 | |
| Author | Rebecca Yarros |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Empyrean |
| Genre | |
| Published | November 7, 2023 |
| Publisher | Red Tower Books (Entangled Publishing) |
| Pages | 623 |
| ISBN | 978-1-64937-417-2 |
| Preceded by | Fourth Wing |
| Followed by | Onyx Storm |
Iron Flame is a 2023 new adult fantasy novel by American author Rebecca Yarros. It is the second book in the Empyrean series, a planned five-book series. [1] [2] [3]
The second installment in the Empyrean series was released on November 7, 2023. [4] [5] [6] [7] Yarros took to Instagram to announce the title and release date of the second installment of the Empyrean series two days after Fourth Wing’s release. [8] Three months before Iron Flame hit shelves, TODAY.com posted an exclusive 500-word teaser excerpt. [6]
The storyline continues where the first book ended. Violet has to use the abilities she learned during Threshing at Basgiath War College and achieve her true power, even though the vice commandant is determined to show her how weak she is. [1] [9] [10]
Violet, a student at Basgiath War College, is recovering from an attack by venin at a military outpost. This attack has revealed a shocking truth: her beloved classmate, Xaden, and her missing brother, Brennan, are part of a secret rebellion against the kingdom of Navarre. The rebellion seeks to fight the venin, who are real and powerful, and whose existence has been hidden from the kingdom's citizens. The attack also reveals that Navarre's leadership has erased the rebellion's history and kept the venin threat a secret to protect their people. Brennan and Violet, a young mage with magical abilities, is kept in the dark about a rebellion while she learns to protect herself from Dain Aetos, a memory-reader who betrayed her. She distances herself from Xaden, her friend and fellow mage, until he vows to be honest. Their dragons undergo separate rites of passage, and their friends and families are threatened by Colonel Aetos if they reveal the truth. Dain tries to reconcile with Violet, unaware of his betrayal and her pain. Xaden and Violet are forced to live apart but given weekend visits so their dragons can bond.
Violet's second year at Basgiath War College is fraught with challenges. Excluded from the rebel operation, she faces harassment from the new vice commandant, Major Burton Varrish. Her friend, Prince Cam, joins her squad in disguise. Meanwhile, Athebyne survivors are mysteriously dying, leading Violet to distance herself from her friends to protect them. She secretly investigates the First Six, while struggling to connect with Xaden who remains secretive. Violet and her team fail their land navigation exercises in the Rider Survival Course. A potion separates them from their dragons and powers. Violet's frustration grows due to hidden venin attacks, while Xaden confronts her about her research into wards and the unequal trust in their relationship.
Keeping secrets from Mira and Rhiannon proves increasingly challenging over time. Violet confides in Rhiannon about the danger facing Athebyne survivors and Dain's signet. Aaric, unlike his father, wants to fight the venin threat. Violet and her friends are captured for an interrogation challenge, but Varrish fails to extract information from Violet despite using Dain's signet. Jack Barlowe, who Violet thought she killed, returns to class, much to her surprise. She then learns Xaden was injured in a gryphon attack and rushes to his side, only to find him fully healed. Xaden trusts Violet enough to take her with him to deliver smuggled daggers to gryphon fliers, including his ex-girlfriend Cat. He gives Violet a dagger for protection, but Varrish catches her with it. Rhiannon uses her signet power to teleport the dagger, exposing Violet’s secret to her friends.
A group of rebels breaks into the Archives to steal journals belonging to the First Six. Violet is caught and tortured by Varrish, but survives thanks to visions of her deceased friend. Dain helps her escape, and together they expose the truth to the students at Basgiath, leading many to desert and join them in Aretia. The arrival of these deserters, along with Andarna's awakening and Mira's arrival, strengthens the rebellion against the tyrannical General Sorrengail. Violet, a young woman with uncontrollable lightning powers, is taught to control them by Assembly member Felix. She translates a warding ritual from a journal, but her first attempt fails. Determined to power the rebel base Aretia, she travels to Cordyn with her companions to convince Viscount Tecarus to provide a luminary. She encounters her former rival, Cat, who is Tecarus' niece and Xaden's former betrothed. Violet negotiates with Tecarus, using her lightning to kill a dangerous creature in exchange for the luminary. Tecarus also requires the rebels to take 100 gryphon fliers to Aretia for training. During intensive training exercises, Violet's group is attacked by a Varrish dragon. One rider is killed, but Andarna sacrifices herself to stop the dragon. Despite their rivalry, Cat and Violet eventually agree to work together.
Violet, aided by Dain, improves her translations of Warrick's journal and learns to raise wards using dragon fire. Despite her success in warding off a wyvern attack, the wards prove faulty. A second signet belonging to Xaden reveals his ability to read intentions. Violet and the Assembly meet with generals seeking aid for a foreseen attack on Samara, which Brennan denies. General Sorrengail provides Lyra's journal, hoping Violet can translate it and uncover the correct method for ward activation. A venin named Jack Barlowe destroys the wardstone, weakening the defenses. General Sorrengail and Basgiath's leaders prepare to fight the approaching wyvern hordes while Violet's team protects the wardstone area and Brennan tries to repair it with his magic.
Violet shields her team with lightning while Sawyer is injured by a wyvern. Andarna rescues Violet from venom when she delivers Sawyer to healers. Jesinia provides a translation of Lyra's journal, revealing the locations of seven dragon dens crucial for a ritual. Violet discovers Andarna, a dragon with unique camouflage abilities, is from the seventh den, gathering the seven dragons needed for a powerful ritual. Meanwhile, Xaden fights on the battlefield against the venin Sage, who has been plaguing his dreams. In a desperate attempt to save Violet, Xaden channels earth magic and turns venin himself. Violet realizes the ritual will drain her life force, but General Sorrengail sacrifices herself to complete it and save Violet's life. Dragons activate a wardstone, causing the venin to retreat as wyverns die. Violet discovers Xaden has become infected with venin.
The writing schedule Yarros follows makes it so that she can write 2–3 books a year. [11] The process for Iron Flame was expedited due to consumer momentum from the success of Fourth Wing and the excitement from Entangled Publishing, making it so that Iron Flame could be released only seven months after its predecessor.
Yarros’ parents were lieutenant colonels, and her husband was in the United States Army, both of which inspired the death culture of the Empyrean series: “I can tell you: when you go to war, your friends don’t always come home. And so, it was important to me to... keep that realism [in the Empyrean series].” [12] [13] Her husband also aided in developing “aerial combat” scenes with his experience as an Apache pilot. [13]
Iron Flame is considered romantasy: “fantasy with...a romance vein.” [14] Yarros is considered a notable writer of the genre due to her work on Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. Romantasy is largely written by women and marketed for women, but Iron Flame has proven to appeal to a male audience because of its inclusion of dragons and dragon culture reminiscent of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire , which continues to draw a heavily male audience. [14]
The book received widespread acclaim upon its release day, selling over half a million copies. [15] Iron Flame generated significant buzz online and offline with 200 Barnes & Noble stores throughout the USA organizing midnight release parties for the book, including a notable event in New York City attended by Yarros. [16] In addition to these official gatherings, independent bookstores hosted their own celebrations, quickly running out of tickets due to the high demand. [1] [16]
After the release, many readers pointed out that their copies of Iron Flame had a variety of misprints. These included spines that read Fourth Wing instead of Iron Flame and covers that had the title and author's name printed upside down. Other readers said there were pages inside of the book printed the wrong way, or out of order. Entangled Publishing agreed to exchange the misprinted books. [17] [15] The deadline to register for a replacement of a misprinted book was January 17, 2024. [18]
In November 2023, Iron Flame was ranked #1 national fiction bestseller by Publishers Weekly. [19] It has garnered over 400,000 5-star reviews on Goodreads. [20]
Yarros has been accused of misusing the Scottish Gaelic language in her series after mispronouncing several Scottish Gaelic words from her novel during interviews leading up to Iron Flame’s release. [2] This along with the speed at which Iron Flame was released following Fourth Wing and various misprint issues has led to comparisons between the current state of the publishing industry and fast fashion. [2]
The Empyrean series is planned to contain five books. [1] [2] [3] On December 26, 2023, Yarros posted a reel to her Instagram profile showing her “head[ing] back to Basgiath” to begin writing the next book following Iron Flame. On March 28, 2024 it was announced that the third book, Onyx Storm, will be released on January 21, 2025. [21] The time between the publications of Iron Flame and Onyx Storm will be longer than the time between the first two books due to Yarros’ health limitations which were pushed in the expedited release of the first two installments of the series. [13]
A week prior to Iron Flame’s release, Variety announced Amazon MGM Studios acquired the rights to adapt the entire series for streaming. The deal includes Fourth Wing—which was released in May 2023—Iron Flame, and the three remaining books Yarros plans to write to conclude the series. Yarros is set to executive produce the series with Liz Pelletier, the founder of Entangled Publishing, and Liz Raposo, the president of Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society. Yarros is not set to have any writing credits in the series. The series has yet to be green lit. [4]
Romantic fantasy or Romantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction combining fantasy and romance, describing a fantasy story using many of the elements and conventions of the chivalric romance genre.
Rebecca Soler is an American voice actress based in the New York City area. She has voiced on several audiobooks; her most notable voice work has been the narrator for The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. In anime, she voiced title character Miu Nomura in Piano: The Melody of a Young Girl's Heart, Reanne in Ojamajo Doremi and Battia in Outlanders. In animation, she voiced in Huntik, Viva Piñata, and Winx Club. She has worked with 4Kids Entertainment, NYAV Post, Media Blasters, Central Park Media and DuArt Film & Video. On stage, she has participated in various theater projects, including a play called Becoming Cuba. She is also a producer of a web series called With Friends Like These.
Kate O'Hearn is a Canadian children's fantasy writer, best known for the Pegasus, Titans and Valkyrie series. O'Hearn published her first book, Shadow of the Dragon: Kira in 2008, which led to a series of books.
