Onyx Storm
By Rebecca Yarros
Entangled: Red Tower Books
ISBN: 978-1649374189
544pp.

I was travelling abroad, browsing a bookstore, when I came across a cluster of people gathered around Fourth Wing, talking passionately about all the good things they had heard about this dragon-rider fantasy and what a must read it was. In a world of bloggers, heavily sponsored social media and promo overkill, there is still nothing that quite compares to old-school word-of-mouth, especially when it’s eavesdropped.

I quickly learned that the third book in the five-part Empyrean series, Onyx Storm, had just been released and was considered the biggest book release since Harry Potter. I promptly picked up Fourth Wing, which I read in two days, and the almost 900-page sequel Iron Flame, which I finished in three days. I then raced through Onyx Storm, which I found to be the best of the series so far.

Rebecca Yarros is a gifted writer whose engaging storytelling is a breeze to read (in fact, it is hard to take a break from), filled with vibrant characters, both main and secondary and it’s inevitable this series will soon make it to the silver screen. She also weaves together the story in many ways like a detective novel, leaving clues to later key findings and making one desire to re-read earlier chapters to look for clues and epiphanies. Do be forewarned that, although this is an action-based fantasy book series, Yarros’ background is writing award-winning romance, and so every once in a while, she throws in a scene of open door spice.

Spoiler alert as I give a bit of background on the first two books, Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. Protagonist Violet Sorrengail has been trained all her life to be a scribe, like her late beloved father. The series begins with her mother forcing her to instead go to Basgiath War College in Navarre and train to be a dragon-rider for battle.

Although frail and terrified, she uses her exceptional brain prowess and a lot of luck to cross the terrifying parapet to reach the college, defeat her athletic opponents, and then succeeding to finally be matched by not one but two dragons.

The third book in a five-part fantasy series that is being compared to Harry Potter has recently come out. With magical dragons and the fate of a kingdom hanging in balance in brutal battles, it could well be compared to Game of Thrones too

Her main dragon, Tairn, is the biggest and toughest of the entire species and leader of the dragon pack. He is a lovable, grumpy-old-man type, who powers Violet with a signet, which means he gifts her with the magic of controlling lightning. Her little dragon Andrana, an adolescent feather-tail, powers her with the gift of freezing time, which is later replaced with the power of dream-walking — taking control of other people’s dreams.

All the while she is surviving and thriving her first year of Basgiath, chapter by chapter Violet is falling in love with her arch-nemesis, the toughest and most talented rider out of all her classmates, Xaden. Xaden is the son of a traitor who led the rebellion and was ultimately killed by Violet’s powerful mother. He nicknames her ‘Violence’, famously telling her, “You look all frail and breakable, but you’re really a violent little thing, aren’t you?”

The shocker ending of Fourth Wing has Violet discover that her long-believed dead older brother Brennan is secretly working with a new insurrection that Xaden is leading.

Iron Flame depicts Xaden and Violet navigating their relationship as well as leading a revolution, with many lives brutally lost and the truth of the danger to Basgiath and the country of Navarre from evil dark-wielders called Venin coming to light. By the end of the second novel, in a brutal battle that costs the life of Violet’s mother, Xaden turns to the dark side to save Violet’s life. The shocker ending has Xaden channelling magic from the ground instead of a dragon, the first step to turning Venin, although previously he had been key to killing most of the Venin.

Violet also discovers that Andrana is a hitherto unknown seventh type of dragon called Irid (short for iridescent) and, perhaps by finding the rest of her breed, they might be able to save Xaden.

Onyx Storm starts immediately where Iron Flame ends, with Violet trying to find a cure to stop Xaden from turning fully Venin, while exploring different islands with her squad, looking for more Irid dragons. It’s a secret that Xaden is on the path to becoming a Venin, as the telltale Venin red circles around his eyes disappeared after a few days. The King even restores Xaden as Duke of Tyrrendor, clueless of his secret.

Fast-paced and gripping, Onyx Storm answers the questions of whether Xaden will fully turn, are there more Irid dragons, who else has a second signet, why Violet has unusual silver hair, are there other Venin hidden alongside them, and the meaning of the title Onyx Storm.

This latest book is everything you like about the series, but with higher stakes and an even more impressive tapestry of connections between characters. Yarros is fearless as a writer and she is not scared to sacrifice a beloved character or relentlessly stress relationships with arcs beyond one’s imagination.

The nuances of even secondary characters are astonishing. Violet’s overly cold and tough mother in Fourth Wing transforms seamlessly and believably into a mother who will sacrifice all (including her own life) for her child(ren) by the end of Iron Flame, as we slowly learn the back story behind so many of the decisions she made.

Onyx Storm keeps building tension, chapter by chapter, with huge reveals, unexpected new characters, and battles that would rival Game of Thrones. Xaden also proves his love and care for Violet over and over again, protecting her with strategy and foresight, all the time daring to believe she can save him.

Although there are more than a dozen secondary characters, each and every one is described with such detail, and with their individual important stories, that you can’t help but get invested in their lives and relationships as well. Yarros creates this dynamic subtly with just hints of character traits that later prove to be critical. Iron Flame introduces us to Aaric, the ‘spare’ second son of the King, and his journey to becoming a rider slowly but surely becomes increasingly important to Violet’s story.

There are intimations of liking between secondary characters Imogen and Garrick, and Mira and Dante but, third book in, none of them have ever made a move in that direction. Knowing Yarros, however, their growing attractions will play key roles in the main story in some shocking future twist.

Yarros plays a long game with each character, and has been very clear that she knew how the five-part series will end even before she began writing Fourth Wing. Third book in and I’m not the only one counting the days till the release of the fifth book, which will hopefully come out in 18 months.

The reviewer is a writer and philanthropist who is passionate about books, girls’ education and random acts of kindness. X: @TUDawood

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, June 6th, 2025