Today’s review is about IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros. This is the second book in The Empyrean series, so naturally my review contains spoilers for the first book. I’m happy I finally read this sequel…it only took me almost a year to do so, mainly because I got irritated seeing it all over the place. I read it on my own time and happy I did so. Onward to the review!

Author: Rebecca Yarros
Series: The Empyrean, #2
Age Category: New Adult
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Publish Date: November 7, 2023
Print Length: 640

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Irone Flame Synopsis

“The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.” –Xaden Riorson

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.

Irone Flame Review

By now there is a plethora of IRON FLAME reviews to peruse. As is my habit when this is the case, I allow myself a little informality and more commentary in my review style of popular books. If you missed my review of FOURTH WING, feel free to read it here. In short, however, I had a great time reading FOURTH WING, despite some objective opinions. With respect to IRON FLAME, I actually enjoyed this one even more.

I felt that Yarros spent a lot more time allowing Violet and Xaden to build their relationship whereas in FOURTH WING it all fell together too quickly. There wasn’t that slow burn or relationship building element that I very much appreciate. However, because of the events that transpired in the first book, Violet has major trust issues with Xaden. So this provides a natural opening for setting boundaries and asking questions of each other. And, yes, more spice scenes.

While I’m rooting for Violet and Xaden, what I liked most about IRON FLAME is that the intentional erasure of history comes to the forefront. This causes a lot of consternation for Violet as she yearns to tell her squad what’s going on, but also wants to keep them safe. The focus on this censure of history deepens and enriches the overall story. There’s nothing wrong with some good ol’ romantasy, but I always appreciate a healthy dose of believable plot and dark storyline.

With everything going on, the loyalty between Violet and her squad deepens. I loved how they have each other’s backs and make a pact to survive to the next year. It’s not difficult to imagine how trauma and intense training leads to strong bonds between squadmates.

I also really liked the banter between Violet, Tairn, and Andarna. It has a dry, sarcastic tone to it that I gravitate to. The quips between Tairn and Andarna were also quite entertaining. Let’s just say adolescents have some attitude.

So much happens that it’s really difficult to write a review without giving so many things away. There were a couple of things that I raised my eyebrows at, but overall I don’t have an major complaints. The reason I didn’t rate it higher is because, for some reason, I had a hard time making progress on the book. It wasn’t a bingeable read for me. I think it was a combination of not completely jiving with the sentence structure and trying to wrap my head around everything that occurs in IRON FLAME.

However, I absolutely plan to continue with the series and eagerly await ONYX STORM. Learning more about “forgotten” history and cultures were highlights for me in IRON FLAME. I hope this continues in book 3!

Rating: 4.25
Content warnings: parental death, blood, sexual content, murder
Reading format: Hardback

Similarities to ACOTAR

Like I did with FOURTH WING, for fun I wanted to point out some of the similarities IRON FLAME has with ACOTAR. Consider this a spoiler warning. If you have not read the book and don’t want to know anything, then ignore this section. There are also generalized spoilers for the ACOTAR series. I didn’t notice as many obvious similarities between the two series except for one thing:

During one spice scene, Xaden opens up his mind to Violet. This reminded me a lot of the spice scene between Feyre and Rhysand in A COURT OF FROST AND STARLIGHT. I wondered if Yarros would do something like this. It seems like the next step considering Xaden and Violet share a bond.