Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: Piatkus

Tags: Fantasy, Romantasy, Dragons, YA/NA, Series, Some Humour. **TW Torture, Death, War 

Length: 639 Pages

Reviewer: Kazza

Purchase At: amazon, audible

Blurb:

SECRETS. SACRIFICE. SURVIVAL.

Against all odds, Violet Sorrengail made it through her first year at Basgiath War College, but now, the real training begins. The stakes are higher than ever, and a determination to survive won’t be enough this time.

When a powerful new enemy threatens everything she cares about, including the man she loves, Violet must do whatever it takes to keep their secrets safe. One wrong move could have horrifying consequences – and as the web of lies spun by those in charge starts to unravel, nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.

THE DEADLY SECOND YEAR AT BASGIATH AWAITS

Review: 

“The first year is when some of us lose our lives,” he says softly, tucking my damp hair behind my ear. “The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.”

This book really was a huge undertaking by the author. There is SO much that goes on in the 639 pages that I am overwhelmed with the concept of reviewing. It’s sheer breadth is a lot to have packed into the wordcount, to unpack here, but I was sucked into the vortex of all the feelings, all the wins, all the losses. I’m especially feeling the burn and immense pain of chapter 66. But this blog is for books that speak to me, so here we go.

Iron Flame is divided into two parts. The beginning starts not long after the War Game that was anything but a game. It was an actual fight against the dark wielders, venin and their wyvern. Beings that Navarre say don’t exist. Violet and Xaden, plus relic-marked members of Fourth Wing, are now recuperating in what was originally Xaden’s family’s palatial home, Riorson House. It didn’t burn when Basgiath came for them during the “rebellion” because it’s all stone. Now it houses an Assembly that has been rebuilding what was a city, before being incinerated, into a town they hide. Brennan, Violet’s supposedly dead brother, is also there. Surprise! He stayed after a mission to help the ‘rebels’ fight because his conscience wouldn’t allow him to continue to be a part of Basgiath’s attitude toward other people outside their wards.

Ultimately, Violet and Xaden need to make a decision whether to stay in Aretia or to head back to College for graduation. Returning feels like the lesser of two evils because if they don’t return, someone will come looking. It’s a risk to Aretia, but mostly it’s a risk to the returning cadets who could be killed upon returning. However, Xaden is certain no one at Basgiath will risk anyone knowing that they sent their cadets to the frontline to be killed. That venin and wyvern aren’t just folklore. They’re real and they’re sucking the life out of cities and towns at an alarming rate. 

Part 1 is mostly set at Basgiath War College where Violet is now a second year cadet. Xaden was right, they don’t want anyone to know about the venin or wyvern, or how some in the College clearly sent them to their death. She and Xaden get minimal contact on a rotating fortnightly basis. Because Xaden has graduated, he’s given a posting. They make sure it’s to a hotspot. Samara. The only reason the powers-that-be allow them any contact at all is because of their dragon bond. The Empyrean (dragon council) is important because dragons allowed the First Six access to protect the hatching grounds and now, hundreds of years later, the dragons are pivotal for military strength. For Basgiath. Together, including their dragons, Violet and Xaden are a force to be reckoned with, even if Violet is still struggling to precisely harness her signet. It scares and fascinates the (supposedly) good, the bad, and the freaky.

With a new, heavy handed Vice Commandant at Basgiath, the vile Major Varrish, Violet is put through the literal emotional and physical wringer. Xaden is given increasingly limited access to Violet, even when he isn’t at the frontline. Violet feels the weight of the world on her shoulders as her best friends, who are also in her wing, don’t know what happened at Resson. At “War Games.” Her sister doesn’t know either and she also doesn’t know their brother is alive, has been for the last six years, but Violet has to keep that hidden too. When Xaden and Violet do catch up, they often bicker. Violet is burdened, harassed, creates self-imposed isolation to save others, and is tortured. Xaden keeps things from her because, mostly, not always, they don’t just affect him. Others can be harmed, and Violet is still building her mental shields. The rebuilding of Aretia is important. Keeping people alive inside and outside the wards is important. Finding a way to kill the venin and the wyvern is becoming critical mass. 

Violet has been threatened by the outgoing commandant, Colonel Aetos, that people will pay. Assassins are sent to the College. The people who were at Resson with Violet, who know the truth, are slowly being picked off. One by one. The PR machine at the College is withholding critical information, spreading misinformation, and their battle maps lie. Violet knows this but other cadets do not. In amongst the chaos that is her life at Basgiath, Violet continues to have nightmares about Resson, in particular Liam dying, and the venin sage. Violet is further tested to her limits until she’s at complete and utter breaking point at Varrish’s hands. Xaden and his shadows help her in the best way possible. Tairn makes Varrish apologise, a great moment, but it’s Xaden who gives her the ultimate payback gift. I loved him even more for that. As I said in my review of Fourth Wing, I’m all about payback, baby.

It’s taking everything I have just to stay standing.
Xaden’s hand wraps around mine, and he jabs forward, driving the blade into Varrish’s heart. I memorize the look on Varrish’s face as the life fades out of him, just so I can reassure myself that he’s really dead when the nightmares inevitably come.  

