Fourth Wing to Onyx Flame: Does The Empyrean Series Still Deliver? 

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If you’re not familiar, the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros first shot to popularity with the publishing of Fourth Wing in May 2023. Personally, I am part of the group that loves Fourth Wing. The dragons, the characters, the action and romance. It all pulled me in.

So imagine how exciting it was when Iron Flame, the second book in the Empyrean series, was published in November 2023. Barely a full six months and we had gotten a sequel. While Iron Flame didn’t enthrall me as much as Fourth Wing did, I was still invested. 

But by January 2025, with the publishing of Onyx Storm, I began to lose my love for this series. The third book in the Empyrean series blew me away, but not in a good way. 

Which has made me wonder where exactly this series plans to go and what Rebecca has in store. Despite the third book taking over a year to publish after the second, it somehow makes less sense and felt more all over the place. 

So let’s ponder a bit and do a semi-deep dive into the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros. 

About Rebecca Yarros

Before we start with the series, let’s get to know a bit about the author who wrote it. 

Rebecca Yarros is a military wife and mother of six. She primarily wrote contemporary romance before trying out fantasy romance and currently lives in Colorado. 

Fourth Wing was a breakout for Rebecca Yarros, putting her on New York Times bestselling list for an astonishing 65 weeks. 

Having published over two dozen contemporary romance novels over the last decade, Fourth Wing, is by far her best-selling piece of work to date. 

I will also just preface that I have not read any of Rebecca’s other contemporary romance novels. I don’t plan on reading any of them either. 

Red Tower Books

Red Tower Books is an imprint of Entangled Publishing.

They have a short list of published titles but seems to focus on fantasy romance as their preferred genre to publish.

This Reddit thread shed an interesting light on Red Tower Books. That they lean into fantasy romance because it is popular, and it seems like they really need to hire better editors. As a couple of comments mentioned, the poor editing of the books published by Red Tower Books.

So when I said in my review of Onyx Storm that it felt like a cash grab by Red Tower Books & Rebecca Yarros, I meant it.

Fourth Wing

Goodreads / Storygraph

Summary

Violet Sorrengail is twenty-years-old and is ready to enter the Scribe quadrant, living a quiet life in the archives, among the books. Her mother, a highly decorated general, has commanded Violet to join the several hundred candidates striving to become the elite dragon riders of Navarre.

However, Violet is small and frail, her memory is her strongest muscle. Death is closer than it has ever been for Violet, especially when she remembers that ultimate survival means bonding with a dragon and dragons don’t bond with weak humans, they turn them to ash.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than there are cadets, most turn against each other to increase the odds in their favor, and Violet soon becomes the newest target within the walls of the Riders Quadrant.

Seemingly most hated by the powerful and ruthless wing leader, Xaden Riorson.

Violet will need to play to every strength she can muster, just to live to see another day.

Yet every day that passes becomes more deadly. The protective wards are failing, the death toll keeps rising, and even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership of hiding powerful and dark secrets.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Every single person at Basgiath War College has an agenda because once you make it in, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

My Thoughts

Fourth Wing was my introduction to Fantasy Romance and I still think about that book to this day. 

The setup of the plot and the main storyline is done well. I like how dynamic the characters are. 

There is also a lot of fun action which I enjoyed immensely and this action keeps the plot moving forward without any boring lulls. 

The main character’s disability rep was refreshing, and the romance subplot was one that had me in a chokehold. 

Is this book a literary masterpiece? Absolutely not. I am not a fan of Rebecca’s writing. However, this story delivered on a lot of fantasy and romance aspects I enjoy. 

If I had any grievances, it would be that sometimes the romance came off cringe and the plot twists were kinda obvious because of some foreshadowing being a bit too revealing. 

This book is fairly smutty. You’ve probably seen it referred to as “dragon smut” which is straight up disrespectful.

I do think Rebecca Yarros has potential to become the next Sarah J. Maas. But I also think in order for her to do so, she’s got a lot of work to do. 

So Fourth Wing? A 5 out of 5 star read for me. 

Iron Flame

Goodreads / Storygraph

Summary

Nobody expected Violet Sorrengail to survive her first year at Basgiath War College–not even Violet. Threshing proved to only be the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak in a series of impossible tests. 

However, now it’s Violet’s second year, and this is where the real training begins. It’s not bad enough, it is brutal, it is also grueling and designed to stretch the rider’s capacity for pain, far beyond endurance. 

A new commandant has made it his mission to break Violet unless she throws the man she loves to the wolves. 

While Violet’s body is weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she will prove just how strong a mind can be. And while Basgiath has forgotten the most important rule of all, Violet has not. That all dragon riders make their own rules. 

