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blacksphinx 's review for:
Iron Flame
by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My feelings from the first book hold steady - an entertaining popcorn read with the worst aspect by far being the romance. I groaned every time Xaden showed up because I knew I was going to be subjected to page-long kiss descriptions and poorly written sex scenes. Violet has so much stupid emotional drama over this boy, I hated it. It really dragged down the middle of this book, especially the jealously subplot. I kept reading because I wanted to know how the conflict with the venin was going to shake out and because I wanted to learn more about the dragons. There were some nice developments on that front, and the set up for the next book will keep me reading.
Some things stood as as really jarring. There is a returning minor character whose actions are all over the place in an illogical way. I cannot reconcile their behavior. It also bothers me thattorture is constantly portrayed as a valid and reliable way of getting information, when in real life torture is completely ineffective. The fact that the author is military-adjacent only makes me feel more sour about this.
Some things stood as as really jarring. There is a returning minor character whose actions are all over the place in an illogical way. I cannot reconcile their behavior. It also bothers me that
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Genocide, Sexism, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Medical content, Alcohol, Colonisation