"The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity." —Xaden Riorson
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.
Title : Iron Flame
Author : Rebecca Yarros
Series : The Empyrean (book two)
Format : physical
Page Count : 623
Genre : fantasy romance
Publisher : Little Brown UK / Red Tower Books
Release Date : November 7, 2023
Reviewer : Micky / Hollis
Rating : ★ ★ ★ .5 / ★ ★.5
Micky's 3.5 star review
Positives
I adore this couple. Their rare, private diagloue, the way they connect and the relationship problem-solving kept me alive in this read.
Family complexity, how the mother resurged in the story
Plot twists that got me
Rebellion
Andarna and Tairn
Less favourable
Top speed drama dialogue on repeat
So long
Repetitive battle plots circling
I definitely look forward to the third book because I have questions that need answering!
Hollis' 2.5 star review
Hello darkness my old friiiiiend.
Just kidding. Sorta.
Okay so listen. First things first, it has to be said. This book is way too damn long. Like, it's insufferable how long this was. How much time I spent checking the % on my checkout and realizing I had still to cross the halfway mark. Twas brutal, my friends. This did not need to be so long. My goodness.
This time, instead of the Dain bits (because we had way less of those because, well, if you've read book one you know why!), it was Violet and Xaden's romantic tiffs that took centre stage over and over and over again. I can throw her a little slack in that this her first real relationship (I guess?) and feeling the luv or whatever, so she's maybe slow on the emotional maturity and whatnot, but that big ol' epiphany took way too long to come. And for Yarros to then turn around and almost throw us into an even worse drama with a certain reveal? I was looking for something stabby.
Plus, if you thought the lack of Dain meant this would lack a triangle-esque-shape in said romance element, you would be w r o n g. And though Yarros tried to 2023-ify this and spin it in a different way.. it didn't work. It was brutal. I hated it. And, like in my review for book one, I can only hope we have now put it behind us. But considering my hope was for some of the drama to have not crossed over into this book, and yet it took up like 50% of the plot of this very long book, I am.. not hopeful.
Plot-wise, I mean, there isn't enough to warrant the page count and most of it happens near the end as everything up until that was just roadblocks thrown up between Violet and Xaden, Violet being everyone's target, Violet feeling guilty and distancing herself from everyone, Violet being unreasonable with Xaden, Violet being stupidly trusting (lemonade, are you kidding me), and I could go on.
The highlights of this were definitely the dragons. I liked that we did get more squad gang fun times and the group felt a little less like the character placeholders they were in book one.. even if, for the most part, they played the same role in every scene (Rhi being the concerned semi betrayed friend due to not being trusted. Ridoc being the peanut gallery with his throaway comments. Sawyer.. existing). We had less deaths from within the immediate group and the ones we did have felt more purposeful and not just for shock value and that was appreciated; even if they seemed to be forgotten moments after the event (with one exception from book one). And.. well, I hate to say it but Xaden was also a strong contender for what kept me pushing on. I don't love that Yarros all but channeled a big twist for his character much like another author did in another series I won't name (as it'll immediately give the game away) but I do want to see what she does, and where she goes, with it. Because it definitely changes the game.
Overall, I liked some of this more than Fourth Wing and other bits a lot less. I do feel the world felt a little bigger as a result of where some of the characters ended up along the way but every time this drifted into ramblings of this town here, that town there, this people, that culture, I could see what Yarros was trying to flesh it all out even more, but it just felt out of reach. Much like her writing. I swear, there were times I would have to reread passages because I felt I either missed something or it was missed. Things didn't always have cohesion or flow.
Also, with so much of this book speaking to the ramifications of saving some at the cost of others, of the price for safety and freedom from bigger evils, of what (and who) was lost in the making of those choices, the careful manipulations of propaganda in controlling information, well.. it was hard not to constantly get pulled out of this world and into our own and what's going on around us. But I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I hope it gets readers thinking and questioning things. I think that's important.
And as for the biggest question of them all : will I be reading on? Sadly, yes. I think I'm in this. Partly with reluctance and partly despite myself. But I've definitely pushed on for even less return so, here's hoping book three brings some good pain, some great action, some character agency, and even more dragons.
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