Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

21 reviews

cait's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Xenophobia, Confinement, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Classism, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Colonisation, Stalking, War, Dysphoria, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, and Vomit

dundiesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

It happened so much! Hard to wrap my head around everything and give a clear, concise review.
I love all our core characters and many of the side characters, including some of the teachers. It was great that the story didn't shy away from complicated and layered relationships in all domains.
At times I was annoyed with

Violet demanding full disclosure, knowing full well it would be a huge risk telling her everything regarding the revolution and people involved. I'm still glad she eventually got to share her knowledge with her friends, lightening the burden. I was also furious at Xaden's whole "ask me" game when he claimed to want to better their communication.

Though I loved the mature conversations they had. The action was fantastic as ever and the emotional scenes hit.

Lilith's death, or rather the siblings' reactions, hurt me the most and had me sobbing. I was less shocked/moved by the reveal at the end.

Everything dragons was wonderful, Tairn is hilarious and Andarna is such a special one.

I really liked the developing dynamic between riders and flyers, while Cat was jawdroppingly obnoxious in her "jealousy", although many scenes involving the dynamic between her, Vi and Xaden had me laughing out loud.

All in all I really like this 2nd installment, though it could have been a little less dense with a couple more calm scenes focusing simply on characters and relationships. Still great how everything came together. - I left out so much.. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, War, Cursing, Death, Violence, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Confinement, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders

booksofautumn's review

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Instead of porn with a plot it was a lot of plot with a little porn. There was honestly so much happening at once. There were no breaks in plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Blood, Classism, War, Death of parent, and Death

ka_ke's review

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Confinement, Sexual content, Cursing, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, and Medical content

Minor: Toxic relationship

emilywemily6's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This book was so fun and entertaining to read! Though compared to the first in the series, the pacing was slower in the beginning and too fast towards the end. The ideas in this book felt less flushed out and I sometimes had to reread parts to make sure I understood what happened. The spice was 👌 though Xaden and Violet had a lot of miscommunication from not setting expectations for how they communicate and it got old. I love how we got to know the side characters better in this book! The squad is awesome. There were a few crazy twists at the end that make it so hard to wait for the next book! I’m not sure where this series is going for a total of five books, but I feel like this book could have easily been split into two.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, War, Animal death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Death, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Classism

Minor: Ableism and Alcohol

natashareadsbooks's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What the ffff-!! 

Ok, so I am still processing, trying to figure out what I just read and how I am feeling about it 😂😂. 

Iron Flame follows the events of Fourth Wing. 

Everyone including Violet expected Violet to die during her first year at Basgaith- but it turns out that Threshing was just the first test to weed out the weak-willed and unlucky.

Now the real training begins. But it's not that it is malicious and brutal, or that it is designed to stretch a riders pain capacity beyond endurance. No it is the new Code Commandment who has made it his personal mission to teach Violet how powerless she is and to betray the man she loves. The man who broke her trust. 

Even though Violet's body might be frailer than everyone else's, her will is iron. 

But determination to survive won't be enough. 

Soooo, where do I begin? 

Let's start with the issues- I feel like the release was somewhat rushed. It seems sooo many people have had issues- from businesses that were promised the black pages for preorders, having those cancelled, to the wrong title being on the covers, to the missing dragons on chapter 17 (which include my copy I got from Indigo/Coles in Canada, to the lone copy I found in NYS- but I will take the missing dragon over any other issues), but I've even heard missing pages/chapters. Honestly, I don't know where the problem was, it shouldn't have en this big of an issue to begin with. 

Now that that is out of the way, let's continue onto the story within the book.

I still love this world, and these characters. 

I get the conflict between Xaden & Violet, but felt like it dragged on a bit longer than it should have. The biggest issue being trust & communication after the events of Fourth Wing continued on through the whole of Iron Flame. 

I also feel like the book was longer than it needed to be- I get that it was building up the story & the ending conflict/battle, but there is also a whole lot of nothing happening too. So it could have been condensed some. 

But besides those, like I said, I LOVED the world, and the characters. 

