I enjoyed this sequel to Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros even MORE than Fourth Wing.

I listened to the audio and skipped over the four-ish "spicy" parts (yes, I get it: Violet loves/wants Xaden, but I didn't need it graphically spelled out for me).
More world building, politics, intrigue and magic, please (and dragons!).

The action and storytelling was fast paced. New enemies and old friends.
We get to see the trials of the second years, and how their bonds are tested and strengthened.

Lots of surprises here/secrets revealed. And a cliffhanger, of course.

Small nitpicks, but I understand why these aren't so:

1) That dragon, Tairn should be attached to Violet at the hip thisclose.
2) Violet and Xaden could solve 95% of problems if they just talked more. ( )

That was a LOT! It felt episodic & there’s too much stubborn immaturity w/Violet, but there’s a lot to love. I love the friendship between Ridoc, Sawyer, Violet, Imogen & Rhi. I love every single dragon interaction, esp. Tairn. I wish we had learned more about the founding 6, but I bet that’s coming.

“You and I are not easy people. What we build together has to be strong enough to withstand a storm. Or a war. Easy isn't going to give that to us." ( )

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️SPOLIERS.....Proceed at your own discretion...⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
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I will be honest I had to keep putting this book down because there were plenty of moments I was getting very frustrated. The whole back and forth of Xaden keeping secrets and Violet getting overly upset then over it in the same breath just aggravated me to no end. I mean you can love someone and be mad at them for longer than a breath especially for keeping a secret but at the same time you are a newly couple and she wants to know his whole existence, I'm going to need you to slow down. Violet in this book seemed so much like a clingy whining girlfriend instead of the badass she was in the first book. Yes, she did show some bad ass moments especially in the end but throughout this whole book she annoyed me to no end and so did Xaden. Then, The issue with Cat and Violet could've been prolonged and better executed as well. The girl goes from fully loathing Violet, acting like this jealous ex girlfriend but all she wanted was a "crown" then Violet saves her life and they are cool, sorry it was just dumb and very anti climatic to the point it bore me.
The whole thing of bringing Jack back still on the fence about this even though a whole building fell on him like wtf, okay guess I can't get too mad in a book about dragons that bond with humans. I will be honest I am looking forward to where she takes that story line. I know that at this point I am more like venting than reviewing a book but sorry this is what I do.

The other things I feel the book felt short at was Rebecca Yarros, ended the first book with this big announcement of Brennan being alive and basically he had this small part in this second book.. Sure let's bring back a dead sibling to explain his death and resurrection in 5 minutes.. thanks for that -- NOT really, just disappointing.

As I am writing this I am wondering did I even like this book 🤔 as of last night I thought I absolutely loved it but now writing my feelings I'm a bit disappointed. Let's get on to what I did like about this book and sorry if I seem to go back and forth my emotions are a bit back and forth about this book to be fair. I won't even discuss the very ending of this book regarding Xaden because honestly I'm still very much on the fence about it.

🧡 The dragons, the personalities, the teenage acting Andarna and what becomes of her somewhat, (still a bit hazy on her part) but I soaked all that in.
🧡 How Tarin is this massive dragon yet very protective of Violet though him being 3 minutes away a few times in the book getting to Violet had me screaming "why are you always 3 minutes away!!".
🧡 When Violet finally lets it all out and Rhi got to hear her finally grieve Liam.
🧡 How the four stayed so loyal to each other
🧡 the first half of the book but feel there should've been more with the other cadets.

There was a lot happening in this book and to be fair I did have fun reading it, I just got this sense that the book was rushed and there are some missing connections. Most of the things were just briefly explained, there was so much time spent on Violet mad at Xaden that honestly I don't remember much of anything else and I just finished reading this yesterday.

My favorite moments:
🌟 "Rhi pivots to face the terrified infantry, her fists clenched at her side. " And that," she shouts, "is why you don't fucking run!"

