Onyx Storm (Standard Edition)

I love this book and the two that preceded it. It has a heroine, Violet, that is so fragile her bones break at a touch, yet she has been chosen as a rider by not one but two dragons. The hero of the story, Xaden, is so tragically flawed but so awesomely brave, loyal, and delicious to look at that he sets your heart on fire. The two of them and their squad mates, other dragon and gryphon riders, are trying to save their continent from venin, monsters who used to be men and their abomination of dragons called wyvern. I can't wait for the next book in the series!

🎧 Audiobook Review: Onyx Storm (Empyrean #3) by Rebecca Yarros🎙Narrated by: Rebecca Soler & Teddy Hamilton🚨 Spoiler-Free. Spoiler-HINTY? Maybe. But we’re emotional, not ruiners. 😌AHHHHHH 😱 Rebecca Yarros, what have you done to my soul?! I finished Onyx Storm and immediately wanted to slam "play" on book 4… except IT’S NOT OUT YET. WHY DO YOU HURT US LIKE THIS?Let’s talk audiobook magic first:Rebecca Soler once again nails Violet’s voice—delivering her strength, her vulnerability, and her slow, unraveling confusion with this raw, immersive power. And Teddy Hamilton? Good lord. His portrayal of Xaden is chef’s kiss. Dark. Tortured. Angry. Protective. He is Xaden Riorson. The simmering heat between them? It crackles through your headphones. 🔥Now to the story. Buckle up, because:✨ THE EASTER EGGS 🐣—the ones we didn't even know to look for?! THEY WERE THERE ALL ALONG.🕵️‍♀️ The deception? It's EVERYWHERE. People we trusted? Hiding things.🔥 The heat and tension? Explosive. Violet and Xaden are still toeing the line between love and war. Between survival and secrets.😳 And Violet... there are things about her even she doesn’t know. Like... whaaat is happening in her bloodline?! (clears throat loudly) Miss Yarros, please don’t wait until halfway through book 4 to give us ANSWERS.And Xaden. My poor, broken, burdened soul of a man. He carries the weight of the rebellion, the fate of their friends, and Violet’s heart—ALL while battling his own guilt and rage. He’s the bad boy you cannot live without. 🖤🪂 The cliffhanger?It’s not just a drop. It’s a free fall with no chute. And Rebecca Yarros pushed us off the edge with a SMIRK.

