A.J. Maguire

Tag: Rebecca Yarros

  • Book Review – Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

    For those of you who are still shaking their fists at KU and trying to boycott it, I am going to shrug at you and let you have your opinions. KU gives me access to books that I would otherwise not be able to snag on my monthly book budget. And before you suggest a library instead, I live on the top of a mountain in a small town. Not that I should have to justify my life circumstances to random strangers on the internet, but there you have it.

    Besides, and which has been pointed out by Indie Authors everywhere, boycotting KU doesn’t hurt the people you want it to hurt. It only hurts the Authors.

    That said, I recognize Yarros is a far cry from an Indie Author. I still read her books. Or at least I’m reading the Empyrean series. And I’m enjoying them.

    Still here?

    Awesome. Let’s review Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros.

    The world in this novel opened up in a big way. I loved learning about the different cultures and watching as they fought to open the eyes of an entire nation to the lies it had been told. The characters all grew and I was excited to see Violet aligning back with her friends. The love story was fun but…

    And here I get into my criticism of the book…

    I hated the Cat storyline. I’m not going to get into spoilery specifics here, I’m just going to eye this with a healthy dose of “I thought these were adults” because it sure didn’t feel like they were being very adult. Especially given the fact that lives are at stake and literal war is happening.

    I recognize that the characters on the page might be categorized as ‘new adult’ given the ages at which they were introduced but there was a level of pettiness on the page that drove me absolutely insane. Which might have been the point, in which case, I applaud the author. I’m rarely that annoyed whilst reading, and you hit all the right buttons to get me there.

    Also… thank you, Yarros, for breaking my heart again. Didn’t think you could do it twice, but you did. And now I’m terrified to read the third book.

    I have it.

    My husband bought it for me.

    But I haven’t opened it out of some weird PTSD you’ve given me.

    Five stars.

    Happy reading, everyone!

  • Book Review – Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

    Given how much I have enjoyed Sarah J Maas and her worlds, it should come as no surprise that this Romantasy has been on my radar for a while. I was lucky enough to be given a gift card to Barnes and Noble for Christmas and immediately set about snagging this book.

    MILD SPOILER ALERT — Only read on if you don’t mind a smidgen of talk about THINGS.

    First thing to note — I loved Xaden. Like, from moment one of him entering the stage, I quite enjoyed him. All the stuff I heard about this novel, I thought I would have moments where I didn’t like him but truth is… everything he did made sense. And everything about the world this girl was raised in had all my red flag alarms going off.

    Which means that the big reveal at the end didn’t really hit me the way it might have hit others.

    You mean the militaristic society banning certain books and allowing kids to plunge to death on Conscription Day just to see if they’ll have the wits to get across a parapet is hiding something evil? Who would guess?

    So the entire book I’m mostly watching Violet to see when she wises up, and munching popcorn while the emotions fester between her and Xaden. But I really dug into the narrative the moment we meet the dragons, because I love stories where dragons bond/speak/get on the level with humans. Tairn’s exasperation was excellent.

    I will say that Andarna probably shouldn’t have been so puppyish if they were trying to keep her age on the down-low from authorities. Any adult watching that scenario would be stroking their chin about the true nature of feathertails, and that’s based on maybe three interactions they get to see from afar.

    Next up…

    Having been through Basic Training, I thoroughly enjoyed the militaristic aspects of Violet’s training. Outside of the very real threat to the lives of these kids, I was right at home with the physical demands they placed on her and the struggle she had to overcome them.

    The romance built nicely, but as always, I warn Parents that there are explicit scenes in this book. Which, to be fair, I keep meaning to have a longer conversation about explicit scenes in books because they are so popular. Before I do, let me clarify by saying ‘kids’ in this book are consenting age, I’m just showing how old I am in calling them kids.

    My very conservative upbringing blushes at a lot of these scenes. If I feel they are gratuitous, I pass them over. My eyes literally skim the page hunting for the conversation that comes after because, quite frankly, while intimacy is important to keeping a romance healthy, its the vulnerable moments after that truly define that relationship.

    Because I am constantly trying to improve my craft, I did read a book recently that describes what makes a good intimate scene, and when I remember the title and who wrote it, I’ll be sure to update this post, but for now I’ll make note of what truly stuck out to me. What was explained was that you had to be able to say why only these two people could be having this scene at this time, what it reveals about them as individuals as well as them as a couple. And this makes so much sense to me that I have to wonder why I didn’t notice it before.

    Suffice, in this book, the intimate scenes made sense. I mean, some of it could have been put behind a closed door, but you don’t pick up a romantasy without certain expectations so… fans might have murdered Yarros if she closed that door too soon.

    The story was fun and I get the hype that surrounded it. The characters have stuck with me, even if some aspects of the world haven’t, and I’m excited to see what happens next.

    Fourth Wing – Rebecca Yarros