Iron Flame (Standard Edition) (The Empyrean, 2)

Iron Flame Before i start this review, i’m going to assume if you’re looking at the second book, you’ve read the first so there will be spoilers from the first book, fair warning. For starters the overall story of Iron Flame is very well written, with plenty of adventure, battle, suspense, and action the whole way through. However some parts this “second year around” feel lack luster and rushed through. Parts that were major focal points in the first book like the parapet, the gauntlet, and threshing that took a whole chapter or chapters to get through, only get a couple of pages this time and it lessens the effect of the event. Character development is well done in this book, picking up right where the last book dropped off so there isn’t a lot of “gray area” in that transition for the characters. New characters come in to play and become favorites with enough backstory to keep them interesting. The negatives for this story however kind of fall in the same lane as the last book. All the romantic scenes between Violet and Xaden just feel overdone and obnoxious to the point you want to skip pages just to get back to the actual story. There is only so many times someone can obsesses over a certain body part, “relic”, or feature before it gets to the point of annoyance. They literally take what should be 3 pages of sex scene, and stretch it out for full length chapters because we can’t get over how beautiful someone’s hair is, or how etched their muscle’s are. One of the cardinal sins of writing is overuse of repetition, and the sex scenes just go over the top with it. Overall, if you can get through small annoyances of reading the same thing over and over again when it cones to the intimate scenes, the story itself is fantastic and well written.

I finally finished Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, and all I can say is wow. This book took me a little longer to get through than Fourth Wing, but every page was worth it. Rebecca Yarros somehow managed to make me love these characters even more while completely destroying my emotions at the same time. Violet and Xaden continue to be my favorite characters. They are far from perfect, and that's one of the reasons I love them so much. They both make mistakes, keep secrets, and struggle with trust, but their flaws make them feel real. Watching them fight for their relationship while dealing with everything happening around them made me root for them even harder. Their chemistry is still unmatched, and every scene they shared had me completely invested. One of my favorite things about this book was how unpredictable it was. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, Rebecca Yarros threw another twist my way. There were so many shocking moments, revelations, and betrayals that I honestly didn't see coming. The story constantly kept me on edge, and I found myself needing to know what would happen next. I also loved seeing Violet continue to grow as a character. She's strong, intelligent, and determined, but she still faces fears and doubts that make her relatable. The world-building expanded so much in this book, and learning more about the politics, dragons, and the truth behind everything made the story even more fascinating. And that ending... I was absolutely not expecting it. No amount of preparation could have prepared me for those final chapters. My heart broke, and I genuinely sat there staring at the page trying to process what I had just read. It left me emotional, shocked, and honestly crying. Rebecca Yarros really knows how to leave readers suffering while desperately waiting for the next book. Overall, Iron Flame was an emotional roller coaster filled with action, romance, heartbreak, and twists that kept me hooked from beginning to end. Even though it took me a bit longer to finish, I loved every moment of it. It made me laugh, stress, gasp, and cry, which is exactly what I want from a fantasy book. Violet and Xaden remain one of my all-time favorite book couples, and I can't wait to continue this journey with them.

11/13 FULL REVIEW: I don't even know where to begin. That ending has left me reeling. And I thought I knew what was coming because some *lovely* person on Goodreads thought to retaliate against the author by dropping a major spoiler with no warning to people like me, who were aimlessly scrolling, so for me to still be shocked and surprised is saying something. And just word to the wise: Be careful out there, folks! There are spoilers everywhere. 😒 Anywhoo...that's my rant. Now back to my review! Look, there's no surprise Fourth Wing and Rebecca Yarros has taking the book world by storm these past few months and I am LOVING it, okay? This love/ obsession/ hype is giving me all the nostaglia and throwing me back to my Harry Potter days twenty-six (🤯‼️) years ago. With me trying to get my hands on the physical books, the fandom going crazy over the series, the midnight release parties, and all the conversations spurred between readers and friends, it has been amazing to watch and to be apart of, and I am in love with the Fourth Wing Era we are in right now. There was something ✨️magical✨️ about my reading experience with Fourth Wing earlier this year. It was a combination of right book at the right time and it had me hooked. I was excited to get my hands on the sequel, but went into the book nervous it wouldn't hold a candle to the first one and I would be left disappointed because of my high expectations. Sadly, this book didn't give me that all consuming, unputdownable feeling I had with FW for the first 25% of the book and that is where my 4 star rating comes into play. I was easily able to read it, because I just think Yarros has this easy, flowing type of writing that even though not alot might be happening on the pages, I am still able to continue on without many delays in my reading time and I was reading this section of the book like I do a normal book. It just wasn't making me abandon all of my responsibilities and make it a top priority to read like FW did, if that makes sense. I think we could have shortened the first 200 pages to make the pacing of the book better overall. However, let me tell you! Once you get about a fourth of the way through, we get that spark and the twists start dropping and then I became hooked til the final page. And whew, that ending! I was on an emotional rollercoaster for the last 50 pages or so. I'm so paranoid about spoilers with this series, especially after my horrible experience,so I don't even want to say anything else about how I feel or what I am expecting from this series as we continue on this journey for fear of spoiling anything. Let's just say there are lots of theories and it has been fun being able to safely navigate through Instagram, Goodreads, and TikTok without fear of the book being ruined now, and I'd recommend if you want to read book 2, you better do it asap before something gets spoiled for you! P.S. Still loving the dragons. They are seriously one of the best parts of these books and world. I love their sass, their snark, and just overall, what they bring to the table. 🐉 I love Ridoc's sarcasm and it helped bring levity to the book in general. I really enjoy the side characters in this series and you get really attached to everyone making it enjoyable, but also nerve-racking. 😅 I can't wait for news of book three's release and I've seen articles stating she would let us know 2 weeks after Iron Flames release date, so one more week hopefully and we will know how long we will have to wait for it. Here's hoping it'll only be another 6 months or so and we can have book 3 in our hands by spring. 🤞 I know I'll be pre-ordering multiples this time around and not from just one site, because I don't want the stress of what I went through waiting on Iron Flame to arrive on my doorstep. 🤣 ****************** 11/12 : 🤯🤯🤯 I need some time to gather my thoughts. I did NOT see that coming.

Truly an amazing second book. It's captivating and filled with twists and turns. It's a definite re-read kind of series and I can't wait for the next one.

Iron Flame (The Empyrean Book 2) Kindle Edition by Rebecca Yarros (Author) I blame Anne McCaffrey for my love of dragons and their riders. Rebecca Yarros, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons had a lot to live up to, in fact, the entirety of Pern! And Ms. Yarros does live up to Ms. McCaffrey. Where, at times, the first book in the Empyrean felt like a young adult book that had spice added in to move it from the young adult shelf, Iron Flame is fully rooted in adult fantasy, with just the right amount of spice and the perfect measure of angst and pathos. The relationship between Violet and Xaden sits in the center of the story, but there is so much more. We have siblings with a reason for vengeance, a hidden royal heir, jealous love rivals, and a race for a magical solution. It's all in there. All of the feels and all of the tension. The only issue I had was that about ¼ of the book could have been shaved. In the realm of fantasy and fantasy romance, many authors seem to be in a race to see who can write the longest book. Yes, SJM, JLA, and now Ms. Yarros, I am looking at all of you. Apparently, they are all racing to take the tile of the biggest book away from the Giga Codex. That said, I am in love with the world that Ms. Yarros has created. It feels very concrete, as if I could smell the dust on the trails that the dragons and the griffins climb, the sweat under the flight leathers, and the spice of the lust that seems to be in the air. It is a real world, tangible, and fascinating. Ms. Yarros is the new queen of the Shadow Daddy (if you don't know, go look it up). Xaden is not morally grey, so much as he is morally flexible. He is willing to burn the world... heck, he'd burn the universe for Violet, but he is also full of honor and strength. Violet is not the paragon of virtue or the slightly insane fantasy heroine we are used to. She is very clearly, a fighter – not only of her very real enemies, but also the illness that she must overcome every day to be a rider. One of the stand out part of Iron Flame is the dialogue. Ms. Yarros is a master of using dialogue to move the story along and to further character development effortlessly. Unless the reader takes a step back from the story (which is as difficult as climbing Everest barefoot!), it isn't easy to see the masterful techniques she utitlizes. The plot,which at times (as I said before), is a bit overloaded, moves along as fast is possible in this height of book! To be completely honest, I received this book as a gift (the hardback) from the husband, and also borrowed it from KU when it was available, because I needed them both to finish. If Fourth Wing lived up to the hype, Iron Flame went beyond the hype into a completely different universe! Complete with a masterful use of technique, a beautifully built world, and an intricate woven plot, Iron Flame, in fact the entire Empyrean series, is a modern classic that will go down in literary history with the Lord of the Rings, the Dragon Riders of Pern, and the Witchworld stories. 4.75 stars out of 5 (a .25 deduction because some of the book could have been shaved) rounded up to 4 stars out of 5

Iron Flame was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023. I didn't know I was anticipating it until the fall when I read Fourth Wing, but I would have picked it up immediately upon finishing Fourth Wing if it had been released. I did purchase it on the release date which is rare for me to do these days. *And I've been holding this review for about a year waiting for my "All Things Halloween" event to publish it. Violet and Xaden start off in a bit of a rough place where Fourth Wing ends and Iron Flame begins. They'd just survived the attack at Resson and Violet was dangerously injured. Xaden brings her to a safe place where he reveals that her brother, who she thought dead, is in fact, alive and he's known about that the entire time. Violet feels utterly betrayed on all sides. Her mother is a leader in a corrupt government, hiding creatures, the true enemy, from an entire society. Her brother has let her believe he's been dead for years. Xaden has kept the truth from her on so many issues that it's hard to keep count. Dain was her best friend growing up and he sent her on a mission that was near suicide, where some of her friends didn't survive. Her own bonded dragons kept information from her that influenced her thoughts, feelings, and actions. She feels alone like never before. But she doesn't stay there. She rallies. Because she has to. Evil is coming for them and they have to do what they can to prepare, to stop the slaughter of everyone they know and love. Violet and Xaden then proceed to have the same argument throughout the entirety of the book. All 884 pages seem to revolve around this argument. He wants her to ask him questions, especially the hard questions. She wants him to volunteer information that affects her without having to play games or know the right questions to ask. At times, I wanted to laugh. I've seen my parents who have been married 50 years have the same argument over and over that it's totally relatable. And yet, I wanted to bang my head against a wall. How can Xaden expect her to know which questions to ask if she doesn't? Of course, I can see his point of view that if she wants to know something about him or if she has a conflict, don't avoid it, just ask. Do the work to find out what you want to know. But sheesh this kind of got old and frustrating. I did like that Violet had a realization that the trials they're put through in the dragon rider's quadrant aren't without purpose. The teachers and leaders aren't simply cruel. And they aren't even trying to weed out the weak in the barbaric way that it appears. The purpose is to harden these warriors into steel so that they can face battle, evil really, and not flinch. Even the constant death of cadets serves a purpose. This realization was profound in a way that I don't think most readers would have been expecting--I wasn't expecting. I was also glad that Violet called Xaden on acting like Dain. I was feeling that way myself about how he was treating her, but I wasn't sure if the characters would address it or not. Xaden has also been keeping a pretty ginormous secret beyond all the others. Favorite quotes: -They seem to form a pattern, but I'm too close to see the whole of it. There's no perspective, which pretty much feels like a metaphor for my entire life right now. Perspective is so important, I've found. So many times I've found myself in a valley, but if I can remember to change my perspective, even if my circumstances do not change, the way I see them does and that can make all the difference. -"Stop bringing logic into an emotional argument." -Love doesn't even have the decency to die. It just transforms into abject misery. That's what this ache in my chest is: misery. -"We'll get back there. The anticipation is good for us." -I stumble on a rock, or my feelings, but manage to catch my balance. Physically, at least. -"You need to trust me even with secrets for this to work." -"I'll be here when you're ready because your friendship is precious to me. But please, for the sake of that friendship, don't insult me by lying." -"Trust has to go both ways to mean anything." -"You want to know something true? Something real? I love you, I'm in love with you. I have been since the night the snow fell in your hair and you kissed me for the first time. I'm grateful my life is tied to yours because it means I won't have to face a day without you in it. My heart only beats as long as yours does, and when you die, I'll meet Malek at your side. It's a ... good thing that you love me, too, because you're stuck with me in this life and every other that could possibly follow." -"You raged today because you were angry. ... You got jealous because you were jealous. You grappled with inferiority because for some reason I can't understand, you feel inferior. And you lashed out with insecurity because I think both of us are just figuring this out as we go. Own your feelings like you did last year and be honest with me." -"How long do you think it takes for someone to fall out of love? .. A day? A month? I'm asking because I don't have any experience with it. ... I'm asking ... because I think it will take you all of a heartbeat once you know." -"My love isn't fickle. ... So you'd better live, because I'm ready to ask you all the ... questions." -I'm quickly learning it's possible to love someone and not want to be with them at the same time. -"I love you enough to bear the weight of your disappointment." Man, just re-reading my highlighted sections of Iron Flame has me reliving this rollercoaster. I felt all the feelings during this book. I felt what Violet felt: sadness, betrayal, fear, love, sacrifice, work, jealousy, inferiority, power. I felt what Xaden felt: fear, love, pressure, responsibility. Even the side characters. Sloane reeling from her brother's death. Rhi feels like Violet is shutting her out. Man, I could keep going. Everything Violet goes through in just this book is mindblowing. This review will not measure up to this book. And I took too long to sit down to review it. And that ending...Man, I do not know how we're going to move forward with that ending. I have to say that I want to read the next book because I NEED to know how things wrap up, but I'm also dreading starting the next book because I don't love it when characters I've grown to love are facing such adversity. This is the kind of cliffhanger that leaves you feeling hopeless instead of all positive and tingly for what might be to come. Sheesh, I think I've rambled all over the place trying to describe Iron Flame and how I felt about it. I can't say that I'm hopeful for where our characters left off, but this rollercoaster ride was nothing short of 4.5 Stars. It would have been 5 Stars without that ending. Sheesh. Have you read Iron Flame? What did you think? Let me know!

