Iron Flame (review)

Iron Flame is the second book in the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros. The first book was The Fourth Wing. If I had to characterize this series, I would say it is a little like Harry Potter meets Game of Thrones. As incongruous as that pairing may sound, I think it works. But like the Game of Thrones books, this series is not for children.

Violet Sorrengail is a student at a military academy with dragons. Dragons are part of the training, but in this case it is more like the dragons are saying “how to train your humans”. In the first book we learned the dark secret that separates her group of friends from the rest of her classmates (from the rest of her country). But Violet is a scholar as well as a soldier, so she has to try to work out answers, not just solve them by brute force.

In this book, Violet and her frustrating love interest Xaden are walking a tightrope, trying to do what they can for the cause without alerting the leadership with what they know. They are also walking a tightrope of their own relationship. Some secrets cannot be shared, even with each other. There is also a villain who is so over the top that I started to wonder if he was faking his villainy (I won't tell you).

I am having a hoot reading this series, though I should say that this is the second book in what will at least be a trilogy, and it suffers the same fate as most middle books in a series in that some things are left unresolved in the end. Still, it is satisfying enough for me to be eagerly awaiting book three. Now I just have to wait for Rebecca Yarros to write it.

Star Liner

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