‘Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3)’ by Rebecca Yarros Book Review – Surprisingly not too bad

onyx storm rebecca yarros

Surprisingly not too bad

Having gone viral in 2023 on BookTok, BookGram and all corners of social media, Rebecca Yarros is back with the third instalment of The Empyrean series – Onyx Storm. This dragon fantasy is back and drops us right in the middle of the action as Violet and the cadets need to save the world, save the dragons and most importantly – save Xaden Riorson, her super-powerful boyfriend who has turned to the dark side.   

The warring kingdoms, Navarre and Poromiel need to set aside their grievances and work towards defeating the venins. And while the grown-ups bicker amongst themselves, Violet and her friends have their own plans.

Together, they travel into the unknown, away from the safety of their wards to find Andarna’s kind, the last of the dragons who can stop the venins. Along with it, Violet plans to find a cure before Xaden’s venin powers are discovered but time is running out as he starts losing control.

For those readers who are new here, we promise we are not a snob and quite enjoyed the first part, Fourth Wing despite its flaws. However, the sequel, Iron Flame was a heavy disappointment with the constant info-dumping and unnecessary smut that took away from creating an entertaining narrative.

With quite a couple of books being released by Rebecca Yarros, it is clear that this is her style – one-note secondary characters, prioritising info-dumping and world-building, and pacing quirks. So, of course, we expected Book 3 in The Empyrean Series to get a similar treatment.

But Onyx Storm surprises us by slowing down with the exposition now that the world and the characters have been established. Instead, it wastes no time in taking off with Violet’s latest misadventure and actually focuses on the plot…for the most part.

However, the cringe dialogue continues. It gives us second-hand embarrassment so many times that we lose count. The bickering between Xaden and Violet is initially cute, now that he’s sort of evil and must engage in a push-and-pull dynamic. But it too starts bordering on cringe as it goes on for too long.

Oh, and we still can’t help but compare Onyx Storm with Vampire Academy or Harry Potter, guess that’s the problem when one copies takes obvious inspiration from popular books.

Similarly, we are torn about the character development. Having had the same characters for 2 books, it is understandable that they would be fleshed out by now. Definitely a plus as our favourite dragons finally get their time to shine. We missed Andarna’s snark and Tairn’s grumpy mentor relationship with Violet.

But the human secondary characters are all jumbled up and continue to be one note. One can easily switch names and there wouldn’t be a difference. Rhi, Ridoc, Sawyer who? Quite a shame since an ambitious tale like The Empyrean definitely needs more than two or three characters to run the show.

Pacing is still a problem in Onyx Storm as Yarros switches battle briefs and lectures for info-dumping on magic, politics and revolutions which continue to be tedious. The smut and the romance aren’t novel anymore either as Yarros uses up all of her best ideas in Fourth Wing. 

Sure, the writing is pretty average but with this new era of poorly edited books, AI writers and oversaturation in the publishing industry, we appreciate the human and detailed penmanship of Yarros.

To put it simply, the book is not too bad and we do see some potential with the world of The Empyrean. The overall premise catches our eye as the search for a cure and mysterious dragons take our heroes smack into the middle of danger. But readers will often find themselves skimming through pages and pages of politics and strategising. Crisp editing that strips off all the unnecessary bits that drag the plot can probably make Onyx Storm an enjoyable read.

 

Read More: Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) Book Review

Iron Flame (The Empyrean #2) Book Review

Onyx Storm Ending Explained


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  • Verdict - 5/10
    5/10
5/10

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