If you’re anything like me, Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros has been on your list of books to read since finishing the first two books of the Empyrean series. The book continues where its younger sister, Iron Flame, left off after an insane cliffhanger.
The early 2025 release had fans lined up at their local bookstores for midnight release parties and book lovers rushing in on release day. In the first week alone, Onyx Storm became the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years, with 2.7M copies purchased. This blew Colleen Hoover’s It Starts With Us, which was the last record-setter, out of the water. With the release of Onyx Storm, Yarros now holds The New York Times top three in the list of best-selling hard copy books.
I was among the first-day buyers who skyrocketed Yarros’ sales. I counted the days until book three of the projected five-book series was released and got my hands on it as soon as possible. But was the hype worth the book itself?
SPOILERS AHEAD:
Obviously, literature is subjective based on the reader, but this book was lacking for me. Although I loved reading about our favorite shadow daddy’s venin side, something felt missing. Perhaps the plot?
Both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame left readers hanging off a cliff, with the latter being arguably worse. In the final battle of Iron Flame, Xaden channels from the earth to save Violet, ultimately transforming him into the enemy, Venin. Everyone was eager to read the next book and discover the main character’s fate. However, we didn’t learn much.
The book starts with the kingdoms of Navarre, Poromiel, and Tyrrendor negotiating uneasy alliances to fight the continuous evasion of the evil magic wielders known as the Venin. Meanwhile, the Iron Squad visits a squadmate who is adjusting to life as an amputee after the last battle and helping younger members manifest their signets.
War College Basgaith is attacked, and Violet has a chilling encounter with the new silver-haired Venin, Theophanie, who becomes increasingly important as the text continues. When Basgaith is secured, Violet and (still Venin) Xaden essentially ask the Senarium for permission to search for Andarna’s kind, who we discover is the seventh breed of dragons.
They are dismissed for this idea, but does that stop the team of fliers and riders? No! They go against orders, leading them to treason, war, discovering a friend’s secret signets, the irid dragons, and Theophanie’s incessant need to train Violet as a Venin.
Xaden becomes a professor to stay near Violet instead of being beyond the wards, where he isn’t protected from the need to pull power from the earth. Violet searches for a cure for the Venin, which leads her to think Andarna’s kind is the answer, sending the team off once more to foreign territory to gain understanding and allies for war.
Violet discovers many truths by reading her father’s research that the reader does not fully understand until the end. People die as sacrifices to show allegiance to potential allies, and they find Andarna’s kind, who want nothing to do with her because they think she has become a weapon. This is technically true, but Andarna was used as a test subject to see if the irid kind would be as peaceful if they were to bond with a human. All the dragons refuse to aid in any way, including firing the ward stone that protects Navarre and giving any information about how to stop the Venin.
The book ends with an epic battle against Theophanie, a storm wielder like Violet’s late mother, whose whole existence was to balance Theophanie’s power. Andarna returns randomly (she left Violet to follow her kind) and helps Violet defeat Theophanie when an Onyx storm hits them. This is Xaden channeling from the earth, which causes him to spiral down the path of becoming full venin.
The book ends with Violet forgetting what happened between the battle ending and her awakening. We then see Xaden’s point of view and learn he has been betrayed by authority. He accepts the fate of his soul to save Violet and his dragon, Sgaeyl.
Violet wakes up as the Duchess of Tyrendor, which we find out earlier in the book, belongs to Xaden as the one true ruler. It turns out that Xaden and Violet got married, but she doesn’t remember because their friend Imogen erased her memories.
This book ultimately ends on another cliffhanger where Violet looks at Imogen and asks, “What have you done?” to which Imogen replies with a quick and easy “What you asked me to.”
While creating a suspenseful ending could have been intentional by Yarros, it left me confused and a bit angry. I just read about our favorite team of misfits on a grand adventure that practically led nowhere to be left with an ending that made me question why I even read the book.
While I don’t doubt Yarros has excellent plans for the rest of the series, this book felt a little redundant and almost meaningless to the series as a whole. Her original plan was to end the Empyrean series with Onyx Storm, but Yarros more than likely wanted to capitalize on the success of Fourth Wing and Iron Flame.
Overall, this book fell short plot-wise. The storylines felt messy and careless, and the ending was lousy. However, Yarros has an excellent opportunity to fill in the plot holes with the final two books and create a fantasy series that lives up to other popular adult fiction.
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