The only reason I have been reading this series is to critique the books. Initially, I began reading the first but couldn’t get into it. About a year later, I picked it up again without realizing I had already attempted to read it. Then, out of sheer curiosity of whether or not the lead character would develop any redeeming qualities or evolve into a less cliche’ “heroine,” I kept reading. Then, I continued merely to edit and critique the books for free (I usually get paid good money to do so.)I post all of my notes to Goodreads but for this particular one, I neglected to upload them before my library loan was due. Unfortunately, I had over 100 comments that have disappeared. Oh well! I’ll do my best to recall them.The main character, Violet is often exciting because of the dragons she’s bonded to and the hot guy she has sex with. The sex is rather steamy, so no one with prudish tendencies should read this series of books. The third book is filled with even more sex than the first two (or it seems that way because of the unnecessarily long encounters). The scenes would be sexier if the author didn’t go overboard with the “Violet, you’re perfect. I worship at the temple of you…” type of dialogue and if the scenes weren’t written, for what seems to me to be, only for the sake of attempting to prove how sexy the relationship is between the two lead characters.The books could all be half as long if the extraneous content that brings little to no value had been better edited. The descriptions of places, people, and things are too detailed at times for something that has no real impact on the plot or is never revisited. In other instances, there is not enough information that helps the reader retain characters, places, and events.There are so many characters who could be amalgamated into fewer, and most of them are referred to by more than one name. The author assumes the readers remember who each one is, even if the character hasn’t made an appearance since the first or previous book, and the author doesn’t gives clues as to who they are when they are brought back in. Even something as simple as a single sentence would refresh the reader’s memory, for example: “Considering her rude reception at the palace after the battle of…” or perhaps, “The last time we had seen his childhood friend was after we rescued him from a tall tree…”The author is the same way with the dragons and will write how “seeing Banjo’s orange feather tail in the sky filled me with dread. When did he get here?” By “he” the author will be referring to the dragon’s rider assuming that the reader knows who that is and what that person’s backstory is. (No, Banjo is not a name from the book.)The dialogue is difficult to follow as there aren’t enough, “I whispered to her…” or “His eyes grew fierce as he screamed…” or “I responded…” or “He emphasized…,” etc. I don’t expect every line of dialogue to be attributed to a character, but when conversations go back and forth for more than a page, especially with multiple speakers, comprehending it all gets very muddled.When I have to reread a page or paragraph more than two times to to clarify content, I get very annoyed and completely lose the suspension of disbelief, which is crucial to immersing one’s self into a story.This third book, even more often than the others, ends a chapter in the middle of a conversation and begins the next chapter in the next sentence of the conversation. If it only happened a couple of times, I would be more accepting of the tendency and assume it was an error or the author trying to make some sort of statement. It happens over and over again, so it’s obviously done on purpose, yet serves no purpose that I and other readers with whom I speak can understand. Also, each chapter begins with a “quote” from some text in the realm’s history books, personal “recovered” letters between characters, royal law books, etc. Rarely have they held value to forward momentum of the tale.In fact, forward momentum is often sacrificed for the aforementioned unnecessarily long descriptions, confusing and annoying situations, and so much bodice-ripping that I cannot recommend these books. I will read the fourth in the series only to continue my critical reviews. I don’t understand how there are so many fans of these books (they are NOT ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ or ‘Twilight’ or ‘Game of Thrones.’ Yet, allegedly a TV series is to be made based on the story. I can only hope the entire and single season will encapsulate all four books and that the screenplays will NOT be written by Rebecca Yarros.

Onyx Storm was one of my most anticipated releases for 2025. We all waited for over a year between Iron Flame, which had a killer cliffhanger, and Onyx Storm so there was a ton of build-up when it comes to expectations. I tried to stay away from podcasts, reels, shorts, or content that would speculate about Onyx Storm, the plot, the characters, etc. And I did fairly well with that. But all that to say, expectations were high. And unfortunately, I find when expectations are super-high, it's hard for any book to live up to the hype. Onyx Storm fell a little flat for me initially. Let me explain why.Iron Flame ends with that mega cliffhanger that I already mentioned. If you don't know what the cliffhanger is, you probably don't want to keep reading because there will be spoilers for the prior books included in this review. Xaden has drawn from the earth which has started the process of turning him venin. Because we didn't know much about the process of someone turning, we (I) falsely assumed that one pull and he'd be straight venin. Apparently, that's not how things work. But when a book ends in a negative cliffhanger (where a major event happens that leaves the characters in a negative place), I almost dread reading the next book because I know there are going to be more bad events to come before we can get to the good. And well, that's also to be expected from the 3rd book in a 5-book series. And of course, that is true for Onyx Storm. Thankfully, things weren't as bad as I worried they would be simply because Xaden isn't immediately evil.Onyx Storm keeps you in perpetual fear of wondering if Xaden is going to draw power again, and if he does, at what point will he have crossed the line into too far gone. I guess this is probably a good thing because Violet is in the same place. No matter how much faith she has that Xaden would never hurt her, she can't say that he wouldn't channel again. And so you remain in the same anxious place as Violet. This creates the desire to keep reading.A large portion of Onyx Storm's plot is the "Quest Squad" traveling to various islands south of "The Continent" in hopes of discovering Andarna's kin and the 7th dragon breed. I found this whole quest a little frustrating. I wasn't excited about any of the islands they visited. Too much time was spent trying to show how each island is different from each other. And yeah. I kept reading simply from a pressing desire to know what was going to happen, but if I look back on this portion of the book, I find it boring. And if I were re-reading the series, I would dread getting to this section.I found myself feeling like I was missing information a couple of times. Sometimes I wondered if that was because I hadn't re-read the previous two books before jumping into this one. Sometimes, I wondered if Rebecca Yarros was being mysterious intentionally. Sometimes I flat asked myself what in the world she was talking about. And sometimes I felt like I understood what was being said, but it didn't make any sense. More than anything, the more I've thought about Onyx Storm the more I've realized that Rebecca Yarros is writing much deeper than I realized, and she's one of those authors where nothing is said or done meaninglessly. So now, I need to go back and re-read all three books to see what foreshadowing I've missed*. Some authors aren't capable of making every detail mean something. I'm realizing she is one of the authors who can.Many of the things I highlighted were only to help me write my book review. When I went back to re-read some of my highlights, I think I inadvertently highlighted some very important parts that will play into the future. I weeded through all of my highlights to find my favorite quotes:I loved the dedication.-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.Now for the book content:-The only thing stronger than the power prowling within me is the resolve stiffening my spine.-"But do not mistake my unflinching support of you, my mate, and Andarna for any form of faith in him."-"Pain isn't a competition," I assure him. "There's always enough to go around."-"Do not dehydrate on my account," he lectures.-"Do you really think this is the only room where I've felt tormented? Pain isn't new to me, Jack. She's an old friend I spend most of my days with, so I don't mind if she sings to you. Honestly doesn't even look like the same chamber with how you've redecorated. It's a little monochromatic for me."-"We live by the Codex--" I try again. "I live by you." ... "I am yours and you are mine, and there's no law or rule in this world or the next that will change that."-"He didn't love me, not the way I deserved to be loved, and no amount of power is worth staying with someone who doesn't love you."-"My loyalty is to Violet first above everything, everyone else,"...

