A review by starcake
Icon and Inferno by Marie Lu

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 “Grief is love. It's the price we pay for the gift of someone meaningful in our lives.”

This had beautiful themes of grief and love but the plot was lacking. Winter and Sydney's romance was filled with angst and yearning and it touched my heart. They were both well-written with compelling character arcs. Marie Lu is good at writing heartfelt quotes that resonate deeply.

“I don't understand how you can live with an open heart. Everyone hurts you. Why don't you protect yourself better? Put up walls?
"What if the thing your heart needs most is right on the side of that wall? I know it's dangerous to expose yourself to everything the world wants to throw at it, to everyone who wants to take something for themselves. But I still leave it open, just in case something beautiful comes in.”

Everything else was so-so or didn't work for me. At the time I was looking for a fluffier book and it unexpectedly turned high-stakes in the middle ((view spoiler)) plus the ending was typical Marie Lu fashion of being happy but with an *asterisk*, which was at the time the complete opposite of what I had been looking for. The spy/thriller plot was mediocre, and I thought the climax was too long which I found in the last book as well.