"I waited six hundred and fifty years to hatch. Waited until your eighteenth summer, when I heard our elders talk of the weakling daughter of their general, the girl forecasted to become the head of the scribes, and I knew. You would have the mind of a scribe and the heart of a rider. You would be mine."
It is
so, so rare for me to leap into a sequel
immediately following the completion of book one; but in the case of Rebecca Yarros'
Iron Flame, it was a
non-neogtiable. You guys, the
impact these characters had on me in
Fourth Wing was something I was
so not ready to leave behind; thus, I
dove directly in, and
OMG all I can say is how on earth am I supposed to wait until
January for
Onyx Storm?
Now twenty-one-years-old,
Violet Sorrengail accomplished the
unthinkable during her first year in the
Riders Quadrant at
Basgiath War College:
she survived. And not just survived...she thrived - bonding to
not one, but two dragons during Threshing {the standouts
Tairn and Andarna}; finding a mate in the unlikely {yet
oh so swoon-worthy}
Xaden Riorson; and coming into her own, showing her
classmates just how
badass she truly is. But Year One is done.
Everyone knows that the true time to weed out the weak, the vulnerable, the unworthy...isn't during the torturous time of Threshing. No, it's during Year Two - when you've developed a sense of cockiness, confidence, and the incorrect feeling that you
are untouchable that the true weeding out process begins. Welcome to Year Two.
Violet is known for being
weaker and frailer than her fellow Dragon Riders; she's also known for
not allowing those things to stop her. Strong of mind, and
incredibly determined, Violet is entering Year Two ready for
anything training has to throw at her. After all, she has seen what it's like on the outside, borne
witness to the terror that lies outside of
Navarre. While it's a knowledge that
haunts her every sleeping {and waking} moment, it's also the
driving force behind her will to succeed. Yes, it's
grueling; yes, it's
brutal; yes, it will test tolerance of
pain and torture...but it's not impossible. The new Vice Commandant,
Varrish, however, is
hellbent on making it so. At least for Violet. From the moment of his arrival, Varrish develops a
hyper-fixation on Violet, Tairn, and Andarna - issuing threats, torment, and persecution all in the name of showing Vi how utterly powerless she is. But he's wrong. Vi is
anything but powerless. And even if it kills her, Vi is
dead set on protecting her friends and exposing the true secret that has been hidden at Basgiath War College
for centuries.
Yarros had better start
churning out novellas from
all of the POVs because
let me tell you this is a cast of characters that I
cannot get enough of, and I will shell out cash for each and every one of them -
especially if we get one from my
sassy sweetheart Andarna and my
hilarious teddy bear Tairn because they are two of my
all-time favorite characters in literature and
I would die for them. Yes, if you hadn't already surmised, I'm here for the dragons, the rest of the characters are just a
very welcome bonus. But I digress...
Iron Flame gutted me in ways I never thought possible.
Multiple hallucinations {or were they?} from a character I'm still mourning from
Fourth Wing; the return of a
villain I hoped never to see again;
all of the questions surrounding Andarna's sleep for the first half of the book {ngl I suffered
severe anxiety during this period}...I mean, it was
gut-wrenching. Not since
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter have I felt such a strong pull to a fictional world and the characters therein, but Yarros has just
nailed it. Despite the fact that there are
loads of characters throughout, they are
so distinguishable based on their traits and personalities that,
love them of loathe them, they are unforgettable. Most unforgettable,
at least for me, are the dragons - I absolutely
cannot get enough of them. The way that they communicate
telepathically is just
brilliant and something I look forward to as I turn each page. And
Violet? I liked her in
Fourth Wing; but she just blew me away in
Iron Flame. Like, she has literally cemented herself in my top 3 of favorite fictional female characters.
Kudos to you Ms. Yarros...
you are a true queen. I am
eagerly awaiting Onyx Storm.
Star Rating: *****
xx