This series gets all the stars IMO.And now I have to wait for the 4th book?! How will I survive??But no, seriously, this was an amazing read. Each book in this series has managed to get better and better. I have no notes! WAAAAAY to many theories (I might have a notebook with them written down because my brain was too full).Violet's growth in this book was so satisfying. Watching her finally step up and start to be the leader she is meant to be was beautiful. Seeing her become more confident and powerful, I was screaming reading some of her scenes!! IYKYK!!And Xaden.. I thought it was impossible to be any more in love with him than I already was. I was VERY wrong! He will forever be one of my top book husbands. My love for this man borders on unhealthy haha. Like talk about this book ruining all men in real life for me 😂🙈 I am so stressed out for this man it isn't even funny!!! Especially after that epic cliffhanger. Talk about ripping my heart out and shredding it to pieces. Expect the most intense book hangover when finishing with a recovery time of weeks to potentially years! lolLet's not forget our amazing side characters. I love them all. ALL OF THEM! I've never been so invested in characters that aren't the MC's before as I was in this series (with the exception of MAYBE a handful of my favorite books). And there are a lot of side characters, yet each one is so complete. They all have such important arcs and are very well fleshed out. I enjoyed all of their "book time" and never found myself skimming through to get back to the MC's. And even though we only get two of their POV's right at the end, they all still get plenty of time on the page. I don't feel like any character suffered in development so another could shine.And last but not least, our dragons 💜 Tarin and Andarna are my precious babies even if they are actually ferocious beasts haha And I will harm anyone who harms them! I even love my cranky girl Sgaeyl!I think this book was phenomenal. I love how it really expanded the world we already knew, and I can absolutely see the potential of the next 2 books left in the series! I am so excited for things to continue to unfold and to gain more answers. I think Rebecca is amazing. It takes a seriously skilled author to make a whole world feel real and completely fleshed out. It reminds me of ACOTAR and Game of Thorns in the sense that it's this enormous and intricate world and story. I will literally be very impatiently waiting for the next book to once again emotionally devastate me in the best way possible!