After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.

Two weeks later and I continue to have such mixed feelings about Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros. I’m currently working on a recap of the book for Recaptains, so the events are still fresh in my mind, which is perhaps why I feel like I’ve not stopped thinking about this book. I feel like I’ve had enough time to consider my thoughts and reflect on my feelings, though, so I thought now would be a good time to post my written book review.

In short: This was fine. Disappointing, but fine. I loved Fourth Wing along with the rest of the world, and while I found myself entirely frustrated by Violet and Xaden throughout Iron Flame, I still really enjoyed the expansion of the world building, the other characters, and the plot. I’m not sure what Onyx Storm had going for it. It didn’t improve upon the first two books in the series, it barely added anything to the world or the lore (apart from island hopping and yet more vague hints, more on that later), and in the end we ended up exactly where I thought we were at the end of Iron Flame.

As I was writing this review, I came across a summary of one of RY’s talks, this one being at an event in Denver. She is said to have stated that she always knew that she wanted to get to the ending of Onyx Storm, and had to try some different things to get there. This to me confirms my suspicion that RY didn’t have a good plan from the end of Fourth Wing onwards, and has been meandering over the past two books. She ended up repeating plot points over and over until she finally got to the ending that she had envisioned. This is disappointing to me.

I think Onyx Storm had a lot of potential because Iron Flame had such a strong ending, but unfortunately due to the aforementioned meandering, it ended up being a complete filler book with only the ending being somewhat important. The island hopping was exhausting, repetitive, and read almost as short stories. Plot points appeared and then vanished without further thought. Sure, RY might end up bringing some things up again later, but I don’t think she will be able to claim that it was really clever foreshadowing instead of just vague and lazy writing.

Characters were also introduced in this one only to have disappeared by the end in one way or another, with very little to contribute to the overall story. The emotional moments in this book were also completely reversed by the end, making me feel silly for worrying and getting upset. The tension I felt during Fourth Wing was not present.

Also I’m finding myself getting less and less invested in Violet and Xaden, since there’s so much brooding and back and forth there, I don’t really care. Not once did they have a deep conversation, just countless “I love you”‘s back and forth, often at the stupidest and riskiest moments that took me out of the scene.

I’m genuinely so disappointed by Onyx Storm. I was invested in this series and the hype, I loved that the series has brought so many people together. It has managed to get two of my close friends back into reading after a very long drought. But Onyx Storm is not it, and I almost feel bad for making them start the series in the first place.

I’m going to continue on reading the series because I’m in too deep now. I do still enjoy the characters, particularly the squad and the dragons, but I feel like I’m only reading for Ridoc at this point. But overall, Onyx Storm was a mistake.