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🇬🇧: What an emotional rollercoaster. I felt all the emotions in this book! First of all, the land building is really great! I immediately got a picture of everything and then the characters... each one is a good addition to the book. All the personalities are so different and yet fit so well into the story. This makes everything fall into place immediately, you really get those "ohwww that's why he did this" moments. Real chef's kisses. I totally get the hype... I can't wait to read iron flame! I need to know where this story continues.
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, War
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
- I think I pretty much agree with my previous review, though a bit less harsh on the tropes - if they work, they work! and they're fun to read.
- Also interesting to read it again after hearing Yarros discuss Dane and her opinion that he was just being overprotective and not the Bad Guy. I still don't really agree but it was interesting to see him from that angle.
- also I quite liked the Xaden POV in the last chapter this time around, good to see his thought process.
- I did stall just before the end this time, maybe bc I already knew the big twist, but the rest was v gripping.
- still a 4/5
giving a four for pure grippingness, as I was totally glued to this. fair bit of unoriginality though.
pros:
- it's pretty unputdownable, constantly keeping the tension high and the ball rolling. very good writing and pacing in that sense as there was never a dull bit.
- the different scenes were written well too, the fighting, dialogue, reflection and romance were all solid.
- I liked the setting, the dragons, the politics and worldbuilding, but the characters were the strong point. xaden and violet were both compelling and conflicted in their own ways.
- especially liked the fleshing out of the side characters. I was definitely emotional when
- I hear from my friend with Eds that Violet's was written well and it's great to see more disability representation, since its sadly lacking. great that she wasnt magically cured of it, and was supported by others throughout the story even as others tried to take her out.
- focus on sibling relationships was cool too, great to see mira and violets positive sisterhood and rhiannon and her sister.
- a fair number of twists were unpredictable, like
- I also liked that the characters were 20y/o plus, and the women were called that, not girls.
- inclusion of queer side characters was great to see too, including rhiannon and Heaton, neither of which faced any discrimination for it.
cons:
- it was all very classic YA tropes with an adult bent. Dane and xaden were immediately obviously love interests (twilight)
- though called clever, violet does have some dim moments for sure,
- also didnt like the last chapter being xadens POV. it sounded the exact same to violets which was disappointing and was unneeded. he was better just through violets eyes.
- overall, I would have liked some more real failures for violet, and less cliches. plus some more real violence rather than the squeamish stuff. go big or go home for the morally grey characters is what I say.
but it still gets a four because it was very gripping, I did like xaden and violet and their chemistry, plus the side characters and the dragons.
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
I'm not even sure if I consider my only complaint a complaint; there is an attempt at LGBTQ representation, and it really fell short- it's a side note of a passing conversation. I would never require all authors to represent identities they are unfamiliar with, that's how you get offensive stereotypes streamlined, right?
While full of feminine power, this story is straight AF.
I listened to this via libro.fm and the narrator was absolutely phenomenal. Her voice is so dynamic and each character has a different, unique, recognizable lilt. She also actually sped up the reading pace during stressful battles, slowed down during introspective bits, and evokes so much emotion. Rebecca Soler deserves a damn award for this reading. I finished all 20 hrs and 45 minutes in a two day period. The final chapter is read by Teddy Hamilton, and while he did a good job, it was jarring for the switch to happen, and I wasn't a big fan of his intonation and representation of our heroine.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Violence, Grief, War
Moderate: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Murder, War
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury