Book Review 2024 #4 - Rebecca Yarros's Iron Flame
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Published by: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Publication Date: November 7th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 640 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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Everything Violet Sorrengail has ever known is a lie, even the fact that her brother Brennan was dead. She thought folklore was just that. Folklore. Tales to tell your children to behave or else the venin will come and get you. Only the tales about the venin are real. Dark Wielders who draw their power directly from the source, not from a bond with a dragon or gryphon. And she's seen what they can do. She almost died because of them. And her ignorance could have gotten her killed. But now it's her knowledge that is just as dangerous. Because she knows the real reason behind the Tyrrish Rebellion. Tyrrendor wanted to secede from Navarre so that they could join Poromiel in the fight against the venin. And Tyrrendor still plans to fight. Aretia wasn't destroyed as everyone was told. It's still the seat of the revolution. And Xaden Riorson is one of a seven member assembly leading the revolt, along with Violet's brother, Brennan. But the revolution needs continued access to Basgiath to arm themselves. So Violet must return to the War College and pretend that everything is fine, that her mother, the great General Lilith Sorrengail, hasn't been lying to her and the people of Navarre for years in order to protect Navarre at the expense of others. And on top of everything Violet is having dragon issues. Her dragon Tairn is bonded to Xaden's dragon Sgaeyl and Xaden has been assigned to the front, so much of their time is making sure the bonded pair gets to spend as much time as possible together, damn the inconvenience to their riders. Also Violet's bonus dragon Andarna is going through some changes and is laying low. The lie that they fabricated to cover up their run-in with venin means that the new Vice Commandant, Varrish, is suspicious of them. Suspicions that he acts upon in cruel and unusual ways, from trying to keep Sgaeyl and Tairn apart to inflicting punishments on Violet when she won't produce Andarna at his command. The breaking point though is when Varrish literally almost breaks Violet with five days of torture. Violet staged a raid into the archives to get information on the history of Basgiath and the First Six and how to replicate Navarre's wards. Needless to say an extreme interrogation session wasn't the outcome she had hoped for. But her eventual escape means that Basgiath is no longer safe. The revolutionaries, those who know or have come to know the truth, flee to Aretia and Riorson House. There they continue the education of the riders while also engaging in diplomatic talks with Poromiel. But even with allies the enemy grows closer and those closest to Violet still have secrets. Will Navarre survive or will they fall? It all depends on Violet and the secret knowledge she has gleaned.
This book is just bonkers in the best possible way. I mean, some of the things, I just can't. It's too absurd but at the same time totally makes sense to the characters. The gryphon riders legitimately call the dragon riders out on their barbaric practices and how they commit wholesale slaughter of their students and everyone from Basgiath is like, no, that's totally normal right? Kill the weak and all that. Why would you let someone survive? And the gryphon riders are all like, you're mental, OK? And you know what, they are mental, and I love them for it. A large chunk of the student population abandons Basgiath to join the revolution in Aretia and what's the first thing they do? No, they don't assign them jobs or ways in which to help the war effort, they open up their own school. They literally start schooling people in the middle of a war. Damn. I love these idiots. You really just have to embrace the chaos that is contained within the pages of these books. Because if you start to question anything, well, that way insanity lies. Like, how do they have the same months as us? Really. I kind of need to know. Because August is named after Emperor Augustus, the Roman leader, and well... There's no Rome here if you get my drift. And I'm not talking about a drift of gryphons! And you know, no Latin so no October. It doesn't matter that the first of that month is Threshing! Because I don't know how they have that month. But as is my motto with these books, embrace the chaos. These are basically teenagers riding around on giant siege monsters, so, well, suspend your disbelief. Because it's like this, no matter the fantastical in the fantasy genre it's the distilled truths that are brought to the forefront that make this genre more real, more human, than any other genre. What I really connected to is the bond forged between rider and dragon. And while you could say it's more a bond of never-ending friendship to me it's deeper. It's the bond between a human and their beloved pet. The soulmating of a person and a little ball of fur, or in this case a big ball of scales. If you've never experienced this kind of love just read Andarna's speech at the end of Iron Flame. Yes, it might decimate you, and it left me a wreck and in tears, but it's about choice and how you chose your person. Andarna waited for Violet for 650 years. She heard the elders talk of a girl with the mind of a scribe and the heart of a rider and she knew that that girl would be hers. I get teary just thinking about that. About finding your soulmate, picking your destiny, and love. Because in the end that's what this book is about, love.
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