A review by dianaschmidty
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

3.75

Since I really don’t want to tackle any of the problems within this book (mainly the fantasy with a ton of plot-holes and
the destroying of the romance of Violet and Xaden/spoiler> ), I’m instead going to make my case for a different couple: Dain and Sloane

Dain basically got a redemption arc. Once I found out that he didn’t know that he had been sending Violet off to her death in FW, I was able to get on board for a morally grey redemption arc. However, I will still never want him with Violet, no matter how toxic Rebecca Yarros made her and Xaden. So, I propose Sloane./spoiler>

Dain and Sloane really only interact on page in chapter 43, but her snapping at him was enough for me to sense enough tension for a great enemies to lovers arc. Also, their potential relationship would perfectly mirror the relationship between Violet and Xaden, all toxicity aside./spoiler>

  1. The age difference when they meet. Violet & Sloane: first-years; Xaden & Dain: third-years
  2. The chain of command forbiddeness. Both Xaden and Dain were/are the Wing Leaders of Violet/Sloane, and specifically in Fourth Wing.
  3. Each pairing has a child of a Tyrrish officer and a child of a Navarrean officer.
  4. Each pairing is equal in parent’s rank. Violet and Xaden are each the child of the military leader and Sloane and Dain are each the child of the military leader’s right-hand. Xaden even made that comparison, though with Liam instead of Sloane.
  5. Dain and Violet each thought they wanted their best friend. Xaden (and likely Sloane) didn’t really care about romance, but did care about revenge/the rebellion.
  6. This kind of all hinges on if Sloane knows about Dain’s involvement in her brother’s death, but Sloane and Dain have similar reasons to be enemies as Violet and Xaden did. Violet disliked Xaden for his father having “killed” her brother. And Xaden didn’t like her because he hated her mom for killing his dad. Dain’s father definitely got Liam killed and there’s definitely an argument for still blaming Dain even after learning that he didn’t  know about the ambush./spoiler>
  7. Violet and Xaden’s signets are both powerful and complimentary, with light vs dark. Sloane and Dain’s signets are also both powerful, and while not exactly complimentary, they are similar, with both being able to take from another rider and could easily be used as a weapon, which is demonstrated with Dain during Violet’s torture and Sloane with Violet’s mom./spoiler>

    So yeah, I think that the next book should just ignore Violet and Xaden and whatever mess they’re in and focus on this new enemies to lovers story! And if Rebecca Yarros does ever see this, I’d love a shoutout in the acknowledgments!
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