Even despite Violet's weaknesses she is still strong. And I absolutely love that strength about her. 

And I still love Xaden- for everything he has been through and everything he is. All his lies and secrets. He is still my favorite character. 

I still love Rhiannon, Ridoc, Sawyer, and all the other characters too. 

And WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?! I am going to lose my mind until I get the next book, because well, as always, I need answers, i need conclusion, and i need more 😂😂. I loved this book, and cannot wait for more from this story. 
4⭐ out of 5⭐. 

3🌶️ out of 5🌶️. Multiple scenes throughout in detail. 

Tropes: 
→ fantasy romance /romantasy
→ enemies to lovers 
→ forced Proximity 
→ academy (war college)
→ New Adult romance 
→ chronic illness (h) representation 
→ morally gray H 
→found family 
→ slow burn 
→ overcoming adversity/underdog 
→ dysfunctional family

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Cursing, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Torture, and War

lexim's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, War, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Chronic illness, and Confinement

Minor: Bullying, Classism, Medical trauma, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders

chasingpages1's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Violence, Gaslighting, War, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Chronic illness, and Classism

Minor: Abandonment, Bullying, Gore, Medical trauma, Genocide, Drug use, Kidnapping, Medical content, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Cursing

keelirae113's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Ableism, Blood, Chronic illness, Gore, Grief, Medical content, War, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Body horror, Classism, Child death, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Confinement, and Vomit

Minor: Bullying and Kidnapping

dianaschmidty's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Since I really don’t want to tackle any of the problems within this book (mainly the fantasy with a ton of plot-holes and

the destroying of the romance of Violet and Xaden/spoiler> ), I’m instead going to make my case for a different couple: Dain and Sloane

Dain basically got a redemption arc. Once I found out that he didn’t know that he had been sending Violet off to her death in FW, I was able to get on board for a morally grey redemption arc. However, I will still never want him with Violet, no matter how toxic Rebecca Yarros made her and Xaden. So, I propose Sloane./spoiler>

Dain and Sloane really only interact on page in chapter 43, but her snapping at him was enough for me to sense enough tension for a great enemies to lovers arc. Also, their potential relationship would perfectly mirror the relationship between Violet and Xaden, all toxicity aside./spoiler>

1. The age difference when they meet. Violet & Sloane: first-years; Xaden & Dain: third-years
2. The chain of command forbiddeness. Both Xaden and Dain were/are the Wing Leaders of Violet/Sloane, and specifically in Fourth Wing.
3. Each pairing has a child of a Tyrrish officer and a child of a Navarrean officer.
4. Each pairing is equal in parent’s rank. Violet and Xaden are each the child of the military leader and Sloane and Dain are each the child of the military leader’s right-hand. Xaden even made that comparison, though with Liam instead of Sloane.
5. Dain and Violet each thought they wanted their best friend. Xaden (and likely Sloane) didn’t really care about romance, but did care about revenge/the rebellion.
6. This kind of all hinges on if Sloane knows about Dain’s involvement in her brother’s death, but Sloane and Dain have similar reasons to be enemies as Violet and Xaden did. Violet disliked Xaden for his father having “killed” her brother. And Xaden didn’t like her because he hated her mom for killing his dad. Dain’s father definitely got Liam killed and there’s definitely an argument for still blaming Dain even after learning that he didn’t  know about the ambush./spoiler>
7. Violet and Xaden’s signets are both powerful and complimentary, with light vs dark. Sloane and Dain’s signets are also both powerful, and while not exactly complimentary, they are similar, with both being able to take from another rider and could easily be used as a weapon, which is demonstrated with Dain during Violet’s torture and Sloane with Violet’s mom./spoiler>
   
   So yeah, I think that the next book should just ignore Violet and Xaden and whatever mess they’re in and focus on this new enemies to lovers story! And if Rebecca Yarros does ever see this, I’d love a shoutout in the acknowledgments!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Animal death, Grief, Medical content, Torture, War, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Kidnapping, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Classism, and Toxic relationship