Violet, who was supposed to be a scribe, believes there are answers to numerous things – the venin, wyvern, wards – in Basgiath’s Archives. She has cultivated an ally and friend at the Archives, Jesinia who, unbeknownst to Violet, has helped her already, and who seems to be trustworthy. Sometimes, you have to take a chance, but it gets back to the mind fucking questions of, can anyone be trusted? Who can I turn to? There are people in command who are either overtly acting badly, seem shady, or may be on the up and up. I was so glad when Violet eventually let her friends in, they are an amazing group. Shout out to Violet’s squad mates and besties, Rhi, they met prior to Parapet when Violet helped her, also Sawyer and Ridoc. Imogen too. They barely flinch when something, often dire, is needed.   

Dain Aetos had his eyes opened in this book. He’s been a by-the-book, Codex kind of guy, has great faith in Basgiath, but he recalibrated for Violet, choosing the right thing when it mattered, even if it didn’t match the rules.

Tairn and Andarna, Violet’s dragons, remain great side characters. Tairn is a force of nature, the dragon they most revere, his banter can be amusing and paternal, especially about Andarna and Violet. He can also be bloodthirsty. Don’t mess with who is his.

 “I think he got the message,” I say to Tairn.
“If Solas comes near you again, he knows I will devour his human whole and let him rot within me while his heart still beats, and then I’ll take the eye I so graciously left him.”

The (gryphon) fliers who come to Basgiath are really more cannon fodder, and even though Cat, a flier and Xaden’s ex, started out badly, she became an asset. Yes, I know Cat has the signet to ramp up emotions, that Violet was susceptible to feeling less-than – ‘she’s better than me, etc’ –  but thankfully this passed pretty quickly. Not too much time to think on it when your very old, very wise dragon counsels you.

“But at one point Xaden chose her.” I lean into the right bank as Tairn hugs the face of the mountain, continuing to climb.
“And at one point, you thought gruel was a satisfactory meal, until you grew some teeth and found the rest of the world’s food waiting. Now cease this line of thinking. It does not serve to make you stronger.”

Part 2 is predominantly about Violet and Xaden distancing from the bullshit at Basgiath with their Fourth Wing crew, as well as the relic-marked cadets, and all of their dragons. Others also join with them because Violet and Xaden have that sort of pulling power. They are working out how to possibly fire up the dormant wardstone at Aretia so they can protect themselves from the gathering venin and wyvern that are on the move. To forge and imbue more weapons to use against the dark wielders, using journals from the Archives and also some rare documents about the First Six who founded the wards at Navarre that are… well… bartered for hard from another source. There’s a lot that needs to be learned about the lost art of magic around the wards as well.

In the end, they journey back to Navarre once more because the Sorrengail sibling’s mother has asked them to otherwise Basgiath will fall. Honestly, their mother was all about how ‘what I did, I did for love’ (queue A Chorus Line). But I call utter bullshit. She was an avoidant mother who played favourites and also put all their lives at risk. Uh, buh-bye. No tears shed.    

Also. Come on! Liam died and I was sadness revisited in sections of this book, and his sister Sloane, she’s a freaking MacGuffin?!

I’ve left a lot out. There’s way too much to explain.       

Relationally: I found this instalment to have more depth behind Violet and Xaden’s relationship. Yes. I know they bickered and went around in circles. Welcome to a highly charged, tension-filled relationship in difficult times. However, there were deeply felt declarations and actions by Xaden that left no doubt, whatsoever, just how much in the game he was about Violet. We’re in Violet’s head for all but the last chapter and we see how much she loves him, even when she feels some (not completely unwarranted) frustration. Xaden wants Violet to ask him the right questions and I felt that was very Dr Lanning (I, Robot) of him – “I’m sorry, (Violet) my responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.” But a big piece of information, something that would have seen Xaden put to death at Basgiath, is revealed. Given what Navarre and Basgiath have done to his family and his city, he is incredibly compassionate.  

“But your home…” It’s softer than a whisper.
“You are my home. And if we all die here today, then the knowledge dies with us anyway. Ward Basgiath.”

I don’t think I’ve cared this intensely about the MCs of a fantasy book since Rose Hathaway and Dimtri Belikov of Vampire Academy. And just like I was gutted in book #3 of that series, I was gutted by book #2 in this one. I am hoping the author pulls off some miracle around one of the MCs involved because my heart couldn’t take it if they cannot be together. Pull out some deus ex machina, RY, I’m here for it. I noticed that only Rebecca Soler is narrating the audiobook of Onyx Storm and that makes me think there is little-to-no Xaden in book #3, which is released in about seven days time, but I’m purely speculating. I’m sweating on January 21st for the third instalment, Onyx Storm. Based on both books so far, that title promises much. 

TLDR: A lot of action. Love the MCs. They hit some hurdles but their love does not diminish, it ramps up. Violet’s bonded dragons, Tairn and Andarna, get into the action even more, as do the other dragons, even some gryphons, and Violet’s dragons enhance the book via their attitude and banter, including a revelation about Andarna. People keep dying. Sloane is a MacGuffin. Navarre, therefore Basgiath, has become a propaganda state. Violet has to deal with secrets, and also with torture and assassination attempts. The friends are all tight and have each other’s back. Shock, horror! Contrary to their heavily redacted and hidden sections in the Archives, there are things that exist that are the stuff of nightmares coming Navarre’s, the Continent’s, way. As a personal aside, my daughter accuses me of being a nerdy fangirl over books but I don’t get the rest of nerddom. The primary ensemble cast remain awesome.  Iron Flame ended with another secret becoming known to Violet and on a massive sucker punch cliffhanger. Gah! Graps chest! Loving this series thus far. Bring on Onyx Storm. 5 Stars!