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.
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