Iron Flame (The Empyrean, 2)

I’ve been digesting this book for about 10 minutes and I’m still absolutely stunned. Dammit Rebecca, I need to book 3 right now!

LOVEEEE

SPOILERS … … … Obv love the sibling gang back together. Xaden spends a good first third of the book earning back Violets trust which could have been dragged out a little less IMO. They go back to Basgiath to keep them from killing the other marked ones. And Violet goes through second year obstacles. The villain in this book is Varrish and let me tell you he was the worst. Dain winds up choosing to side with Violet while she’s being tortured and I am all for it. People are upset about Dain now being in on the revolution but idk why. I’m here for it. I always had a little hope for him. Then they all went back to Aretia to train and continue the revolution after rescuing Violet bc there was no turning back. They also make allies with the Poromish. They find out toward the end the Venin are targeting Basgiath and we’re trying to set them up. The final battle is at Basgiath with the Venin and it’s a rollercoaster and Violet figures out how to get the ward stone back up after Jack breaks it (Jack apparently turned Venin in the first book before Violet struck him and Nolan was trying to cure him in this book and was unsuccessful). Her mom sacrifices herself in the process (also not a villain and I never thought she truly was) And saves the day. Oh also Andarna is a 7th breed of dragon and she fires the ward stone. But in the process Xaden gets turned venin in order to save Violet. That’s the cliffhanger. And it’s killing me I am so upset. But I am hoping Violet figures out a way to cure him. We know they were both having nightmares about the Venin trying to recruit them we don’t find out Xaden was having nightmares until the very end. Idk it just really upset me I wanted a happy ending. But I will say I was happy none of her squad died and wasn’t too sad about her mom. So there’s that.

Rebecca Yarros did it again. Torn my heart out and stomped it into a million pieces. I love the detail of dragon and rider history and learning how everything is intertwined. I can not wait for book 3.

The last 40 pages will leave your mouth to the floor