Series: The Empyrean

Entry #2 in Rebecca Yarros’s the Empyrean series similar to my review of Fourth Wing, I’ll be jumping right into my general impressions and skip the usual editorial-style intro and recap since most people are quite familiar with the series one way or another. Dividing into two parts that are roughly equal in page counts, Iron Flame is like a tale of two different reading experiences vastly different from each other. The entire novel covers about half of Violet Sorrengail’s 2nd year at the Basgiath War College, with part 1 following a similar formula to Fourth Wing’s rider academy training arc and part 2 diverging and focusing on the larger political factions and war strategizing across the continent, most similar to Fourth Wing’s late War Games arc and the subsequent events. Interestingly, Iron Flame’s overall direction with its plot, characters and hybrid romantasy genre largely addressed and improved on nearly every point of criticism I mentioned in my past review of Fourth Wing. And while I found Iron Flame’s Part 2 half to range from great to stellar, its opening Part 1 half felt like an endless slog to get through. Although the plot and world-building were substantially more ambitious…

Normally I start reviews with a brief recap and overall impressions before getting into my general thoughts and impressions, but you have to be living under a rock to be unfamiliar with Rebecca Yarros’s Empyrean series’ first novel Fourth Wing. Also, quite a few of my book friends have been dying for me to read this series and to hear my thoughts on it. Having heard very mixed receptions and reviews for the series (Iron Flame in particular being the most polarizing) and being a fairly inexperienced romantasy reader, I went in preparing myself to be disappointed. While I did find myself agreeing with many of the common criticisms highlighted in other far more detailed reviews for the book, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the ambition and generally great plotting of the story (apart from when the story goes a bit astray at the two thirds mark). If there’s one thing that’s consistent in Fourth Wing, its the entertainment value and accessibility of the story for all sorts of readers, romance and fantasy alike. An early note I had written down said “Sure I can critique and nitpick the book and call out its lack of details and world-building,…