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popthebutterfly 's review for:
Iron Flame
by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
dark
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
Disclaimer: I bought this book. Support your authors! All opinions are my own.
Book: Iron Flame
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Book Series: The Empyrean Book 2
Rating: 4.5/5
Spice Rating: 5/5
Diversity: BIPOC characters, Deaf character
Recommended For...: Adult readers, Romantasy, Fantasy, Enemies to Lovers, New Adult, Dragons, Magic
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Genre: Romantasy
Age Relevance: 18+ (language, sexual content, romance, death, violence, gore, ableism, torture, war)
Explanation of CWs: There is some cursing in this book. There are scenes involving sexual content and romance. There is violence and death, including parental death. There is a war going on in this book. There is a lot of blood gore. There are scenes of torture throughout the book. There is an instance of ableism.
If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: The Great War
Publisher: Red Tower Books
Pages: 623
Synopsis: Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves. Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules. But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year. Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.
Review: I thought this book was pretty good. It focused on the continuation of Violet's story from the first book, in which we see the evolving war and the evolving romance with Xaden. We also see a lot of character and world development in this book which starts to further expand on how extremely messy this war actually is. The book also started focusing on the ill aftereffects of conquests and colonization, especially in terms of lost culture, language, and artifacts. There was some great commentary on what is lost when kingdoms and cultures are absorbed into one another and one or more is forced to lose themselves in the name of "unification". You can also see in the book that this is felt in several of the characters, as they mention only knowing bits and pieces of their individual culture because when this happens in real life generation after generation stands to lose more and more of that connection to their roots through no fault of their own. Beyond the commentary, I thought the story that continued did well to continue to build upon itself. More and more of this story is slowly unfolding and I don't find myself bored with it.
The only thing I would discredit the book for is that it did feel like the book should have been split into two because it felt like there was a natural end in the middle of the book and then it continued.
Verdict: It was good! I like it.
Book: Iron Flame
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Book Series: The Empyrean Book 2
Rating: 4.5/5
Spice Rating: 5/5
Diversity: BIPOC characters, Deaf character
Recommended For...: Adult readers, Romantasy, Fantasy, Enemies to Lovers, New Adult, Dragons, Magic
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Genre: Romantasy
Age Relevance: 18+ (language, sexual content, romance, death, violence, gore, ableism, torture, war)
Explanation of CWs: There is some cursing in this book. There are scenes involving sexual content and romance. There is violence and death, including parental death. There is a war going on in this book. There is a lot of blood gore. There are scenes of torture throughout the book. There is an instance of ableism.
If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: The Great War
Publisher: Red Tower Books
Pages: 623
Synopsis: Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves. Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules. But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year. Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.
Review: I thought this book was pretty good. It focused on the continuation of Violet's story from the first book, in which we see the evolving war and the evolving romance with Xaden. We also see a lot of character and world development in this book which starts to further expand on how extremely messy this war actually is. The book also started focusing on the ill aftereffects of conquests and colonization, especially in terms of lost culture, language, and artifacts. There was some great commentary on what is lost when kingdoms and cultures are absorbed into one another and one or more is forced to lose themselves in the name of "unification". You can also see in the book that this is felt in several of the characters, as they mention only knowing bits and pieces of their individual culture because when this happens in real life generation after generation stands to lose more and more of that connection to their roots through no fault of their own. Beyond the commentary, I thought the story that continued did well to continue to build upon itself. More and more of this story is slowly unfolding and I don't find myself bored with it.
The only thing I would discredit the book for is that it did feel like the book should have been split into two because it felt like there was a natural end in the middle of the book and then it continued.
Verdict: It was good! I like it.