One book blogger I follow rated Fourth Wing five stars, and then Iron Flame one star on Goodreads. I read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros last year, and I loved it. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it’s not often that you rent a book as a library book and then proceed to buy the physical copy because it was that good. With that said, I was reading reviews of Iron Flame, and some were less than positive. I wanted to keep reading the series to form my own thoughts. I liked Iron Flame, but I can also resonate with some of the reviewers who didn’t enjoy this book.

Spoilers for both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame below

Iron Flame picks up immediately where Fourth Wing ended. Violet is grappling with all the secrets she has to keep, along with the guilt she feels over Liam’s death. As she returns to classes, she’s met with a cruel professor who wants to see her not make it out of Basgiath. When the wards protecting Navarre might fall, it’s up to Violet to work with the other riders and the scribes to protect Navarre from all the lies it told to its people.

Let’s start with Violet. Violet comes across as immature in this, which was kind of sad to see. Violet gets mad at Xaden because he hides things from her, including the fact that her brother was alive this entire time. Okay, I could see that Violet has a valid point there, but also, Violet’s mom is a general. Xaden has plenty of reasons to hide things from her. Also, her memories were read by Dain, which Violet didn’t shield her mind from. Granted, Violet didn’t know Dain was doing that, but still. Violet consistently brings up to Xaden how she can’t trust him, and I just want someone to confront Violet with what she needs to hear. I will say that shortly after one of these conversations, Violet does own up to this and why Xaden does what he does, so there is some maturity from her, but overall, I think she comes across as more immature than I would have liked. Xaden is fine? This might sound bad, but I don’t read this series for Violet or Xaden. It’s not that I dislike them as characters; I just think every other character has more going on for them. Rhiannon, Sawyer, Ridoc, Imogen, Quinn, Tairn, Andarna, Sgaeyl, Sloane, etc. These characters are why I continue reading this series, not solely for Violet and Xaden.

One thing that Iron Flame has going for it is the world. I like Navarre. I like how this group of characters ventures outside of Basgiath, and we learn more about the world as a whole. I like learning about the dragons and how they bond with their riders. How each rider has their own sigil and the power they wield. We learn more about Violet’s family, which I liked a lot. There are a lot of things going for this series.

With all that said, I think Iron Flame struggled in two areas. The first is that this book was entirely too long. I don’t mind reading longer books, but the story has to flow. For 637 pages, this book dragged on, which I didn’t feel at all with Fourth Wing. I ended up renting the audiobook from the library, so I listened to the middle half of this book before switching back to the physical copy. I think this book could have been edited down at least 100 pages, potentially more. The second area where I think Iron Flame struggled was the story. Iron Flame had its own Emperor Palpatine moment. When I say Emperor Palpatine, I mean that a villain was brought back from the dead that should not have been. Why is Jack Barlowe back!?!?!?!? UGH. Jack’s death in Fourth Wing was a significant moment for Violet. Jack kept bullying, belittling, and trying to kill her, so Violet throwing him from a mountain while being a vessel for Tairn’s power was great. Bringing him back undoes that moment for me, in my opinion. I don’t think the story supported Jack’s return, and the story suffered because of it. The second villain, Varrish, had a lot of potential. Varrish is the professor I mentioned in an earlier paragraph. However, his evil deeds were shown way too quickly, where he almost overstayed his welcome. He had to go at the time that he did, but I think if some of what he had done was spread out throughout the book, he could have been more of the main villain than he was. The last thing I will mention with the story is the venin. It feels like the venin barely appear in this book, which is a shame since they played a stronger role in Fourth Wing. There are still no answers as to why they do the things they do. Why do they want to take over Navarre? I don’t know.

Iron Flame feels like a letdown when Fourth Wing started the series off on a high note. The fact that this series is meant to extend beyond a trilogy is disconcerting because I don’t think there will be enough material for two full-length books. With all of Iron Flame’s flaws, I still enjoyed reading this, but now I’m lowering my expectations for what Onyx Storm will be like. This might be a series where I read the first three books and decide enough is enough. I rated Iron Flame three stars on both Goodreads and Storygraph.