Jenna Rose Swerdlow, best known as Jenna Rose, is an American pop singer who gained media attention with her single "My Jeans".
Ramona Anndrew Blythe Daguio Gorostiza, known professionally as Andrea Brillantes, is a Filipino actress, model and entrepreneur. She began her career as a child actress, debuting in the sketch comedy show Goin' Bulilit. After playing minor and supporting roles in a number of television programs, she starred in her breakthrough titular role, Annaliza. She is best known for her portrayal as Marga Mondragon-Bartolome in the melodrama Kadenang Ginto. Her accolades include two PMPC Star Awards for Television and a Box Office Entertainment Awards.
The Inheritance Cycle is a tetralogy of young adult high fantasy novels written by American author Christopher Paolini. Set in the fictional world of Alagaësia, the novels focus on the adventures of a teenage boy named Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, as they struggle to overthrow the evil king Galbatorix. The series was originally intended to be a trilogy until Paolini announced on October 30, 2007, while working on the third novel, that he believed the story was too complex to conclude in just three books.
Sarah Janet Maas is an American fantasy author known for her fantasy series Throne of Glass,A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City. As of 2022, she has sold over twelve million copies of her books and her work has been translated into 37 languages.
Rebecca F. Kuang is an American fantasy novelist. Her first novel, The Poppy War, was released in 2018, followed by the sequels The Dragon Republic in 2019, and The Burning God in 2020. Kuang released a stand-alone novel, Babel, or the Necessity of Violence in 2022. Her newest book is Yellowface, a satirical novel which was published in 2023. Kuang holds graduate degrees in Sinology from Magdalene College, Cambridge, and University College, Oxford, and is currently studying at Yale University.
Wejdene Chaïb, known by her mononym Wejdene, is a French singer. She rose to fame in 2020 with her single "Anissa", a success on TikTok among other social media platforms.
Rick Riordan Presents is a book imprint of Disney-Hyperion that was launched in 2018 and is led by Stephanie Owens Lurie. The line publishes books that utilize the mythology of various cultures and countries in its storytelling akin to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians. The first book published under the imprint, Aru Shah and the End of Time, was released on March 23, 2018.
The Longest Johns are an English folk musical group from Bristol, England, consisting of Andy Yates, Jonathan "JD" Darley, and Robbie Sattin. They are known for performing folk music and sea shanties in the English tradition, and they also compose and record their own music. They gained popularity from their rendition of the folk song "Wellerman", which went viral on TikTok in early 2021.
Paige Hennekam, better known as Paige Layle, is a Canadian ADHD and autism acceptance activist and author. She began posting about her experiences with ADHD and autism on social media in March 2020 and has since gained a large following on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. She also wrote the book But Everyone Feels This Way: How an Autism Diagnosis Saved My Life.
BookTok is a subcommunity on the app TikTok that focuses on books and literature. Creators make videos reviewing, discussing, and joking about the books they read. These books range in genre, but many creators tend to focus on young adult fiction, young adult fantasy, and romance. The community is cited with impacting the publishing industry and book sales. The creators in this community are also known as BookTokers.
Libs of TikTok is a handle for various far-right and anti-LGBT social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to repost content created by left-wing and LGBT people on TikTok, and on other social-media platforms, often with hostile, mocking, or derogatory commentary. The accounts promote hate speech and transphobia, and spread false claims, especially relating to medical care of transgender children. The Twitter account, also known by the handle @LibsofTikTok, has nearly 3 million followers as of February 2024 and has become influential among American conservatives and the political right. Libs of TikTok's social-media accounts have received several temporary suspensions and a permanent suspension from TikTok.
Serena Terry is the content creator for the TikTok channel “Mammy Banter”, and the author of two books: Mammy Banter - The Secret Life of an Uncool Mum and The Sh!te before Christmas.
This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 2020s, as determined by Publishers Weekly. The list features the most popular novels of each year from 2020 through to 2029.
Fourth Wing is a 2023 new adult fantasy novel by American author Rebecca Yarros. It is the first book in the Empyrean series. Released on May 2, 2023, the novel achieved viral success on TikTok's reader community BookTok, which propelled it to reach No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list.
Rebecca Yarros is an American author. She is best known for the Empyrean fantasy book series, which will be adapted into a television series with Amazon; Yarros will serve as a non-writing executive producer. Yarros graduated from Troy University, where she studied European history and English.
Nighat Arif is a British broadcaster from Chesham. Born in Pakistan, she moved to the UK aged nine, and became a doctor to prevent an arranged marriage, taking a post at a practice in Chesham. She began making appearances on television in May 2019 while on maternity leave, and later became the resident doctor for BBC Breakfast and ITV's This Morning. Arif operates a TikTok account, which had nearly half a million followers in August 2023. Arif made four appearances in Countdown's Dictionary Corner in April 2024. She published a medical guide, The Knowledge, in 2023.
Umm Fahad (Arabic: أم فهد; born Ghufran Mahdi Sawadi was an Iraqi Tik-Tok personality and internet influencer.
 | This article about a fantasy novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |