REVIEW: Onyx Storm is not how I thought it would be

Well, my fellow riders, January 21st arrived and so did the third installment in Rebecca Yarros' Empyrean series, Onyx Storm.

I, along with thousands of other fans of the brutal, entertaining, and sexy franchise around the world stood in line at our favorite bookstores at midnight (in our own respective time zones, of course) and walked out holding a copy of the epic romantasy series The Empyrean's third book. Though my initial plan on listening to the audiobook on my way home from the midnight release party was completely a no-go (Audible didn't release it into my library until 4am), I dug in as soon as I got home and got through the prologue.

Because I do have a full-time job that does not consist of reading books for a living, it took me three different days to finish the 527-page volume, starting at 8am on the 21st and finishing it at around 4pm on the 23rd. As I've previously mentioned in a different post, I have to fully immerse myself into what I'm reading, so I listened to the audiobook while I read (and took notes on) the physical deluxe edition. I do highly recommend that for a really fun read.

I have my first readthrough of Onyx Storm fresh in my mind, so what better time to jot down my initial thoughts and reactions?

Spoiler-free, of course - I am not a monster.

Spoiler-Free Initial Thoughts

Onyx Storm has snaked its way to being my favorite book in the Empyrean series (as of the writing of this post, anyway). Fourth Wing introduced us to the characters we love so much, Iron Flame showed us their hearts, but Onyx Storm is where we see our favorite fictional people (and creatures) soar in their character development and get a heft dose of world building.

Something Rebecca Yarros does really well in this book are character arcs, and there are two characters I'm thinking of, specifically. Something else she has definitely gotten better at in this series is the dialogue. At first, and especially in Fourth Wing, the first book, some of the dialogue was painfully cringey, but I was happy to find the exchanges in this book more pleasant, less cheesy, and more to the point. And, finally, something else Rebecca attempts to do well in this installment is expand the world of Navarre, its history, and its people. She does establish the world much more than previously done in the series' first two books, but this one takes it a step further - which I have to admit I did not think Rebecca would attempt. Not because I didn't want her to go there, I didn't think she'd be able to do a good enough job for me to become invested and pay attention to the little details that make up this increasingly complex world.

Rebecca does a good job for the most part - there's a good amount of lore to enrich the world of Navarre, and boy does it get a little confusing. I will be taking the time to make myself little graphics of who's who, from where, who has what, and etc, because I really do like where this story is going and I don't want to get lost on the overpowering romance plot The Empyrean series is heavily dependent and built upon. I will also say I was a little shocked at how much the lore seemed to overpower the spicy scenes in this book. Fourth Wing and Iron Flame had some... pretty hot and heavy sex scenes graphically detailed on its pages and, while there definitely is explicitly described sex in Onyx Storm, it feels a bit more toned down yet sexier, if that's even possible.

Though Onyx Storm isn't perfect, it was such a fun and smooth read - more than the previous two books if I'm being honest. The book's tone is less angry and edgy (or maybe Rebecca Soler just toned down the angst in her audiobook readthrough) than the previous two books and I feel that being three books in, being invested, and kind of knowing what's going on changes not just how we read Onyx Storm, but also what we've come to expect from the plot.

The plot in Onyx Storm does get a little convoluted at times, with lots of loose threads waving around in the wind. Some of those get tied, with other threads getting longer and knotted with other loose threads. But, for the vast majority of the time, it's pretty straightforward and it's... fun. An honestly fun read. I don't know how I expected the story to go, honestly, but the way the plot advances in this sequel caught me off guard in a good way. On the other side of the coin, the familiarity in the overall plot, in the genre - it almost felt comparable to some of the subplots in Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series. Not that that's a bad thing - I am obsessed with Thrones of Glass, but it was... predictably unpredictable.

Don't worry about it if it doesn't make sense. I don't make sense to myself sometimes, either.

I will say that the way the book ending felt a little too abrupt for my liking, and I found myself flipping the last page back and forth to make sure I hadn't skipped a page, since the book's last sentence conveniently ends at the very end of the page, and I messaged my friend Ashley "WTF WAS THAT ENDING?!" before sitting there and re-reading the last chapter. Maybe with another re-read things will be a little clearer and the ending will feel a little less sudden and out of place, but that... how dare you, Rebecca?!

While I, like all her other fans, sincerely hope we don't have to wait too long for the fourth unnamed book in this five-book series, I completely understand if we don't get it in our little hands for a while. In an interview with Elle, Rebecca talks about taking a much needed break after driving herself to her limit - something that needs to be talked more in the writing industry. Folks are quick to demand the next installment (and complain when plot points and things don't go their way like they know the story better than its own author), but are even quicker to forget that authors are indeed human and have lives outside writing books. This does NOT apply to Patrick Rothfuss - I am still waiting for book 3, sir.

At the end of it all, Onyx Storm is an fantastic continuation of this powerful story about love, acceptance, and war. As I've mentioned, it's my favorite book out of the three currently out for the Empyrean series, and I honestly cannot wait to see what happens to Violet and crew after this... mindfuck of an ending.

Official Pixigonal Rating: 9/10

Times I cried: 4

Times I yelled at the book like it could understand me: 5

Times I rolled my eyes: 4

With Onyx Storm being out for less than a week and me finishing it so fast, I'm going to give myself some more time to process the events that took place and give it a re-listen before I start with theories. Because, trust me, I have plenty of those.