I'm enjoying this series, especially the dragons. The romance has me a bit conflicted as it seems too possessive, for want of a better word, in a way that makes me uncomfortable. I love the world and the contrast we get in this book with the riders as compared to the brutal world of school in the last book.

“I hope Iron Flame is more gripping in the first half than its predecessor.” - Fourth Wing Review, Dec ‘24

It was not. Not only that, it was (subjectively) worse than the first installment of the Empyrean series. I was only mildly fond of Violet Sorrengail before, but now I am staunchly in the group of people that absolutely hate her and her decisions. From her obsessive guilt ridden monologues, to her idiotic decisions that made absolutely no sense. The plot holes in this book were numerous but something I felt was personally insulting was the translation of the first journal CLEARLY pointing out that there were SEVEN dragons needed to power the ward stones, and violet glossing over the very clear instructions until the 9th hour before having the epiphany. For her to be as smart of a scribe as the books try to make her out to be, that oversight was absolutely unbelievable. 6 AND 1 equals what?! Seven. Why did it take 400 pages to figure that out?! And it wasn’t even mysterious in a way that made sense. One journal said seven, the other said Six AND ONE. They were the same! 

I have a plethora of notes listed for public view on goodreads, but this band of characters from the first book that were so impressive to me were not given justice in the writing this time around. Sawyer got badly hurt and I didn’t even blink. I cried when Liam died! Yarros built up this incredible supporting cast just to leave them hanging in this second book. Imogen starts out so strong and then becomes an afterthought. Rhiannon is an afterthought at first, and then solely used as a prop to move the story along. She deserved so much better. Ridoc’s comic relief was even lackluster.

Instead she focused on Xaden and Violet constantly going back and forth about secrets up until literally the last few chapters of the book. There was so much promise in incorporating the gryphon riders and even building more information into the Venin to make them stronger villains. After that many pages, we walked away with barely any information about these beings, AGAIN. 

The romance was weak because they could never get on the same page. It didn’t make the steamy moments worth it IMO. They’re in a constant struggle of Violet rushing to do things her own way while pushing everyone away from her and Xaden disappearing to do whatever he does and then playing 20 questions when he shows back up… it’s exhausting. 

My last note is this, Violet is too smart, too well trained and adept and solving complex problems to have been making the mistakes she made in this book. Trying to keep her friends safe but busting into the archives with a classified book and putting Jesenia in a very awkward predicament with her professor? Risking the entire squad by stealing journals without a solid plan? Rushing off to Cordyn, but then waiting a week to tell Xaden about raising the wards? Being facedown by TWO Venin with the life of Catriona (and the entire Vale) in the balance but trying to do a Q&A with them to satisfy her need for answers… as if anybody has time for that?! These decisions just don’t make sense. She’s smarter than that. Write her smarter than that. She was written smart in Fourth Wing, but figuring things out. She was not written smart in Iron Flame,  and it was a huge disservice to the story. 

I could keep complaining, but I’d be here until the Onyx Storm release date. I honestly don’t even know if I’m interested in reading it, but we will see. 

I would rate this zero if I could. I wanted to love it like first book, but it just kept getting worse. Bad plot development, wild characterization departures, plot holes everywhere. Can I just say again, bad plot, WTF was happening the whole time

I really loved this story but Violet was pissing me off. And Xaden too. It spent like 2/3 the book on them fighting and they're supposed to be the main couple? Also what's the point of the Vi-Cat rivalry if it's just gonna fall on its face at the end. I honestly feel like that was added in just because it's whats "supposed" to happen in this genre and then the author was like "Ok, we did the rivalry with the ex, let's move on". Just cur the entire subplot out. It's time we could have spent exploring Jesenia and Sawyer. Or Brennan. Or Tairn, his previous rider, and the fact he died to save Brennan, who is alive, so did he succeed or did something else happen? Is Vi, who's supposed to be a genius, just not questioning that, because the fact she appeals to Malek so often and now may have proof resurrection is possible seems like it needs to be a big dealer? Also where's Brennan's dragon if riders--unless venin--die when their dragons die and he can still wield? Even Rhi's dragon is mentioned in passing so his should at least appear in the background. Especially if it's been residing in Aretia since he "died" and they just established hatching grounds there. Maybe this all gets answered next book, but, man. I just wish we cut the constant fighting (esp. when they say Xaden and Cat were the toxic ones) and jealousy and focused on these things. The "you don't trust me" line gets tired after the first 20 times. The humor also bordered on a bit cringey at times. That said, it's also badass as hell. And I really love seeing a main character with a chronic pain illness because I can relate. I also love how complex the relationships--when they're not "complex" just because they have the same argument every 5 seconds--are. Violet's relationships with her mom, Dain, Mira, Brennan, Sloane, and even Rhi do a great job of showing her and their flaws and making them all fleshed out characters. And the worldbuilding is really intriguing. I would love to see more of Poromiel befayse the nobility seemed interesting, and I wonder how a kingdom that's already fully known of and been dealing with venin functions and still remains afloat. I'd love to see more of those who stayed at Basgiath and love how they framed it as more of a "stay and defend Navarre because it's all you've ever known, or take a chance and try to defend some far-away place you've never known and until yesterday thought of as the enemy because of a threat you thought was a fable until yesterday" instead of black and white, good and bad. I also feel this 100% should've been two books because after they left Basgiath I was sitting there thinking it felt like the ending and unsure how they'd handle introducing a new setting and characters. It worked, but two books would probably work better.