I have been sitting with Onyx Storm for a week since finishing the (excellently narrated) audiobook. The fact that this is book 3 in the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros – apparently a 5 book series – and we were left with SO MANY QUESTIONS at the end, it drove me nuts! Talk about leaving things on a cliffhanger…
So many feelings
Luckily, I had literally thousands of reels and videos on the theories and fan fiction to devour. I love that so many people are talking about Onyx Storm right now and are just as excited / baffled / frustrated / obsessed about it as me.
I ended up being just as addicted to Onyx Storm as its predecessors Fourth Wing and Iron Flame (oh, if you want to know more about the actual plot, read those reviews, this one is very much a feelings-based post) but I cannot bring myself to give it 5/5 for the following reasons:
- The beginning was way too slow with about 300 new characters introduced all at once. This confused me, made me think I hadn’t been paying attention in the other books and made me lose interest a bit as I really didn’t care about Halden or Aura (who?? exactly) or any of them. They’re the examples I use as they’re brought in for gasp-moments but then are just dropped when that’s over.
- The very Lord of the Rings quest section was quite long – perhaps all fantasy books have to have this element in a homage to the classic of the genre, who knows?
- The ending (no spoilers so I won’t say what exactly) didn’t sit well with me. This might, of course, all be beautifully justified and explained in book 4 but as it stands, it just feels like Rebecca Yarros did Violet and Xaden’s relationship dirty (not in a throne scene way) with a scenario put in for its cliffhanger capabilities but that made little sense from what we know so far.
There were, of course, so many things I enjoyed:
- Ridoc got some very charming character development and we got POV chapters from both Imogen and Rhi – more of this in the next book please!
- Violet and Xaden not fighting all the way through this one was also good – their relationship developed too, keeping me hooked.
- The dragons, of course! We found out a lot more about Andarna, Tairn and Sgael and I love their history and community. I have also learnt that the dragon’s names are all Gaelic words and they mean: the second honour (Andarna), thunder (Tairn) and shadows (Sgael), so they have been clues all along. I do like this extra level of detail in the world that Rebecca Yarros continues to build in Onyx Storm.
- The growing mystery around a number of other characters is very intriguing and seems to be setting the scene for a lot more revelations and plot twists in book 4.
So yes, I am still very much invested in the Empyrean series and now have to wait potentially years for book 4?? Come on Rebecca, get writing. In the meantime, I think ACOTAR is calling…
- Get your copy of Onyx Storm here;
- Audiobook narrated by Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton, Jasmin Walker, Justis Bolding;
- Running time: 23 hours 52 minutes;
- Published by Piatkus 2025;
- 544 pages;
- Book review rating:
