Iron Flame

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.

Background
The second installment in the Empyrean series was released on November 7, 2023. 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. Three months before Iron Flame hit shelves, TODAY.com posted an exclusive 500-word teaser excerpt.

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.

Plot
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 Dain, 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 venin 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.

Characters

 * Violet Sorrengail: The protagonist and narrator. Second year in the Riders Quadrant at Basgiath War College who is bonded to two dragons, Tairn and Andarna, defying expectations that she would not survive due to her size and physical strength (a condition that reflects Ehlers-Danlos syndromes). After being betrayed by those she trusted, Violet needs to decide between aiding the rebellion or hiding behind a lie. She also needs to survive another year in the Rider’s Quadrant and all the life-threatening tests it throws at her.
 * Xaden Riorson: Now lieutenant, he must balance leading a secret rebellion, surviving the venin attacks, and his rocky relationship with Violet. He is bonded to Sgaeyl who is mated to Violet’s dragon, Tairn.
 * Dain Aetos: On the outs after using his signet of retrocognition on Violet, Dain has to earn back her trust or risk the success of Fourth Wing of which he is now Wingleader.
 * Rhiannon Matthias: Violet’s best friend. She knows Violet is keeping secrets from her
 * Mira Sorrengail: Lieutenant dragon rider in the Eastern Wing and older sister to Violet. She is assigned to the same fort as Xaden. Bonded to Teine.
 * Brennan Sorrengail: Violet’s older brother who was previously known to have died in battle. He is now leading the revolution. Bonded to Marbh. His signet is mending.
 * Burton Varrish: The new vice commandant at Basgaith War College who takes particular interest in Violet. He is known for his history with brutal interrogation methods due to his signet: reading a person’s weaknesses.

Development
The writing schedule Yarros follows makes it so that she can write 2–3 books a year. 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].” Her husband also aided in developing “aerial combat” scenes with his experience as an Apache pilot.

Genre
Iron Flame is considered romantasy: “fantasy with...a romance vein.” 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.

Reception
The book received widespread acclaim upon its release day, selling over half a million copies. 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. In addition to these official gatherings, independent bookstores hosted their own celebrations, quickly running out of tickets due to the high demand.

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. The deadline to register for a replacement of a misprinted book was January 17, 2024.

In November 2023, Iron Flame was ranked #1 national fiction bestseller by Publishers Weekly. It has garnered over 400,000 5-star reviews on Goodreads.

Controversy
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. 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.

Sequel
The Empyrean series is planned to contain five books. 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. 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.

Adaptation
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.