Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Publisher: Red Tower Books
Pub Date: 11/7/2023

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros is the second book in the Empyrean series. I recommend reading Fourth Wing, the first book, before diving into Iron Flame as the latter is a true sequel and can’t be read as a standalone.

Note: The following review may contain spoilers so read at your own discretion.

Fourth Wing was a 5-star read that left on a cliff hanger back in May so I was highly anticipating Iron Flame. However, I had mixed feelings for Iron Flame. The first 200 pages were extremely slow-paced, yet the storyline still kept my interest. The writing style in Iron Flame shifted from the concise, action-packed delivery of Fourth Wing to a narrative bogged down with excessive world-building and political descriptions that could have been cut out.

The final 300 pages were action-packed and enjoyable, but I wasn’t as emotionally invested as I was with Fourth Wing. Some of the twists were predictable while there were others that blindsided me. I wasn’t a fan of how Violet and Xaden navigated their relationship in this book. I recognize that it’s difficult to write a couple that’s already in a relationship, but Violet seemed more immature and Xaden was so closed off that it was difficult to understand his character. The storyline was mainly told from Violet’s perspective with only one chapter from Xaden which was disappointing. It would have been more interesting to have a dual perspective to better explore their bond.

There were too many side characters and many were underdeveloped which made it difficult to stay engaged with the story. I really wanted to see Tarin and Andarna more and loved their banter. This book also ended with a cliffhanger, but I was anticipating it so it didn’t have as big as an impact as Fourth Wing. Sequels are difficult especially when the first one was amazing.

Regarding the audiobook, I was disappointed that they still went with Rebecca Soler. Her inconsistent pacing, particularly the fast delivery of action scenes and the slow reading in other scenes, really disengaged me from the story. Initially, she tried to do distinct voices for the characters, but it seems like she gave up on that and all the voices blended together which caused confusion on what is said out loud and what’s a thought or which character said what. Teddy Hamilton’s narration of Xaden’s chapter was performed well. I’m really hoping that they choose a different narrator for Violet in the third book.

The physical first edition of the book is beautiful, but the text is tiny so I would recommend reading the ebook.

Overall, I would rate this a solid 3.5 stars, but I rounded up to 4 stars on GoodReads since I can’t wait to read the third book!