# Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

### Iron Flame

**Rebecca Yarros** · The Empyrean, book 2 of 5 (ongoing) · [https://houseofareader.com/books/iron-flame](https://houseofareader.com/books/iron-flame)

Second year at Basgiath, with a new commandant who wants her broken and a relationship that has to survive both of them knowing things they cannot say. Slower than the first book for two hundred pages, then considerably less slow.

- Spice: 4/5 — Explicit. More frequent and more explicit than Fourth Wing, and better integrated into the plot.
- Romance prominence: 4/5
- Plot: 4/5
- Worldbuilding: 4/5
- Darkness: 4/5
- Writing craft: 3/5
- Burn: medium
- Tropes: academy, touch-her-and-die, forbidden-romance, found-family
- Creatures: dragons, humans
- Setting: Basgiath War College and the front lines beyond it
- POV: first and third person, dual
- Ending: happy ever after, ends on a cliffhanger
- Audience: adult
- Content warnings: torture, graphic violence, death, war
- Best for: Fourth Wing readers who wanted the spice turned up and the stakes widened.
- Last verified: 2026-08-28

## Sources

- https://openlibrary.org/search?q=Iron+Flame+Rebecca+Yarros

## What to read next

- [Fourth Wing](https://houseofareader.com/books/fourth-wing) by Rebecca Yarros — spice 3/5. Readers who want competition and banter carrying as much weight as the romance.
- [Zodiac Academy: The Awakening](https://houseofareader.com/books/zodiac-academy) by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti — spice 4/5. Fourth Wing readers who want the academy structure and a series they can finish.
- [The Bridge Kingdom](https://houseofareader.com/books/the-bridge-kingdom) by Danielle L. Jensen — spice 3/5. Readers who want a marriage-of-convenience spy plot and a series that is finished.
- [A Fate Inked in Blood](https://houseofareader.com/books/a-fate-inked-in-blood) by Danielle L. Jensen — spice 4/5. Fourth Wing readers who want the same intensity in a Norse setting.

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Ratings are editorial judgements applied against a published scale at
https://houseofareader.com/lessons/spice, not aggregated reader scores. Editorial policy:
https://houseofareader.com/lessons/how-we-choose. No affiliate links, no sponsored placements.