Excellent continuation as the story provides the education and training of young cadets and a surprisingly good exercise in unexpected circumstances and challenges and choices for our young cadets to face.

Iron Flame is a solid second book in the series—but wow, it is slower than Fourth Wing. That said, the slower pace felt purposeful. The world-building was necessary and helped answer many of the lingering questions I had after the first book. I really enjoyed learning more about the larger world beyond Basgiath, especially the introduction of the griffin riders and the realization that things are not as they originally seemed. The shifting perspectives on the war added depth, and the venin continue to be fantastic, truly threatening enemies that raise the stakes in a big way. While this book leans more into politics, strategy, and emotional tension than nonstop action, it lays important groundwork for what’s to come. And just when the pacing feels the heaviest, the ending completely delivers. That twist had me on the edge of my seat and immediately desperate for the third book. I could not wait to see what would happen next. Overall, Iron Flame may be slower, but it’s a necessary and impactful bridge in the series—one that makes the anticipation for the next installment even stronger.

Great book and the packaging and overall state of the product was very good as well.

It came with 1 scratch. However for the price I can’t complain. The dragons on the edge are how I expected them to be and it’s really nice shaped.

Acheté pour un cadeau. Arrivé en très bon état. Pour l'avoir lu, la saga en vaut le détour, c'est une fantasy rafraichissante pour les adultes. Peut-être pas adaptés aux ados attention.

I really enjoyed this as a follow-up to Fourth Wing. The world feels bigger this time around, with a lot more politics, dragons, action, and relationship drama packed in. It definitely leans heavily into the emotional intensity and cliffhangers, which made it hard to stop reading once things picked up. The book is pretty long and there’s a lot happening, so at times it felt a bit chaotic, but I think fans of the first book will probably enjoy getting more depth and backstory from the characters and world. The pacing also improves once the major plotlines kick in. Overall it’s one of those fantasy books that’s very easy to binge if you already got hooked by the first one.

Todo perfecto!