Onyx Storm

You are emotionally invested in a book and it ends at a heart-wrenching cliffhanger; you desperately look for updates on the next part only to find out the author has decided not to write it, at least for next two years.... What's more upsetting is that she has moved on to writing a completely different book.

Why? Why? Why would you torture your readers like that?

I don't read fan fiction, but to cope with the withdrawal effects caused by Onyx Storm, I read whatever POVs I could find of one of the lead protagonists on the Internet. I don't do extensive digital reading but let's say it was a desperate time.

I did give 5 stars to the book, but that decision was highly influenced by the way the book ended. My judgment was clouded by the emotional events one after another, and now, after the gap of two weeks and reading a psychological thriller in between, the fog has been lifted, and I can think straight.

I don't think I'm ever going to read unfinished sequels. I don't have it in me to patiently wait, more so, by the time the next part publishes, I forget the important details, names, places, relations, and intentions. I spend the first half of the new book trying to recall what happened in the prequel. No, I don't re-read the book, summaries aren't enough — is recap a thing in books? A little more elaborate than summaries but not as long as the book?

I went through the same turmoil when I started reading Onyx Storm. It's the third book in the Empyrean series, published this year in January. I read it after a one-year wait. I didn't know what I was reading in the first quarter of the book. It wasn't just my poor memory; the author did her best to boggle my mind. I couldn't make heads or tails of all the new information. New characters in every chapter, new locations, unimportant and irrelevant side stories. It took me three months to finish it.

It gets better towards the end, but still, I won't say things escalate; it's a slow book; there's no major change in the events from the ending of the prequel (Iron Flame). Is the author dragging the plot and cashing out on all the hype this series got? I can't say. She better make all this wait for the 4th book, worth it. I'm hoping all the nonsense I read in the first half of this book has something to do with the story in the next part.

There's another issue that needs some highlighting — the author has invested more into the romance part than into the actual plot of the book. Ok fine, romance might spice
it up, but entire chapters dedicated to it... as if that's the whole point of the book, the rest can take care of itself; it's a poor attempt at story and world building. This fictional world of dragons, gryphons and wyverns had so much potential if it had been written by a better author. Leigh Bardugo did great with the Grisha series.

Now after all this bad talk, I'm thinking why I gave it a 5-star review... I don't know. The last few chapters changed my mind and left me wanting more to read. If I am to take it seriously, it's a 3 star book.

---

Book: Onyx Storm
Prequels: Fourth Wing, Iron Flame
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Genre: Romantic Fantasy, Adventure Fiction