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A review by shamelesslyintroverted
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Did not finish book. Stopped at 75%.
So. I loved the first one. I rated it five stars and I was enamored by Xaden. However, I reread it in honor of this book's release and... did I have the flu? Was I that depressed? Or maybe I just wanted to love it... I don't know. Even my original review was vague. I'm embarrassed that I loved Fourth Wing that much the first time I read it and I'm grateful to Iron Flame's release because I reread it.
I got 75% of the way through Iron Flame before I put it down. If you didn't like the first book, or are on the fence about reaching for the second, you're not going to like this. Romantasy is a genre I adore, which is why the first one took over my life (I hadn't read a romantasy in a really long time before reading it and it reminded me that I do love this genre). I'm one of those people that grapples for the angst. I want the push and pull, especially in an enemies to lovers.
The first book had some of that tug of war action, but this one... is really fucking flat. I don't like high fantasy and politics, which is all this book is. The romance elements of this are nonexistent, except where the 'conflict' comes in.
(view spoiler)
Also, Xaden is driving me crazy in this book. He calls Violent by her pet name, Violence, all the time. Multiple times per chapter. The sex scenes are cringy. The audiobook is terrible. I listen to audiobooks at 2x speed and the way that this narrator speeds up and slows down is frustrating for me. I'm constantly having to change the speed, which takes me out of the story. Not to mention that she narrates Violet as if she were a teenager. This was a problem for the first book, too, but since she was in school it didn't seem like a big deal.
Now we're onto the rebellion, so she needs to read more maturely... she doesn't. I'm so frustrated with this book because I desperately wanted to love it.
I need to find new romantasy books.
I got 75% of the way through Iron Flame before I put it down. If you didn't like the first book, or are on the fence about reaching for the second, you're not going to like this. Romantasy is a genre I adore, which is why the first one took over my life (I hadn't read a romantasy in a really long time before reading it and it reminded me that I do love this genre). I'm one of those people that grapples for the angst. I want the push and pull, especially in an enemies to lovers.
The first book had some of that tug of war action, but this one... is really fucking flat. I don't like high fantasy and politics, which is all this book is. The romance elements of this are nonexistent, except where the 'conflict' comes in.
(view spoiler)
Also, Xaden is driving me crazy in this book. He calls Violent by her pet name, Violence, all the time. Multiple times per chapter. The sex scenes are cringy. The audiobook is terrible. I listen to audiobooks at 2x speed and the way that this narrator speeds up and slows down is frustrating for me. I'm constantly having to change the speed, which takes me out of the story. Not to mention that she narrates Violet as if she were a teenager. This was a problem for the first book, too, but since she was in school it didn't seem like a big deal.
Now we're onto the rebellion, so she needs to read more maturely... she doesn't. I'm so frustrated with this book because I desperately wanted to love it.
I need to find new romantasy books.