The much anticipated sequel to Fourth Wing was...better than the original?
So first I'm going to state that the beginning of this review is going to be spoiler-free for Iron Flame (no promises on Fourth Wing), since I know some people don't want to stumble upon that. I will make a pretty clear distinction when it goes into more of a spoiler zone.
Iron Flame, which you probably know about if you spend any time on bookstagram or booktok, is the sequel to Fourth Wing, the dragon rider book that seemingly took over the world this year.
This story starts almost immediately where Fourth Wing left off, with Violet finding out her brother is alive and that Xaden has known for quite some time. Brennan is the head of a rebel group that is living in House Riorson, Xaden's home and trying to help fight off the wyvern and venin that are attacking the cities beyond the wards.
As this is happening, the group of riders who ended up in Aretia must return to Basgiath War College, where Violet will start her second year and Xaden will graduate. Violet and Xaden now have to work through their trust issues with the added element of distance from Xaden's placement. While trying to keep their dragons happy, Violet is now faced with a vice commandant who seems to be out to get her and Xaden. As Violet and the rest of Fourth Wing are trying to survive their second year, Violet also has to keep secrets from her friends, which starts to impact her relationships. During this time, Xaden is also trying to gain back her trust, after keeping secrets from her for so long, mostly to keep her safe.
Overall, I think I enjoyed this book more than Fourth Wing, Why? Because the fantasy-elements were better, in my opinion. I wanted more fantasy in the first book and this book had a lot more lore and areas of information that I think were missing from the first book. That does not mean I didn't have some issues with parts of the book (which I will get to in the spoiler part). There was a lot of time spent on Violet demanding Xaden be honest with her, while she was not being fully honest herself. Also, most of his secrets were to keep her safe at the war college, because her shields were not strong enough to keep out those who would use that information to kill her and everyone else involved. But it just felt like Violet was really stuck on the 'he lied' part of the conversation, even though many people's safety was at risk. It felt like a lot more could have happened with their relationship and understanding of each other overall if she didn't spend a lot of the time mad at him. On the opposite note, I really did enjoy Xaden as a character opening up more and sharing things. It made him more human than he felt in the first book.
Another non-spoiler part I really liked, sassy adolescent dragons. A+. Would read a whole book with sassy dragon comments.
Alright friends, time for some spoilers.
Now, back to having Xaden keeping secrets and me being absolutely annoyed with Violet because of it...Cat. Xaden's ex comes into the story as a gryphon rider who was betrothed to Xaden prior to him meeting Violet. Cat uses this jealousy and anger that Violet has towards him to manipulate Violet into being a pretty horrible person for bit, to the point where reading from her point of view annoyed me. (Hell, even Tairn was annoyed). Cat uses her power to make Violet feel these things stronger, while also continuing to bait Violet, which made her act irrationally. Though I understand this book is definitely more written for 'romance' readers, the idea of spending so much time on an annoying ex who is there for a bit just to be annoying, when there is a whole war going on, was really obnoxious to me.
In relation to this, Xaden and Violet's love is a downfall at times. Even though the romance aspects are well written and believable, they spend a lot of time having their love and emotions towards each other clouding their judgement when it comes to making choices for the greater good of everyone else.
One thing I really enjoyed with the book, I liked having some backgrounds filled in. The stories with Brennan, learning about how Xaden got the scars he did and the promises he made, and finally having all the Sorrengail children together and working on the same side, brilliant.
The last bit of my spoiler review...that ending. Ouch. I'm excited to see where it goes and how they try to solve the issues left open-ended at the end of the book.
I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars.
I loved the added fantasy and dragons to the story. I am excited to see where the series goes.
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