Book Review: Onyx Storm

Spoilers! Do not cross this parapet, if you wish to avoid spoilers.

You will not die today becomes you will save him in the third book of Rebecca Yarros’ Empyrean series, 2025’s Onyx Storm. Violet Sorrengail needs to find a cure for her lover, Xaden, who in the previous book, Iron Flame, forsook his dragon’s power to channel the power of the earth and thus, be on his way to becoming venin, the dark wielders threatening the entire Continent. Of course, as it stands, there is no known cure and in fact, Jack Barlowe, who also became venin in the previous book, laughs at such a notion because it implies a disease when this is power and you can’t cure power. Onyx Storm is a journey book, then, with Violet and her squad mates journeying to the far-flung mysterious isles on the map to find the cure and the seventh dragon species that Andarna comes from and use them to power the ward necessary to protect Aretia, Xaden’s home. Navarre could also use as many extra soldiers as they can, so they’re also asking these isles’ kings and queens to form an alliance with them.

Onyx Storm was the strongest book thus far for the action and battle writing scenes, and the dialogue used therein, but the weakest of the three so far on the romance side. Yarros is clever with how she keeps finding a way to create sexual tension between Violet and Xaden; in Fourth Wing, it was their budding romance with the threat of danger; in Iron Flame, it was the distance since Xaden was sent to the outposts; and in Onyx Storm, Xaden worries about “losing control” while having sex with Violet, so, they don’t unless they are on certain isles without magic. However, the writing for when the sexual tension was building, or the sex itself, was repetitive from the prior two books. Violet’s always melting, and Xaden’s always asking if she’s sure she wants him. And Xaden’s onyx eyes were mentioned a lot, which I get because Violet’s worried about his eyes turning venin red, but still! Yarros was even self-referential about some of the repetitive tension between Violet and Xaden by having Ridoc, ever the jokester, poke fun at it. Nonetheless, again, the action and battle sequences were so strong, and the romance side rather minimal by comparison, that Onyx Storm is ultimately my favorite book of the Empyrean series thus far. What also bolsters that argument is Yarros both opened up the known world with the journeying to the isles (which aren’t featured on the map on the hardcovers) and the lore of dragonkind and the gods the Navarre people pray to. I’ve been wanting that and she delivered.

I would also be remiss if I failed to mention some of my favorite snippy bits of dialogue come from Tairn, Violet’s dragon. Whenever he tries to puff out his chest, as it were, and starts saying his full title and lineage, I cackle. Or whenever he denigrates the gods — in this one, he says he doesn’t answer to Violet’s “meager gods.” And whenever he is sarcastic to Violet, like telling her he will not be picking her and another rider up because he’s not a horse. But I also love how much he loves Violet, and she him, as well as Andarna. They work well together in battle, obviously, and there is always a natural intensity when something cracks off and Tairn mentally lets Violet know, “I’m 60 seconds out! Hang on!” I think I swoon more over that than even Violet and Xaden, ha.

In what I’m just now realizing was the subtlest form of foreshadowing and bookending by Yarros, Onyx Storm opens with Violet realizing she needs to prevent Jack from telling Xaden’s secret to anyone else (because then they will kill Xaden), but she also can’t kill him. So, she uses Imogen, whose signet erases short-term memories. I’ll circle back on why that’s clever foreshadowing.

At Basgiath War College, Violet and the rest are training how to not die at the hands of venin, who it seems can mirror or wield signets of their own. That leads to Xaden becoming a professor, as perhaps the strongest rider and signet wielder on the Continent, creating an additional layer for that aforementioned sexual tension with Violet since professors and cadets are forbidden from being together. What’s interesting on the signet level, though, is Violet realizing others have second signet like her and Xaden. Garrick, for example, has the second signet of being a distance wielder, i.e., he can get to places very quickly. The importance of this realization is that the last time six once-in-a-generation signet wielders walked the earth, the wards and Navarre essentially were created and the venin defeated. Which is another item Violet needs to learn while isle-hopping: how to defeat the venin. So, who will be the six here? Violet, Xaden, Garrick …

Looming over everything Violet does in the book is Theophanie, a dark wielder (and we later learn, the top one, a Maven), who Violet thinks is also a lightning wielder, but in fact, was like her mother, a storm wielder. Theophanie keeps toying with Violet because she wants Violet to join the venin. At some point in the book, you just know she’s going to stop toying with Violet.

To help with Violet and the squad’s isle-hopping is Asher Sorrengail’s manuscripts, Violet’s dad. He previously visited these isles and explained much about them. The first isle they visit has an arrogant young king, who essentially wants to kill them with his white panthers. He is holding Prince Halden, who is next in line to the Navarre throne (and Violet’s former lover!), hostage, and literally served Halden’s guard’s head on a silver platter to him. That’s one of the grislier images Yarros uh, serves up, in the book. In response, Violet has Andarna hold one of the white panthers in her jaws to threaten the king and Xaden kills 12 of the guards. The alliance is formed under duress, you could say. That theme will hold throughout the other isles. One of the isles is a god of war type isle, where Xaden, Dain, and Violet must fight to prove themselves worthy of an audience with the Queen. Violet primarily does, and realizes she was paired up in her fight with the Queen. An alliance is formed. The next isle is the isle of luck, they worship Zihnal, the God of Luck. They each must receive a gift from Zihnal without complaining and thank Zihnal to survive and form this alliance. Mira, for example, receives a bottle of wine, or Dain a slap in the face (pretty funny). But unfortunately, Trager, a second-year, is shot to death with an arrow. Violet cannot react or complain, and must thank Zihnal for the act! Agh, it gives me goosebumps recounting how awful of an image that is. Yarros really did live up to the tagline of Onyx Storm, “Brave the dark,” with how dark this one is. Then, they fly over to the exact opposite, the island known for peace and knowledge. And one of my predictions came true! Yarros previously offhandedly mentioned Xaden’s mother, who left him at a young age, and I figured she’d show up soon. Okay, not the most bold of predictions! Anyhow, she’s on the island married to one of its triumvirate and has two kids by him. Xaden wants nothing to do with her, naturally. The mother and the triumvirate want Xaden to do what he ought to have done before: Marry Cat and shore up his aristocratic lineage. Xaden rejects such a notion. So, the triumvirate try to poison them and nearly succeed in killing Garrick. Violet, the master of poisons as demonstrated in the first book, was prepared and poisoned the triumvirate in return. She offers them the antidote if they form an alliance. They do … under duress. (I may have the order of the isle-hopping wrong, but I’m going by memory.)

All the while, they still haven’t found the irids or a hint of a cure for Xaden. They fly over to another isle to regroup before going further beyond the bounds of the map when the irids find them. What’s interesting about this seventh species of dragon is they can talk to any of the humans instead of it just being bonded rider and dragon and they are a peaceful species. That’s why they left the humans: they didn’t want war and will only help the humans by firing up the Aretia ward if the humans have stopped warring. Since they haven’t, they won’t. They also blame Violet for taking advantage of a kid (Andarna) and corrupting one of their kind to be warlike. Additionally, they know what Violet’s second signet is as channeled through Andarna and they are aghast. Finally, they see Xaden’s red eyes and call him an “abomination.” Worse still, they tell Violet there is no cure for venin. After the irids leave, Ridoc apparently noticed the red eyes and gets the truth out of Violet, which leads to the whole squad knowing when they return to Basgiath.

