I finished Fourth Wing wanting to get back to Basgiath as soon as possible. After Iron Flame, I felt differently. I’d been looking forward to Onyx Storm, but it still took me about a year to pick it up. Part of that was a full reading list. Part of it was that the second book made me less eager to find out what happened next.
I’m glad I finally got to it. Onyx Storm is a stronger book than Iron Flame. The search for Andarna’s kind gives Violet a clear goal, the world gets bigger, and I spent less time waiting for the plot to catch up with what I’d already guessed. Fourth Wing is still the book I found hardest to put down, but Onyx Storm made me eager for the next one again.
What Is Onyx Storm About?
This review contains spoilers for the end of Iron Flame and keeps the ending of Onyx Storm under wraps.
The battle at Basgiath leaves Violet Sorrengail with a war to fight and a secret to keep. Xaden has drawn power directly from the earth and begun turning venin. Violet wants to find a way to reverse what happened to him, even as the people she’s fighting alongside struggle to hold together an alliance against the venin.
Her best lead takes her beyond familiar territory. Andarna belongs to a seventh breed of dragons, and Violet hopes finding others of her kind will give her answers and bring new allies into the war. Meanwhile, a venin named Theophanie can wield storms, making Violet’s lightning a less reliable advantage than she’s used to.
Why I Liked Onyx Storm More Than Iron Flame
My biggest frustration with Iron Flame was that I could see where it was going well before it got there. The foreshadowing was so clear that the stretch leading up to the payoff felt longer than it needed to. In Onyx Storm, I had something to look forward to in the middle of the book. I wanted to see who Violet would meet next and what each new place could tell her about Andarna.
Getting away from Basgiath also gives Yarros room to show how differently people live outside Navarre. Violet comes to these places looking for help, and the people she meets have their own reasons to give it or withhold it. That made the worldbuilding more interesting to me than another explanation of how the Continent works.
I also liked the position Yarros puts Violet in with Xaden. Violet is asking people to help her fight the venin while privately hoping she can save someone who’s becoming one. That tension gives their romance something to do even when they’re apart. Readers who came for Violet and Xaden still get their moments together, and I was just as invested in what Violet would learn about the dragons.
A Release That Felt Like an Event
Red Tower Books published Onyx Storm on January 21, 2025. The New York Times reported first-week sales of more than 2.7 million copies, as covered by Kirkus Reviews. Publishers Weekly reported that Barnes & Noble held launch parties at stores across the country.
The launch parties reminded me of the excitement around a new Harry Potter book. That’s a big part of what made this release stand out to me. People were making plans to go to a bookstore together just to get their hands on the same story.
Is Onyx Storm Worth Reading?
Yes. If you loved Fourth Wing but felt Iron Flame dragged, this is the book that made the series fun for me again. I’d still read the first two in order. So much of what makes Violet and Xaden’s choices here matter comes from knowing how they got to this point.
I went into Onyx Storm wondering whether I still cared enough about the series to keep going. By the end, I wanted to know more about Andarna’s kind almost as much as I wanted to know what would happen to Violet and Xaden. That’s the part of Yarros’s storytelling I’m most excited to see her build on in book four.
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The Empyrean series guide · Onyx Storm first-week sales coverage
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