I Read Onyx Storm So You Didn’t Have To

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Guest Post!

This book review is the blog’s first guest post, and it was written by my friend Gretchen!

Gretchen has been waiting for Onyx Storm to come out for the past year, she preordered it last July, and she agreed to write a review for me.

Gretchen is a fellow fantasy reader and also works at a library. While we try to read all the same books, sometimes we diverge in interests.

Since there was no way I was reading the rest of this series, I begged Gretchen to write me a review. Hope you enjoy the blog more than she enjoyed the book.

Introduction

When Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros made waves on TikTok shortly after its release in May 2023, I was among the suckers drawn in from the posts with readers raving about a fresh new fantasy of epic proportions.

Yarrows used similarities of classic dystopian and fantasy books from the 2010s (think, Divergent and Red Queen) that hit me right in my weak spot: nostalgia. 

I actually rated it five stars (unlike my more realistic bestie and owner of this blog—you can read Julia’s more in-depth review of Fourth Wing here) because the vibes captured in the subpar writing took me right back to middle school, with a delightful splash of adult romance that successfully sucked me right in.

Paired with badass dragons and an amazing cliffhanger, Fourth Wing quickly became one of my most anticipated series in the last few years. 

But like most things that find their main audience on TikTok, its theoretical existence can easily be destroyed by poor execution. In a shocking move from the “traditional” publishing industry, the sequel to Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, was released only six months later in November 2023.

While the quick release was amazing for fans, the quality and thoughtfulness of the plot quickly revealed (at least for me) that speeding through the writing and editing process doesn’t create a solid book.

Before Iron Flame was released, Rebecca Yarros also announced that Fourth Wing would be a five-book series.

While at first I wasn’t concerned about more books being added to what I assumed would be a trilogy, Iron Flame presented some interesting issues that befall a book series that doesn’t have enough content to spread out amongst multiple books.

Sitting at over 600 pages, my main complaint with Iron Flame was its repetitive nature and the agonizing arguments between Violet and Xaden that lasted for the majority of the book.

While I felt that Violet was a likable character in Fourth Wing, her desperation to figure out Xaden’s secrets gradually made her seem whiny, insecure, and jealous throughout Iron Flame. Xaden deserves some blame as well, but it was still difficult to read the first-person perspective of a periodically unreasonable character like Violet.

The second part of Iron Flame managed to reel me back in with a new location and more opportunities for Xaden and Violet to actually work out their issues. I ended up rating Iron Flame 3.75 stars. You can read a more detailed review on my Goodreads. 

What kept me intrigued though, was the second cliffhanger of the series.

With a whole year to wait for the third installment, I kept my fingers crossed that Onyx Storm could bring back the fervor Fourth Wing managed to instill in me. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. 

Skip this section to the next one to avoid any spoilers!

Gretchen’s Full Onyx Storm Thoughts (with spoilers)

Onyx Storm picks up right where Iron Flame left off–with the sinking realization that Xaden siphoned power from the earth, and therefore, set himself on the path to becoming a venin. What wasn’t necessarily clear in the second book was that Xaden’s sudden “turn to the dark side” is really only the beginning of the journey because he’s only an initiate.

Only continuous channeling could push him to become an asim, the form of venin that is considered a point of no return. For 500 pages of Onyx Storm, initiate Xaden is essentially normal, only with added mood swings that could be equivalent to a teenage boy going through puberty. 

The goal in Onyx Storm is to find Andarna’s family, the seventh breed of dragons, that could give clues to how the venin were defeated six hundred years ago in a major war.

Along the way, Violet hopes to discover a cure for Xaden to save him from the inevitable fate of his venin development. While little, and I’d argue mostly unimportant, plot points happen along the way, this is the only subject of the entire book.

The threat of Xaden slipping to his venin ways is consistently used as emotional torture for Violet, which gets old considering it never happens until…who could have guessed…the second to last chapter of the book. 

Dragging Xaden’s venin plot throughout the entire book, only for it to be the “cliffhanger” for the second time destroyed the series.

