Iron Flame
2023 • 640 pages
Ratings239
Average rating4
15
Ratings239
Average rating4
She survived her first year at Basgiath War College . . . but the danger is only beginning.
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.
Featured Series
3 primary booksThe Empyrean is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2023 with contributions by Rebecca Yarros. The next book is scheduled for release on 1/1/2025.
Reviews with the most likes.
DNF at 20%, whoever gave this 5 stars is lying. I made my friends tell me how it ends and it affirmed my decision to quit.
Contains spoilers
Me, finishing Iron Flame & texting my book bff “oh my god oh my god oh my god I finished Iron Flame. I have passed away, I am in utter shock.”
Well done Rebecca Yarros, well done. There was so much hype around the release of Iron Flame the month leading up to it that I was a bit skeptical of its greatness and chalked it up to tiktok hype. I am pleased to say it was a fantastic novel and I cannot wait for the rest of the series. Rebecca, I have so many questions!!
Let’s get into it, because there is a lot to unpack here. This review will be spoiler heavy, so heed my warning.
I really really liked Iron Flame. The character development, themes, plot, spice, and everything else came together to create an immersive world and pull you into the story. Violet continues to be a bad ass while also continuing to learn how to deal with her lesser strength, her relationship with Xaden, and now some huge secrets she has to keep – even when being tortured for the information.
Xaden continues to be sexy, strong, and secretive – much to Violet’s dismay. The progression of their relationship was super good and with that ending??? I CANNOT WAIT FOR BOOK 3.
The Iron Squad continues to be friend-group goals, Jesinia comes more into play, and we even meet some new characters that offer an interesting twist into everything (I’m looking at you, Catriona).
I want to dive into a few different themes in the book because I have so much to say that I could write a novella about my thoughts. Instead, I will try to limit myself here.
The big theme we start off with is trust. We start off Iron Flame with Brennan being alive after having been presumed dead for the last 6 years. Not only did he fake his death, but Xaden and the rest of the resistance crew all knew and kept it a secret from Violet. We left off Fourth Wing with Violet realizing Tairn and Andarna kept the resistance a secret from her. Now back at Basgiath War College, Violet has to keep Rhi and the rest of the Iron Squad in the dark about what happened at Athebyne, and Xaden has to work to regain Violets trust. That is a lot of dishonesty, secrets, and strained relationships from all sides. This was such a good theme not only in the beginning of Iron Flame, but through the whole novel. I loved seeing the evolution of the trust worked on and regained between all these different groups, it was interesting and heart wrenching and oh so good.
The evolution of Xaden and Violet’s relationship. This was a really great theme throughout the entire book. Their chemistry is incredible, and it is heart wrenching to see them not be together but want to be. Xaden and Violet are great together, but they really needed to work on their trust and and openness if they were ever going to make it work. “How can I love you when I don’t even know you” was one of the most powerful quotes from Violet related to this, and just really shows how deep both their trust issues and affection for each other went.
Seeing Xaden try so hard to prove himself to Violet time and time again was honestly sexy and I can’t believe she didn’t cave sooner; I would have! As Iron Flame went on, they continued to work on their honesty and openness and their chemistry continued to flame, it was almost unbearable. When Varrish kept preventing them from seeing each other, ughhhhh! It was a great plot point but I was so sad for them each time. When Xaden was fighting to have the night free to see Violet while Sgaeyl and Tairn got to be together? OMG.
There were a lot of great themes and plot lines in this book, too many to break down individually. There was a ton of introspection, relationship issues, communication work, secrets, character development and so much more that went on in Iron Flame that you really can tell Rebecca is setting us up for one hell of a series going forward.
I loved the addition of Cat, her special power, and her history with Xaden and subsequent hatred of Violet. There is nothing like a scorned lover and man she feels scorned hard. I love that her power is to amplify emotions, and she makes Violet super jealous and self conscious. It was a good plot point and great avenue for continued character development of Violet. I even liked that they had to begrudgingly work together as the book went on.
Other themes and things I want to mention/ point out but not get into… maybe I’ll have to do a review post part 2 once I re-read it.
The continued world building and history was great, I love that you thought you knew so much in book 1 and then in Iron Flame you realize you actually know nothing and were very sheltered inside the Basgiath War College. You learn about the whole other part of the continent out there, the fliers, the other people, and more about the dreaded venin. There are people being left alone to die without support or saving from Navarre. The venin are running rampant while leadership continues to lead Navarre to believe that they don’t even exist. Then, to top it all off, you learn that the scribes 400 years ago rewrote all of history and hid everything away to keep the people in the dark. It all continued to build to the story and start to set up the rest of the series, and it really drew me in. I hope we continue to learn more, especially about the empyrean.
Also I need to know more about the 7th type of dragon??? Andarna girl can’t wait to learn more about you.
There are SO many other things I want to mention and talk about, but overall I LOVED Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. It was so good and I definitely will be rereading it in the next 30 days.
Worthy of a million re-reads.
Originally posted at woarr.com.
Rebecca's ability to manufacture tension for her two main love interests is genuinely unrivaled. Getting your endgame two together in book one of five is a bold move, and one I was a little concerned about, but she's out here pulling it off. The tension/arguments in this book got a little repetitive by the end, but neither of them was really budging much so I get it.
I loved teenage Andarna, I wish we had seen a bit more of her in this book. Tairn and Sgaeyl were amazing, as always. The banter was beautiful, the spice was fantastic.
I had some mild complaints of Violet not piecing things together sooner, but as I thought about it more I realized how distracted/distressed she was through this entire book, and it seems more realistic that she wouldn't have put things together as quickly.
loved it. can't wait to obsess over everything and theorize about Violet's second signet until book 3.
It's a bit too messy to my liking. But still got my emotion all over the place. Especially with the ending.
Nobody talk to me for the next few days. I need time to recover.