However, determination will not be enough to survive this year. Violet has uncovered the dark truth about Basgiath War College and nothing–not even dragon fire- may be enough to save them in the end. 

My Thoughts

Iron Flame had so much potential with the additional world-building but lost me with the pacing. Reading this book felt like binge watching a tv series. Which I am sure was the intended point, but as a reader it was kinda jarring. 

We pick right back up where Fourth Wing left off, which was nice because the ending of Fourth Wing was rough. 

Unlike with Fourth Wing, because now we are outside of Basgiath, there is a lot more info dumping. 

Even the characters began to feel less like themselves. The stellar communication I bragged about between Violet and Xaden in the first book, completely gone in the second. 

There are also a lot more characters introduced in this book, and I wish Rebecca would have made things a bit easier to remember. Remembering all the storylines and characters eventually became overwhelming. 

Iron Flame still had me in a chokehold, though. The dragons seemed to run the show, and they did not disappoint. And while a bunch of new characters were overwhelming, it was nice to get to know more about the current cast of characters and their dragons. 

And like Fourth Wing, this book also ends on a cliffhanger. Though I still believe the cliffhanger in the sequel is far worse than the first book. 

Unlike Fourth Wing, however, I just am not impressed with Iron Flame and so it gets 3 stars out of 5 stars from me. 

Onyx Storm

Goodreads / Storygraph

Summary

As war looms closer than ever and enemies within their very walls, Violet knows there is no more time for lessons and pretending to know who to trust. 

In order to strengthen their chances in the war, Violet journeys beyond the failing Aretian wards to unfamiliar lands, hoping to find allies. 

Instead, the trip tests her strength and luck, making her more determined than ever to save everyone she loves. 

Even if it means she has to hold on to a devastating secret while doing so. Because what Navarre needs more is an army, power, and magic. 

But a storm is quickly approaching and not everyone will stand firm in its wake.

My Thoughts

Rebecca, what the actual f*ck. 

The plot is all over the place. There are so many new names, places, and things happening that my head was spinning. 

The story itself felt like a kiddie roller coaster. There was no traditional introduction, problem, climax, and then resolution. Instead, it was a bunch of gut punches and dramatizations for the sake of drama. 

Still not a fan of the writing by this point either, but I’m sensing this is just how Rebecca Yarros writes. 

If you thought the info dumping in Iron Flame was bad, welcome to Onyx Storm, where even the author cannot make sense of her own story. 

The characters felt like shells of themselves compared to meeting them in Fourth Wing. And the romance felt so repetitive and lackluster. 

The ending is also another cliffhanger, but is so rushed and made no sense. I re-read it 3 times just to start comprehending what was happening. 

I was hoping for a lot of redemption for our main character. Violet has so much potential and her character just seems wasted on an author who doesn’t have the capacity. 

Even the dragons felt weird in this one. I’ve always loved the dragons, even in Iron Flame, when everything else felt like a drag. 

Instead, I found myself rolling my eyes at the repetitive sassiness from Andarna and Tairn came off more like a dragon with a stick up his, you- know-what. 

I will die on the hill that Onyx Storm and this whole five book deal Rebecca Yarros got after the success of Fourth Wing is nothing more than a cash grab.

This series should have been an action and romanced packed trilogy. Stretching this series out has only damaged it and made me lose trust in Rebecca Yarros as an author. 

Unsurprisingly, Onyx Storm gets 2 stars out of 5 stars from me. 

The Series So Far

After reading Fourth Wing, I couldn’t believe we were getting 4 more books. I felt so excited and impatiently waited for each book to be published. 

But Fourth Wing seems to have been a one hit wonder. 

Onyx Storm was such a letdown that I don’t know if I want to continue the series. 

This series just feels so capitalistic that it’s ruining the actual books and story, and characters. 

There is so much potential, but all the info dumping has got to go. Rebecca really needs to clean up all the random plot holes and remember who her characters are. 

Maybe I am being too harsh. I stated myself that Fourth Wing is not the best in terms of writing. But these books have been incredibly over-hyped. And not only that, people have literally lined up outside of stores at outrageous times in the morning to buy special edition copies. 

And for what? 

I am glad Rebecca stepped out of her usual genre and tried something new and it paid off. 

What I dislike is watching this series go downhill, and the Red Tower and Rebecca Yarros profit off of people’s disappointment. 

Where do I think this series is heading?

I have no idea. From snippets I’ve seen online of Rebecca speaking about the series, it is clear Violet and Xaden are end game. 

They’ll also definitely come out on top of the war, but we will also suffer a significant loss within one of the next two books.

Anything else? Truly up in the air. 

I’m curious to know what your thoughts are on the Empyrean series so far. Will you be reading the next two books? Or is this a “I will hear no criticism” series for you? 

Reviews: Fourth Wing // Iron Flame // Onyx Storm