Nov 12

Nov 12 Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)

Author: Rebecca Yarros
Publisher: Entangled/Red Tower
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

***Cover description is a spoiler for Fourth Wing***

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 Bas

TL;DR Review

The Empyrean (this series) is officially the Where the Crawdads Sing of fantasy: certainly fun, but also ultimately just fine.

For you if: You enjoyed Fourth Wing (it’s more of the same!).

Full Review

This might sound harsher than I mean it to (for some audiences, at least), but I think we can officially say that The Empyrean (this series) is the Where the Crawdads Sing of fantasy, lol. People who are either a) new to the genre, or b) read a lot of fluff in the genre (no hate!) are like THIS IS AMAZING. On the other hand, people who read a lot of really good work in the genre are like, “okay, this is certainly fun but ultimately like, fine.”

The bottom line is if you liked Fourth Wing, you’ll like Iron Flame. It’s the tropiest of tropey, it’s fast-paced, it’s just enough worldbuilding to pass as fantasy, and it’s steamyyy. And Yarros writes one HELL of an ending, I’ll give her that. I will also say that I appreciated how much time Violet spent angry during this book — it was justified, don’t @ me — even if it sometimes made for repetitive conversations. Yarros could easily have moved us past it for the sake of more steamy scenes, and I’m ultimately impressed that she didn’t.

I’m going to keep reading this series, because like I said, they’re certainly fun. If you’re looking for something to rocket-ship escape into, give it this series a shot. If you loved Fourth Wing, read it ASAP. And if you tried Fourth Wing and it wasn’t your thing, know that this probably won’t be either.