Humor me while I provide a suggestion: yes, the squad of characters should have been looking for the cure for venin and the seventh dragon breed. However, Xaden should have progressed much faster and been separated from Violet in this book, not book four. (editor’s note: Rebecca Yarros take notes)

This would have raised the stakes during the search for the dragons and elevated the eventual disappointment when they didn't agree to help the Continent with the venin. Instead of the majority of the book being filler, we could have had a much tighter pace and actually seen Violet grow and struggle as a character outside of Xaden’s shadow.

The threat of Xaden’s growing power certainly would have been much more interesting than the back-and-forth “we can’t have sex or I’ll lose control and turn venin :(“ like I wish Xaden drained the life out of Violet from how often they struggled over this.

I don’t even want to mention that Yarros comes up with a “forbidden” professor/student plot trope to further separate Xaden and Violet. That sure was a riveting 150 pages until Xaden withdrew as a professor. What was the point of that? 

The difficulty here definitely stems from how much readers loved the romance in Fourth Wing. Knowing that Yarros comes from a background of standalone contemporary romance, it isn’t necessarily a surprise that there could be some difficulties with writing a couple whose relationship needs to last more than a singular book.

After two books, the effort Yarros has put into “maintaining the tension” in their relationship effectively extinguished my enjoyment of it.

I’m sure a lot of readers would have been upset if there was no romance or “spice” in this book, but Violet and Xaden’s relationship is quickly becoming the most frustrating thing I’ve read. Forcing characters into a stagnant relationship with arguments that last the entire book does nothing but make the plot repetitive.

Frankly, I couldn’t care less about their relationship anymore, and I would’ve loved to see Violet have to fight an overpowered venin Xaden in this book. It would certainly be more refreshing than Violet’s unwavering support of Xaden and the constant (and I mean constant, nearly every chapter) descriptions of how hot Xaden’s body is.

At this point, I think I’ve got it. Please stop.

The best plot reveal of the book is the discovery of the seventh dragon breed, the Irids, who have been hiding away in isles far from the Continent in a pacifist society of their making.

Leaving Andarna behind was their method of tracking the development of humans to see if society would turn from their violent ways. After hearing Andarna retell the events of the first two books (off-page, thank goodness), the Irids essentially gaze upon the characters and say: wow, you’ve disappointed us all. Finally, someone is passing realistic judgment on this series. 

To finish it off, we get the worst plot device of all time as our cliffhanger: memory erasure.

Violet is awoken back in Aretia hours away from a battlefield with no memory of how she got back, a wedding ring on her finger, and a note from Xaden saying, “Don’t look for me.”

This cemented my decision not to read the next book.

With a series that already prides itself on withholding information and making Violet look like a clueless character, I have absolutely no desire to witness her internal monologue as she tries to figure out what happened.

Based on how the last two books have gone, we won’t know the whole story until the end of book four. 

Wrapping it up (not nicely)

I’ll try to wrap this up by getting to the true point: Fourth Wing should have been the first installment of a trilogy, not a five-book series.

Whether or not it was solely Yarros who decided to extend the series, there can be no denying that the publisher is making big bucks off this fever spreading across TikTok.

The first editions of Onyx Storm sold out within the day of its release, and I’m almost positive the same will happen with the fourth book.

While I’ve come to expect publishers to capitalize on the success–the use of stock image art instead of fan art for the Onyx Storm special edition is disgusting but unsurprising–it kind of bothers me that Yarros is, too. 

The problem with her writing style is that it relies on shock value to get readers coming back for more. As long as Yarros can sneak in a few plot reveals and cliffhangers into a mediocre story, readers will demand the next book.

I was a victim of this with Iron Flame; if the cliffhanger hadn’t hooked me, I probably wouldn’t have continued with the series.

The emotional response Yarros can elicit from the last 5% of her books is the major selling point of her next book, not the entirety of the work. Without that last page, I really wonder if readers would question how much they enjoyed the book. 

A good part of me truly hopes the remainder of the series will improve and hold up without the mystery of what comes next. For now, though, there’s no talent required, just fan insanity.

Thanks for reading! Everyone tell Gretchen how much you loved her review in the comments below! Love you bye xoxox -Julia