If Fourth Wing was the spark, Iron Flame was the wildfire.
Everything I loved about book one? Cranked up to eleven. The stakes are higher, the secrets are darker, the world is bigger, and Violet Sorrengail continues to prove that being the smallest person in the room means absolutely nothing when you have lightning in your veins and two bonded dragons who chose YOU.
Xaden in this book — the TENSION. The secrets between them, the trust fracturing, the desperate need to protect each other while also lying through their teeth. It was agonizing in the best possible way. Watching two people who love each other struggle to be honest? Pain. Delicious, addictive pain.
Tairn remains the best character in this entire series and I will hear no arguments. His bond with Violet, his sass, his protectiveness — that dragon is my emotional support fictional creature. And Andarna's evolution? I was NOT ready. The revelations about what she is? Screamed.
The new location, the rebellion, the politics, the venin threat becoming REAL — this book expanded the world in ways I didn't expect and I was eating every page. The battle sequences were brutal. The betrayals hit hard. The ending left me physically damaged.
And the CLIFFHANGER. Rebecca Yarros said "suffer until book three" and I have been suffering since. Respectfully, ma'am, you are a menace and I adore you for it.
🐉🔥 5/5 stars. This series owns me and I'm not even embarrassed about it.