Review of “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros

 

Review of “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros

Coming out of “Fourth Wing” I was super excited and thrilled for this series, which the author has said will consist of five books. I loved the main characters, and I really enjoyed spending time in this world. When I started “Iron Flame” my expectations were high. However, after the first third of the book, I began to lose interest. Halfway through the book, which is longer than the first book, I began to get bored. While there are interesting aspects in the sequel “Iron Flame”, overall, it gets weighed down by its multiple story plots.

The beginning of this book starts with the main character Violet returning to her second year at Basgiath War College. We get a sense of what is expected of second year students, and how Violet and Xadan’s relationship changes now that he has graduated. Everything that takes place at the college is great and engaging. However, about a third of the way through the book, the story shifts and we are removed from the college until the very end.

The other two-thirds of the book takes place in a few different locations, the story starts to literally jump around from place to place. We learn more about the griffin riders, we learn more about Xadan and we even redeem a character. There are also a few surprises that I won’t spoil, but it all plays into the ending of the book.

The main plot of this book is restarting the magic shield wards to fight off the enemy. However, I feel that some scenes are repetitive and the story meanders around the plot, introducing points that don’t focus on the main story. I feel that this book should have either been condensed or split into two books. It simply takes too long to get to the last act of the story. It becomes too drawn out and the side plots could either be saved for the next book or scrapped altogether. It took me a long time to finish this book, because I had just lost interest in reading it.

There are a few good things about this book. The opening at the college is wonderful, the reveals and twists are shocking and well done. I like continuing to build the relationship between Violet and Xadan, as well as her family. Unfortunately, most of the book was less interesting and I can’t recommend reading this one. That said, I will still look forward to reading the third book in the series.