Despite my review, I still recommend this.
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2023 | Rating: 3/5 | Best Sellers in Audible Books & Originals
the mind wrestling ive been doing internally since finishing the book last night as been unreal what star do i give this has this exceeded or fell short of my expectation am i being swayed by opinions ive seen on this book was it really that bad or am i trying to convince myself it was good these are all of the questions ive been asking myself leading in to this morning this book has rattled me so much and right now i am so conflictedi fought trying to love this book as much as i had hoped i would and here i am even now trying to convince myself there are parts so few parts where i was completely immersed and felt the similarity and connection to the fourth wing so let me explainviolet who is she in this book im not sure when or if i missed something but i felt the author genuinely failed out fmc the entire book we get this insecure cant make any right decisionsabsolutely no character development i hardly felt like violet was a second year compared to the first book where the older kids seemed way cool and badass and i couldnt wait for our character to be like that instead we got this horny and whiny thing i did like how the author interpreted the responsibility that violet had to take on like needing to keep secrets and what really happened at war games to herself in order to protect those around her it was well written how it took its toll on her and her friendships of the badassery in the torture chamber and summoning liam theory to be her guardian angel then the entire book she still cannot hit a target with her lightning like give me a breakthe romance also fell short some moments were tender and alluring but not enough in this developing relationship in fourth wing there was more tension and im sure i can speak for everyonewe all felt it thought the text the throne scene was amazing but again ended on a bad note instead we got this jealous x trope creating negative tension and unnecessary drama for our characters the time spent on that could have been spent on writing other more important things and speaking of drama the trust dance we had to endure throughout the book was irritating the hiding things and keeping secrets from each other only because the other didnt simply ask ugh the author then explains how xaden is trying to earn back violets trustby doing what exactly making violet give him the three little words stop there is absolutely no detail or explanation when and how xaden actually works to earn her trust backoh by simply telling her that theres been an attack on samara so she didnt have to hear it in battle brief please oh and the letterswe could have been included in those a little more maybe i would have stayed in love with him again very one dimensional and a complete downgrade just like any other relationshiplike ope we are together now i dont need to try anymorethis book should have been the next step up the upgrade fourth wing should have been inferior to thisbut i feel it to be completely opposite the writingdont even get me started on the writing so choppy and rushed i cannot stand when authors fast forward days weeks and months and rebecca did that numerous times throughout those could have been precious moments where she could have colorfully grown our characters but everything was soshallow lazy hardly any world building and again no character development then the information dump that seemed to continuously make my head spin but then lack of information especially for our gryphon squads we barely even know whats the story about them except that cat is xadens bitchy x yeah because thats what we want to read aboutbut he most disappointing partthe dragons i really wished for more there should have been so much more as the characters develop a deeper bond with them tairn used to be this grumpy dadlike character full of sarcasm and wisdom in iron flame he was soboring and andarna my favorite rebecca let me down so much with that done she slept more than half of the book and was written so dully all i got was this arrogant and annoying adolescent character who lacked depth and absolutely no connection to violet what so ever but then swoops in and saves the day at the end of the bookto conclude the only reason i even finished it was because my attachment to the first book hope iron flame was entirely too long and i wondered why it took me a week to finish it it was a drag and painful overall i am disappointed and this did not meet my expectations i really hope for rebecca to turn this around when she plans to continue writing this story i will give her that the cliffhanger was insane and shocking but again no depth i think this could be really amazing but the writing needs a lot of work if youve made it this far and wondering if id recommend it yes of course its a good story but i am glad i finished it and can now move on