of her choices seemed to exist only to drive the plot, rather than because of her characterization. Despite the lack of growth for Violet and Xaden, I did love to see some of the other characters really grow into their own in this book. Some of them truly took me by surprise. I wish Yarros had focused a little more on other characters instead of rehashing the same things over and over again in Violet’s head. And speaking of rehashing—there were a few too many action scenes in this for me. It felt repetitive and made the book drag out for longer than it needed to be. And despite the high stakes, I didn’t feel the tension that they deserve. Violet never really fails at anything, and it starts to feel too easy at a certain point. The series definitely has interesting worldbuilding and concepts but I don’t think it’s executed as well as it could be.

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lakinglaze's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring 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

I’m so impressed with this follow-up in the Empyrean series! The action, the reveals, the break-neck pace, the joys, the shocks — just all of it!! I love these characters so much and I can’t wait to see what happens next. I just want happiness and love for my shadow boy Xaden! I hope that’s not too much to ask Rebecca…

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ka_ke's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

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natashareadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

What the ffff-!!

Ok, so I am still processing, trying to figure out what I just read and how I am feeling about it 😂😂.

Iron Flame follows the events of Fourth Wing.

Everyone including Violet expected Violet to die during her first year at Basgaith- but it turns out that Threshing was just the first test to weed out the weak-willed and unlucky.

Now the real training begins. But it's not that it is malicious and brutal, or that it is designed to stretch a riders pain capacity beyond endurance. No it is the new Code Commandment who has made it his personal mission to teach Violet how powerless she is and to betray the man she loves. The man who broke her trust.

Even though Violet's body might be frailer than everyone else's, her will is iron.

But determination to survive won't be enough.

Soooo, where do I begin?

Let's start with the issues- I feel like the release was somewhat rushed. It seems sooo many people have had issues- from businesses that were promised the black pages for preorders, having those cancelled, to the wrong title being on the covers, to the missing dragons on chapter 17 (which include my copy I got from Indigo/Coles in Canada, to the lone copy I found in NYS- but I will take the missing dragon over any other issues), but I've even heard missing pages/chapters. Honestly, I don't know where the problem was, it shouldn't have en this big of an issue to begin with.

Now that that is out of the way, let's continue onto the story within the book.

I still love this world, and these characters.

I get the conflict between Xaden & Violet, but felt like it dragged on a bit longer than it should have. The biggest issue being trust & communication after the events of Fourth Wing continued on through the whole of Iron Flame.

I also feel like the book was longer than it needed to be- I get that it was building up the story & the ending conflict/battle, but there is also a whole lot of nothing happening too. So it could have been condensed some.

But besides those, like I said, I LOVED the world, and the characters.

Even despite Violet's weaknesses she is still strong. And I absolutely love that strength about her.

And I still love Xaden- for everything he has been through and everything he is. All his lies and secrets. He is still my favorite character.

I still love Rhiannon, Ridoc, Sawyer, and all the other characters too.

And WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?! I am going to lose my mind until I get the next book, because well, as always, I need answers, i need conclusion, and i need more 😂😂. I loved this book, and cannot wait for more from this story.
4⭐ out of 5⭐.

3🌶️ out of 5🌶️. Multiple scenes throughout in detail.

Tropes:
→ fantasy romance /romantasy
→ enemies to lovers
→ forced Proximity
→ academy (war college)
→ New Adult romance
→ chronic illness (h) representation
→ morally gray H
→found family
→ slow burn
→ overcoming adversity/underdog
→ dysfunctional family

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