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ka_cam's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This is a good book if you want to turn off you brain, dissociate and pretend you haven’t read any YA fantasy from the last 15 years or so. The plot is predictable, writing not great, and characters flat, but that can be comforting in its way and I did finish it. I felt bad for how one dimensional Xaden and Dein were, and it felt stilted how the author randomly threw in a range of identities that had no real meaning in the world besides to make 2024 US readers feel like they were getting a ‘diverse’ book (though the treatment of Violet’s Ehlers-Danlos style condition was one of the more interesting threads, though also pretty predictable). World building in general left some to be desired. For me the sex scenes read like a high schooler fantasy, and the lusting was a bit tedious, but if it works for you it works for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Animal death, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, and War
saretta02's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Sexual content, and Death
Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Bullying, and War
leni07's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, War, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying and Sexual content
garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Ableism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, War, and Grief
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Medical content, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Stalking, Vomit, Drug use, Animal cruelty, and Toxic relationship
mercerhanau's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Medical content, Ableism, War, Death, Murder, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Death of parent, and Vomit
sjexley's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I need to preface this by saying that I read this for book club, but didn't get to finish the last 150pgs before we met. So I Googled the ending (!!) and subsequently ruined the book for myself. I did finish it later, and still had such an emotional reaction to it. This book was great! I did struggle through some of it but the spice was good, the characters were good and the twists! SO good. I am enjoying these baby steps into fantasy and cannot believe I read a book with a MAP. Happy to report that the hype is real for this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
zydecovivo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
If you get fed any social media posts about books, you have probably heard about Fourth Wing. Admittedly, I went into reading this book thinking “Everyone is saying it’s a game changer, so it must be amazing” and I think that is the wrong way to start this, or any, book.
I’d like to start by saying it is good. If you like romantasy (fantasy+romance) with a touch of dystopia, you’ll have a great time reading Fourth Wing. The main character is also explicitly disabled and it is intertwined with her journey of self-discovery, as well as challenging the status quo of the society she is in. Based on the descriptions, I think she has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. I also love the dragons. They are characters in their own right, not just tools to be used. However, the entire time I was reading, I couldn’t help but tell myself “This is just Divergent with dragons.” The general plot is almost identical. Everything was predictable because of this and the only things that I didn’t predict were because something we were told was “impossible” was, in fact, possible for our super special main character. This occurs multiple times. I don’t even think it’s an unreliable narrator at that point. I think it’s an unreliable universe. The upper hand that Fourth Wing has over Divergent is that this fantasy setting allows for more creativity (and covering up for narrative mistakes). Additionally, I did not enjoy most of the main character’s “love life”. This is enemies-to-lovers, so much so that it is almost anti-friends-to-lovers. I don’t care about either trope, but the blatant comparisons get old. I also felt that the main character thinks about “spice” a lot more than I care for, especially considering the actual spice level of the book. There may be people who want to see this since women’s sexuality is largely swept aside in many stories. But this was not it for me.
Overall, this is a decent adult romantasy book and probably a good introduction to the genre for people who prefer epic fantasy stories. I don’t feel like I wasted my time reading it. But it is not groundbreaking in the slightest and I’m not sure if I will continue the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Blood, Chronic illness, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Vomit, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Sexual content
eleek0609's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Sexual content, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
tinyysue's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, and Violence
bella613's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
OK, this book was good.
I'm going to be honest, it's not particularly well written. It's a little YA at times. The world building isn't spectacular and I got annoyed at some of the fantastical bits especially at the beginning, because it didn't feel real like a good fantasy story when it sucks you in.
This was a recommendation from a coworker, and for the first couple chapters I was pretty sure it was going to be one I barely finished.
However, it's worth sticking around because the book gets better as it goes (in my opinion). Once I was into it, I was really into it. Looking back, I don't know if it deserves as high a rating as I'm going to give it, but I'm doing it anyway because of how much I simply liked it. I enjoyed listening to this more than I've enjoyed a fantasy book since I was a teenager, so it kinda brought me back. I honestly felt nostalgia for my Eragon-reading tween days. I loved the dynamic between Violet and the dragons, and I'd like to see that with more characters. I want to know more about the dragons in general.
I think the author could do a lot better with the relationships between characters. The main romantic relationship feels too lovesick and kinda exaggerated. And the friendships need deeper interactions and better dialogue.
I also want to mention I definitely disliked the telepathy bits. It seemed unnecessary and weird and too much like the trashy werewolf stories you get on fanfiction apps. That and the fact that the sex scenes were more violent than the fight scenes LOL.
But it's pretty easy to ignore that because there's a lot more to the story than just the romance.
I'll be reading the second book and I hope to get more developed backstories and get into the dragons' characters a bit more. This book felt very present-tense focused and didn't do a lot for story besides telling you what's happening. My favorite character was Liam, so.. well.
Anyway, the world is built now and it feels like the story is just beginning. So I'm excited to see what Iron Flame will bring.
I'm going to be honest, it's not particularly well written. It's a little YA at times. The world building isn't spectacular and I got annoyed at some of the fantastical bits especially at the beginning, because it didn't feel real like a good fantasy story when it sucks you in.
This was a recommendation from a coworker, and for the first couple chapters I was pretty sure it was going to be one I barely finished.
However, it's worth sticking around because the book gets better as it goes (in my opinion). Once I was into it, I was really into it. Looking back, I don't know if it deserves as high a rating as I'm going to give it, but I'm doing it anyway because of how much I simply liked it. I enjoyed listening to this more than I've enjoyed a fantasy book since I was a teenager, so it kinda brought me back. I honestly felt nostalgia for my Eragon-reading tween days. I loved the dynamic between Violet and the dragons, and I'd like to see that with more characters. I want to know more about the dragons in general.
I think the author could do a lot better with the relationships between characters. The main romantic relationship feels too lovesick and kinda exaggerated. And the friendships need deeper interactions and better dialogue.
I also want to mention I definitely disliked the telepathy bits. It seemed unnecessary and weird and too much like the trashy werewolf stories you get on fanfiction apps. That and the fact that the sex scenes were more violent than the fight scenes LOL.
But it's pretty easy to ignore that because there's a lot more to the story than just the romance.
I'll be reading the second book and I hope to get more developed backstories and get into the dragons' characters a bit more. This book felt very present-tense focused and didn't do a lot for story besides telling you what's happening. My favorite character was Liam, so.. well.
Anyway, the world is built now and it feels like the story is just beginning. So I'm excited to see what Iron Flame will bring.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, War, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, and Violence