Iron Flame: Book 2 in the Empyrean Series

Intro

Violet Sorrengail escaped Resson and is back at Basgiath War College as a second year. Now without Xaden at her side and her brother alive, she has to figure out how to keep the events of Resson secret from her friends, as much as she wants to tell them. She also has to navigate her new broken relationship with Xaden who lied about her brother being alive when everyone assumed Brennan was dead. Second year at Basgiath turns out to be a lot more intense: interrogations, a new vice commandant, and when Violet discovers a piece of information that can only be found in the Archives, she has to find a way to protect everyone she loves while lying to them at the same time. 

How I came across the book

I really liked Fourth Wing and wanted to read the second book, and there was no way I could just stop reading the series after the jaw-dropping cliffhanger of the first book. 

Other books by the author/In the series

The other books besides Iron Flame in the Empyrean series are Fourth Wing and Onyx Storm. 

The Good

• Violet has always known her worth and tells Xaden she can no longer trust him and chooses logic over her heart

• Xaden tells Violet that if they are going to be together again and hook up he needs to hear her say that she loves him and he won’t do it while she hates him

• Violet is admitting to Xaden that she hasn't been truthful with anyone even him and he says that even though he hasn't been making it easy to trust him either what they build together has to be strong enough to withstand a storm because they are not easy people

• XADEN'S LOVE CONFESSION TO VIOLET IN THE SHOWER

• XADEN WARDED HIS ROOM TO BE SOUNDPROOF ONLY FOR HIM AND VIOLET

• Violet is disappointed that Mira wrote her a letter instead of Xaden

• Violet finally tells her friends all the secrets about Resson that she's been keeping from them

• Violet and her friends finally manage to sneak into the Archives and find the books that were written before the wards were put up so they can figure out how to make wards for Aretha and protect themselves

• XADEN BREAKS INTO THE INTERROGATION ROOM WHEN VIOLET IS BEING INTERROGATED AND LEFT SAMARA WITHOUT LEAVE TO SEE HER WHEN SHE THOUGHT HE WOULD BE MORE FOCUSED ON THE REVOLUTION THAN SAVING HER

•  Violet finally kills Varrish

  • Violet feels bad that Xaden risked the whole revolution to come save her and says he will lose everything he's worked for because of her and he says then he will have everything he needs

  • Xaden says he would happily watch Aretia burn to the ground if it means Violet would live

  • The whole land of Aretia belongs to Xaden and he is the duke

  • When Violet and Xaden go into the meeting room and kick everyone out after her fight with Cat and he starts to take off her shoes and she says they can’t be doing this but he says these are all his rooms and they can do whatever they want and he says MY HOUSE MY CHAIR MY WOMAN

  • XADEN SAYS HE WILL TELL VIOLET EVERYTHING SHE WANTS AND HE LOVES HER TOO MUCH NOT TO FIGHT AGAIN AND VIOLET SAYS XADEN IS HER GRAVITY AND NOTHING ELSE WORKS WITHOUT HIM

  • Andarna kills the venin and she can breathe fire

  • Violet says that she and Xaden are going to see her again after he kisses her and says goodbye and she demands that Tairn stay with him and doesn’t let him die

  • VIOLET IS USING ALL HER POWER TO SAVE THE WARDS BUT IT TAKES OVER HER AND TAIRN SAYS SHE CCANT DIE BC HE CHOSE HER AS HIS LAST NOT HIS NEXT

  • XADEN TURNS INTO A VENIN JUST TO SAVE VIOLET

The Bad

• Xaden and Brennan are working together so Xaden knew he was alive the whole time he was with Violet and he lied to her by pretending that her own brother was dead when they were working together the whole time

• The assembly wants to capture Violet and keep her at Rierson house instead of taking her back to Basgiath and they say she isn't trustworthy and knows too much information

• There is a new suspicious major and Colonel Aetos assigned Violet two days of leave every two weeks so that Tairn could see Sgaeyl but they cant be apart for more than three days

• Liam's sister Sloane is a first year and hates Violet because she blames her for Liam's death but when Liam died he told Violet to protect Sloane

• Nadine said she was Violet and the first year killed her instead

• DAIN'S FATHER JUST TRIED TO KILL VIOLET AND SENT A FIRST YEAR TO KILL HER

• Varrish overexhausts Violet and makes her use her powers too much and injures her as a result of Andarna not coming to formation but she needs to rest since no one can know there is another black dragon or it will risk lives of all the other feathertails

• Since Varrish noticed the lack of flight maneuvers Andarna was at he removed Violet’s clearance to see Xaden at Samara

• Dain challenges Violet to a match after she just said that they weren't friends after he kept being desperate and pleading with her to talk to him it's his own fault that she isn't talking to him when he is always so controlling and he invaded her privacy by stealing her memory

• Violet has to keep lying to Rhiannon even tho Rhiannon is her best friend bc the news could get her in trouble

• JACK BARLOWE IS ALIVE

• One rider at Samara was severely injured in an attack and Markham looks at Violet before rubbing the relic on the left side of her neck which is the same side that Xaden's relic is on and Violet says that no world exists if she is not there

• Nolon drugs Violet with a liquid and convinces her that it is lemonade but her head spins and she goes unconscious

• General Sorrengail got Xaden to protect Violet which is why he wasn't killing her when he should have been in the first year and she was the one who put the knife marks on Xaden's back

• Violet fights Cat on the mat and she keeps reminding Violet of how she had Xaden first which is so childish and pathetic

• Xaden reveals to Violet he is an innistic which means he can read minds but all innistics are killed so he can’t tell anyone

• JACK SLITS BAIDE’S THROAT WHY WOULD HE KILL HIS OWN DRAGON

• THE WARDS HAVE FALLEN AND NAVARRE IS DEFENSELESS

• THE WYVERN BIT OFF SAWYERS LEG AND DRAGGED HIM OFF HIS DRAGON

• SLOANE KILLED VIOLET’S MOM BY PUTTING HER HANDS ON THE WARDSTONE WHICH DRAINED ALL THE ENERGY OUT OF HER AND INTO THE STONE WILLINGLY SO THE WARDS WOULD HAVE POWER AND BASGIATH WOULD BE PROTECTED

• Jack says that bc of the “cure” he and Xaden are brothers now

• XADEN IS A VENIN

Who else would like this

Fourth Wing fans and Xaden Riorson yearners. 

Rating

8/10 this book was so so amazing I loved the complexity and shifts of the relationship between Xaden and Violet throughout the story. The fact that Brennan is alive and Xaden lied to Violet about his death is unacceptable, and he lied to her about so many things but she still manages to forgive him. I appreciate how the relationship between Violet and her mother shifts, she doesn’t acknowledge Violet after Resson but she shows genuine care for her children when she sees Violet about to die and when she discovers Brennan is alive. WHEN SHE LETS SLOANE KILL HER WILLINGLY I CRIED it was so sad but it shows she would do anything for her kids even though she has to act strong in front of them because she is a general and their principal. When Xaden says he would never leave Violet and he makes her promise that them fighting didn’t break them, this shows the deepness of their relationship and even though they are both difficult people, they love each other more than they love anything else. I despised Varrish from his introduction, the way he punished Violet during the interrogations were despicable. There was so much packed into the second book that at some parts it was hard to comprehend what I was reading. The fact that Xaden turns venin just to save Violet is astonishing because now he is deadly and is a threat to everyone he knows, but he doesn’t care about anyone else except her. I am so beyond excited to read Onyx Storm, even if it turns out to be just as heart-shattering as this book.