🌟 The whole scene when Violet is crying, telling Rhi "she wasn't there" talking about when Liam died, I felt that, I cried, like ugly, sniffling crying.

🌟 "Cadet Trebor, if I were you, I would consider the fact that Cadet Sorrengail has spent more time in the archives than anyone else in this room, and then I would carefully consider an intelligent response."

🌟 "Remind her that I can sever her head with one bite, " Andarna growls, the sound higher than Tairn's menacing rumble. I will not. What does Tairn tell us?" "We don't eat our Allies," she mumbles, but there's a distinct tap of her talons against the rock floor." 🤣🤣🤣

Recommendations if you like:
Drama ✔️
Toxic relationship ✔️ let's face it, Xaden and Violet can be kind of toxic lol
Dragons ✔️
Action/fighting scenes with slick maneuvers ✔️
Spice .. eh ✔️
Sacrifice for a love one ✔️✔️
Friendship ✔️✔️✔️✔️
my final rating yes, 3 to 4 stars. ( )

“Dragons do not answer to the whims of men.”

Okay so Fourth Wing was life… but this… this thick baby right here…. PERFECTION. I was so excited to start this one… and I didn’t want it to end… so I waited to read this and I drug out the reading experience as long as I possibly could. Which to be fair, wasn’t long. I mean so much happens in this book! I was surprised at how much story actually happened! I thought with such a long book, something was bound to be overdone or slow or not really needed.
Rebecca it seems managed to cram action and drama into every single page of this book. The amount of times my emotions were all over the place and my adrenaline spiked!!! I honestly loved every moment of it! It was everything. I adored the way our favorite characters only managed to get closer. I enjoyed the snark of my dragon babies… It’s honestly one of my favorite parts of the book. And I really loved all the new elements we got in this one! We got new characters, new plot, new twists and turns.
My emotions are still not okay after this book I mean the ending was just mind blowing and I’m still not sure how I feel. I will be thinking about it for a long time… and like that’s rude… I need book 3 like yesterday… I really adore this series and Violet because she’s such a fierce character. I can’t wait to see what happens next. ( )

I still haven't reviewed Fourth Wing, but decided to go ahead and write this one while the story was still fresh on my mind. I was already late to the game with this series, but I put myself on the waiting list for an audiobook at my library as soon as I was able to after falling in love with these characters during Fourth Wing. Additionally, Rebecca Soler is one of my absolute favorite narrators and she does an amazing job with this series.

Yarros not only makes me fall in love with Violet and Xaden, but every secondary character is beloved as well. Losing any of them would be devasting to my heart, so that final battle in Iron Flame had my pulse racing right along with Violet's. I was already worried about finishing the book since everyone said they literally stared at a wall for 20 minutes afterwards, but I still wasn't expecting the cliffhanger we're left with. Haven't we been through enough by now?

I will say that I didn't like how long it took Violent and Xaden to work through their issues. A lack of communication between characters is a huge turn off for me in books, especially when they're romantically involved. Violet knew who he was before she fell in love with him, yet she made demands and put expectations on him that were a bit unfair. She didn't completely trust him because he wouldn't tell her everything, but everyone in this series has secrets, including her. She kept demanding total honesty and full disclosure despite other lives being at risk if she knew. Yarros managed to address these issues in a way that wasn't cringeworthy, so at least that aspect of the book was tolerable and didn't ruin everything else for me.

The dragons are still my favorite part of these books. I love their sarcasm and menacing attitudes, especially when directed towards their own riders. Their personalities are perfection. Adolescent Adarna is an absolute delight to read about, and her getting on Tairn's nerves never fails to make me smile. I'm really happy we learned more about them in Iron Flame because so much is still a mystery.

Love, betrayal, unexpected plot twists, new friends and frenemies, dragons and gryphons, riders and flyers, war, loss - Iron Flame has all that and more. I highly recommend this series if you enjoy fantasy and fast-paced adventure stories. (★★★★★) ( )