BOOK REVIEW: Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

With over a million copies sold in pre-sales and on release day, there was more hype around this book than any other in years.

“To the ones who don’t run with the popular crowd, the ones who get caught reading under their desks, the ones who feel like they never get invited, included, or represented. Get your leathers. We have dragons to ride.”

With the excitement surrounding this book, it’s not a surprise that it sold out on release day and became the fastest selling adult novel in 20 years. But now, that it is the hands of millions of fans, it’s time to break it down and take a look at whether or not waiting a year for it it was worth it.

Onyx Storm is book 3 out of 5 in Yarros’ Empyrean Series which takes place at Basgiath War College focusing on Violet Sorrengail and her role in saving her world from the coming attacks of the Venin and their Wyvern. Let’s not forget that there many questions about exactly who she is and what her abilites are. We have magic, lots of dragons, smutty romance, adrenaline filled battles, emotion and tragic deaths, and so much more.

This has become a series I love, but also one that I love to complain about. To recap, I absolutely LOVED Fourth Wing (book 1). The world building was so well crafted and woven throughout the action and the focus on character development made me instantly love some and hate others. I was hooked from the very first pages of crossing the parapet. The cliffhanger ending was the only effective ending of the three books. But, it was a magical entrance to a new world. Everything about it was new which is why the first book in a series tends to be so much more powerful than those to come.

Iron Flame annoyed me, and I have no reservations in sharing that! I liked the plot and the direction it was going. I appreciated the additional development of the secondary characters - actually finding myself loving them more than Violet and Xaden, who literally had me wanting to throw the book across the room because of their back and forth nonsense of trust and communication. And, the ending? I absolutely hated the ending. It was as bad as if a character woke up, and it had all been a dream. With my frustration with the characters and the ending of Iron Flame, I put a lot of pressure on Onyx Storm to redeem some on the negative taste I had and determine if I was going to continue on to the final two books.

When I started Onyx Storm, I obviously went into it with a negative attitude; however, I am happy to say that I was able to get out of that mindset, and ended up really enjoying where the storyline went and how the conflict progressed throughout. Now, it is the middle book of the series, and what I have discovered is that the middle book tends to be slower paced and more relaxed because it is coming off the development of the world, characters and conflict while setting up for the climatic two book conclusion.

As a result, there were more moments of “calm” in this one but there was still quite a bit of action. The rollercoaster of adrenaline we have come to expect is still there. The peaks and valleys were just a little more spread out, but what I really liked was the “epic quest” that they embarked on in search of Andarna’s dragon family and the Irids. I’m a huge fan of this quest, and I really liked how each “community” they visited had different challenges/tests to determine their value. Learning more about Xaden’s family came as a pleasant surprise - it was may favorite of the lands they visited.

Your wings won’t hold the weight of this ice,’” Andarna blatantly mocks him. “And yet yours miraculously carry the burden of your ego.” “Go find a sheep and let the adults work.

Let’s keep in mind that it is 544 pages, so quite a bit happens, and I can’t really dive into everything or no one will read this. So I’ll try to break it down into a few areas:

• World Building: There are many new territories that are explored in their world and on their continent. This was something that I really enjoyed. There were some where they lost their magic and their ability to communicate with the dragons. Many had no qualms with killing, threatening, poisoning, kidnapping, etc. This was my favorite aspect of the story.

• Characters: Xaden can go jump off a cliff. Like literally, if Yarros kills him off in the next book I won’t be sad. I’m sorry for everyone who loves him, but he drove me crazy. I will say that Violet redeemed herself a little, and I didn’t find her quite as annoying as I did in Iron Flame. I was disappointed that the secondary characters that were such a big part of book 2, took a backseat in this one. They were there, but they’re importance in many places were overshadowed by Violet and Xaden with the exception of those that were on the quest team. Regardless of that though, Ridoc is one of my absolute favorite characters. There were only three scenes in the whole book that caused an emotional reaction from me and the scene with Ridoc was one of them, IFYKYK. The positive and negatives basically canceled out. I am appreciative of learning more about Violet’s parents and looking forward to seeing what her grandmother is going to add to the plot moving forward.

• Conflict: It’s easy to forget what the true conflict is because there is just so much going on. Is it saving Xaden, saving the wards, finding the dragons, defeating the Venin, graduating, determining exacting who/what Violet is? All of the above? I do feel that this is a POSITIVE category. It makes the entire story more complex, but there is concern that there might be just a little too much going on. I just hope that everything eventually has a satisfying resolution, because, I’m sorry, Yarros does not end the books well.

Those really are the main areas that I focus on in fantasy books and series. It took me a little while to get into the story, but once I did, I was hooked. I love the dragons, and Andarna is one of the best teenage characters in a book - snarky and sassy, rebellious and emotional.

So what did I love?

• Everything involving the dragons.

• Learning Violet’s 2nd signet.

• Broccoli - However, mentioned only during that particular scene and never brought up again. Missed opportunity. We need to see how Broccoli is adapting to life with a new home!!!

• The different communities they travel to and the challenges they faced in each. Including Xaden’s connection. The Epic Quest trope.

• Violet’s father’s books and all the plot elements that revolve around it.

• Having a few chapters from other POV’s.

“You get one chance to form your own squad, and you choose your ex, your current lover, the quadrant’s resident smart-ass, two people who have tried to kill you in the past year—one over said current lover—and whatever Dain is? These are your choices for the most important mission any rider could possibly undertake?” “I’m glad someone said it,” Tairn chimes in.

What was I not so hip on?

• Long, drawn out smut just for smut sake. If it is not directly connected to the plot, then it probably doesn’t need to be a 20 page chapter. (That is clearly a 100% me thing, and I know that many readers love it). I am glad that there were only two of these moments in the book.

• The ending. I really loved this book for so many reasons after I was able to let go of my frustrations from Iron Flame, but the ending once again felt like a cop out. I’m not left with this overwhelming desire to know what happened. I’m just frustrated. Let’s just run away…..

• The glossing over of some very important elements. (I don’t want to be too specific for those who are not finished with the book, but there were things that happened near to and at the ending that were just brushed aside, and not in a cliffhanger type way.)

Where does this book land on my bookshelf?

I’ll happily place it on the top shelf. I enjoyed it WAY more than Iron Flame, and while I’m frustrated and disappointed in the ending, I have now come to expect it. As a result, I’m not so negative and bitter like I was going into this one. I’m looking forward to book 4 when it is eventually released, probably sometime in 2026. None of the books in the saga will be able to capture the pure amazement and awe that Fourth Wing instilled in us, but I feel that Onyx Storm has prepped us well for the climatic two book conclusion to this epic fantasy.

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