I adored the first book in this series and The Iron Flower was everything i could have wanted in a sequel. I would highly recomend it to all fans of YA fantasy.

The Iron Flower is the explosive second novel in The Black Witch Chronicles by Laurie Forest and is a sensational follow up to her debut novel, giving its predecessor a run for its money with plenty of action, excitement and heart pounding romance.

Elloren Gardner and her friends were only seeking to right a few wrongs when they set in motion the start of a rebellion. As the High Priest Marcus Vogel and the Mage Council begin to seize control of the Western Realm, destroying and imprisoning any being not born to the Gardnerian race, the Resistance is rising up. Determined to help those who can’t help themselves, Elloren stands beside her friends to stop the cruelty and brutality her people are responsible for. As soliders descend on the University, led by Lukas Grey who is increasingly determined to fast to her, Elloren fights to keep him at arm’s length while navigating the increasing attraction she has to Yvan Guriel, a rebel whose secrets threaten to keep them apart. Torn between the darkness in Lukas that calls to her and the fire in Yvan that makes her burn, Elloren fights rumours she is the next Black Witch, knowing that her choices will impact those she loves and change their lives forever….

When I first began The Black Witch, I was in no way prepared for how much I would love the story. Laurie Forest completely sucked me into the lush and vivid fantasy world she has created and The Iron Flower only went to cement my feelings for this series—I think it’s spectacular! Largely underrated in my opinion, The Iron Flower picks up where the last novel left off and draws readers into an action packed story of danger, forbidden romance and delectable characters, set amongst a vibrant and complex fantasy world where oppression and segregation run rampant and a few dare to make a change.

The Iron Flower follows a strong and personable protagonist in Elloren Gardner. It’s really impossible not to like Elloren as far as I’m concerned; she’s a well-rounded and clear headed young woman who genuinely wants to do the right thing and stand up against the injustices of her world. Though she is one of the “pure” Gardnerian race, Elloren is a kind spirited individual and doesn’t share the beliefs many of her people do. I love that Elloren is both tenacious and willing but also natural and down to earth. Despite being a replica of her infamous grandmother in looks, Elloren is nothing like her ancestor and is instead caring, kind and just—the perfect type of heroine of these kinds of fantasy novels.

Though it is filled with fast paced chapters, shocking developments and heartbreaking moments, much of the beauty of this series comes not from the riveting storyline, but the incredible cast of characters Laurie Forest has written and the bonds they share. Alongside Elloren, Forest includes so many wonderful friends and family members in The Iron Flower. And that’s truly what they are as they stand alongside each other—a family. Yvan, Diana, Rafe, Jarrod, Trystan, Ariel, Wynter, Ashlyn, Andras, Tierney and Marina all bring so much to the story and though it may seem like there is a lot of people and personalities, the familial bonds, romances and connections they all share give the story such life and vibrancy.

Growing in intensity, The Iron Flower is a novel of revelations and developments as well as pain and loss. Secrets are revealed and loyalties put to the test as Elloren discovers new friends and new enemies in this instalment. Laurie Forest seems to include a lot of developments within the book. There is undoubtedly a lot going happening within the storyline as well as a lot of different groups of races being brought together in their shared desire to stand up to the Garderian’s (Kelts, Lupines, Amaz etc) but there is clearly a reason behind the madness as Forest moves the story forward.

Emotional and bewitching, The Iron Flower was an addictive and thoroughly enjoyable read. I adored every moment I spent with Elloren and her friends. I wasn’t prepared for it to end and I’m already dying for the next book to come out stat as I’m ready to get lost amongst this incredible world Laurie Forest has created once more!

Initially, reading this I was unaware of it being a sequel - so confusion was rife. However, the characters were something I could appreciate, they were wonderfully written, and the inter-personal relationships were effectively created. The story, contains all the aspects of a good novel, including the dark and the ugly. Its a wonderful mess of ideas and stories, and I am eagerly awaiting the next novel!

Updated Review Link Below.

Thank you very much to the Harlequin Australia for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Wow this book was a rollercoaster. Now I will say from the get go, I haven't read the first book in the series, however it is on my TBR. I was silly enough to request an ARC of this before realising it was a sequel. I do think I'll need to re-read this after I've read The Black Witch, and see if my opinion on The Iron Flower changes. But overall, I did actually enjoy it the more I read along.

I often have mixed feelings when it comes to love triangles in books. However, I did like the triangle between Elloren, Yvan and Lukas. I liked reading Elloren's mixed feelings towards both male characters early in the book, and I think that's what kept me reading in the beginning and stopped me from DNFing it.

I did find Elloren's character as a whole to be a bit annoying and I just wanted her to make up her mind quicker early in the book, but as she got more stronger and realised where her true strengths lie, I quickly came around to her character as she began to lead the Resistance in helping others get out of the danger in the surrounding areas of Gardneria and Verpacia.

I found the book to be quite slow until the 50% mark, which is when it really picked up in pace and the plot got truly interesting and I got hooked. This quick change of pace brought my review up to 4 stars, instead of 3 stars.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy to review.

This book is part of a series and, as such, it is better if you have read 'The Black Witch' the first book in the series.

I really enjoyed both the first book and this second book, and the progression of the storyline. The world building is magnificent; as are the detailed descriptions of the different races who dwell in this world.

Unfortunately we don't see as much of the main character Elloren's studies in the second book as in the first book, as they were interesting and supported both the University setting and Elloren's position within the University. In this title the reader learns more about 'the resistance' and how/what they are doing to resist the bigoted and tyrannical preaching of Marcus Vogel and his followers and Elloren's role in the resistance. Readers learn more about 'the watchers' and the current whereabouts of Elloren's friend Sage and her baby.

The ending is a cliffhanger, so I can only hope that the author doesn't leave us in suspense for too long!

The Iron Flower picks up right where Black Witch left off. It's dark and ugly, showing all sides to the horrific 'purifying' that High Priest Marcus Vogel is trying to inflict on all neighbouring territories.

The element of racism is etched just as strongly in The Iron Flower as it was in Black Witch. The world is filled with different races of Urisks, Lupines, Kelts, Fae etc. Each of them has their own prejudice towards one another and it was interesting to see those dynamics continue and grow in this novel.

Elloren proves to be stronger and more level-headed than she was in the first novel and this was evident in how she held herself and how she interacted with other characters. In the first novel, Elloren was ignorant to the suffering of others, having brought into the prejudice of her family. There was a lot of growth with her character which I enjoyed as I find a lot of other YA novels don't progress their main character.

In fact, all of the characters were well written. They grow along with their choices and the mistakes that they make. Some of the side characters who weren't very prominent in the first novel are developed more in the sequel and we get a larger glimpse into their lives.

The pace is steady throughout but at times it does lag a bit, especially around the romance scenes but in saying that the action does ramp up towards the end of the novel.

The reason I couldn't give this novel a higher rating was mainly because of the speed bump that appeared in the form of a love triangle. The novel became predictable with this love dynamic and that's where the novel started to taper off for me. There was an overload of romance and pining that started to overshadow the rest of the novel and took away from the overall story arch.

The length was another issue. 608 pages is a lot. I do appreciate Forest's attention to detail but at times I did feel like there was just too much detail that didn't need to be there.

Overall, I did enjoy The Iron Flower and I will be looking forward to reading the rest of this series in the future.

Wow! Let me say this. Who needs a time gap between books? The Iron Flower picks up almost instantly after The Black Witch, and with so many twists and turns in the plot, trust me when I say it is extremely difficult to keep spoilers off of this page. I swear that I gained whiplash from this amazing addition to the Black Witch Chronicles! I did not enjoy, however, how The Iron Flower suddenly became more dependent on, yep, you guessed it, a love dynamic. “We shouldn’t” is good and scandalous for a while, and then I start to cringe.

To be fair, heaps of things tied together in this book, yet there was an element of predictability there, which I was hoping to be proved wrong about. I was a bit disappointed when I got part of the ending I had predicted because it took the fun out of reading the book.

I am going to have to leave this review here, readers, as I am worried I will either tempt you too much, put you off, or spoil the book for you if I continue writing. Let me just say, my friends who say “tell me what happens!... Wait! No! I need to wait!” are more than explanatory about how you should feel about this upcoming addition.