After returning to the Continent, the venin attack Tyrrendor, where Aretia is, and so, the battle is on. Violet ends up protecting the people defending the temple of Dunne, the Goddess of War, breaking her orders. The only reason Violet and her squad survive the attack is because one of the irids returns and fires up the ward to protect Tyrrendor. In exchange, he wants Andarna to return with him to be among her kind. As we’re told in one of those nifty passages from various books and correspondence at the start of each chapter (I love that plot device!), the bond between a rider and a dragon is strong, but a.) there is so much about dragons humans do not understand or know and b.) dragons care about their kind more than even their bonded rider. So, Andarna leaves with the irid! She severs her bond with Violet! Which could have killed her, if not for Tairn and everyone else in her life. As she comes out of this, we learn from a squabble between Mira and Brennan, her sister and brother, that Mira talked with Asher’s mother and learned what happened with Violet. She was almost “dedicated” at the temple to Dunne, which could have turned her venin? That was the implication it seemed. It also explains her silver hair.

Violet also learns what her second signet is: after having repeated nightmares about the Sage who Xaden seemingly defeated in Iron Flame, Violet realizes it’s Xaden’s nightmare, meaning, she’s in his nightmare. Her signet is dream walker and since riders can’t wield in their dreams, that makes her as dangerous as an inntinnsic (the mind readers). I’m not sure where the implication of her second signet, much speculated by fans of the books, will take us going forward in the series. Anything to do with the mind intrigues me, though!

Finally, Theophanie captures Mira to lure Violet into the climactic battle of Onyx Storm. What makes the battle particularly tense and bigger in scope is Yarros takes us through the perspective of Violet, of course, but also Rhi, as she commands the squad, and Imogen, as she tries to fight off the venin. The venin are able to kill Quinn, her best friend. Then, shockingly, Theophanie slits Mira’s throat (again, Yarros is dark in this one; well, darker), but thankfully, Brennan, with the help of Sloan using Dain’s power, save her. Sloan’s signet is siphon, which is what led to Lilith Sorrengail, Violet’s mother, channeling enough power to fire up the ward in the last book to save them all, but it killed her. Sloan’s been afraid ever since to use her power. Thereafter, though, the battle continues between the riders, fliers, and venin. Violet is also left alone. Capturing Mira meant also capturing Teine, her dragon. Tairn is flying Teine back to safety, but out of range for Violet to wield lightning. Theophanie is able to literally “net” Tairn upon his return and it looks like at any moment, Theophanie will kill them both. Just then, Andarna returns! We don’t get any time to explore that, though.

Because meanwhile, through Yarros perspective switching to Xaden — who everyone kept remarking was weirdly missing-in-action up to that point — we learn that him and his dragon, Sgaeyl, are at the mercy of the Sage, who still lives, and were put in that position partly due to the treachery of Panchek, the Commandant at Basgiath. Somehow, bewilderingly to Xaden, the Sage is able to dagger Panchek’s dragon to death. Xaden will not let the same fate befall Sgaeyl, who believed in him and chose him, warts and all. So, Xaden does that which we were hoping he would not do again: channels the earth’s power and wield his shadow signet in a manner that truly “braves the dark” in a way we’ve never seen. He effectively ends the battle, but at an irrevocable (perhaps?!) cost.

Because Yarros loves her dastardly cliffhangers, we fast-forward to 12 hours later, and Violet wakes up confused, with news of more murders and dragon eggs missing. Violet receives correspondence seemingly from Xaden saying, “Don’t look for me. It’s yours now.” What is?! And then — returning to the Imogen foreshadowing I mentioned earlier — Violet asks Imogen, “What did you do?” Imogen responds, “What you asked me to.” At first, I was super confused trying to recall a scene earlier where Violet asked something of Imogen, but then I gave in and Googled, and people reminded me that Imogen’s signet is wiping short-term memories. So, something must’ve happened after Xaden ended the battle by channeling from the earth that necessitated Violet asking Imogen to wipe her memories. But we don’t know what!

There is just so much to unpack and deliberate on from Yarros’ third outing in the Empyrean series, with implications I can’t even begin to understand for future books. That makes for a great fantasy book! Yarros also took the series into an even darker place, which I’m always down for, even if it causes me to white knuckle the page-turning. Hopefully, we don’t have to wait too much longer for the fourth book to receive a few answers.