On Jan. 21, the third book in the Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros, Onyx Storm, was released. The long-awaited follow-up to the first two books in the series, Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, follows even more of Violet Sorrengail’s story at Basgiath War College, along with her loved ones, friends, dragons, and other mythical creatures. The series has become beloved among “romantasy” (romance + fantasy) readers because of its intricate world-building and unique characters, from the brooding love interest to the spunky adolescent dragon.
Onyx Storm has over 500 pages, making it quite a feat to read if you’re new to the romantasy genre. The series is full of fantasy names and places that can get jumbled together, so if you’re feeling confused after reading or just don’t have the time to commit to a book like this, I got you covered. Here is a summary of all of the major plot points of Onyx Storm.Spoiler Warning: Spoilers for Onyx Storm follow.
At the end of Iron Flame, Xaden turned Venin (a creature that channels magic directly from the source, rather than from a dragon) to save Violet, but now no one can know, or else he risks being killed. In Onyx Storm, Xaden has to try not to channel magic as much as possible so his eyes won’t turn red, which would reveal what he is. Violet is determined to find a cure for him, as well as the rest of Andarna’s kind after learning that she was a seventh, unknown breed of dragon—and she’s hoping that these two discoveries will go hand-in-hand.
Xaden returns to Basgiath as a professor to help teach the cadets to how wield their signets, so he and Violet have to stay apart from one another. He’s also been granted his rightful title as the Duke of Tyrrendor. Xaden goes on to tell Violet that he’s worried about losing control and channeling when he’s around her.
The military assigns Violet a team of cadets and lieutenants to look for the irids and try to find allies in neighboring isles, but because they give her a group that barely knows and trusts each other, their first mission ends badly. Violet then says that she will continue looking for the irids with her own squad, which includes Xaden, Mira, Ridoc, and Dain. She’s also forced to bring Prince Halden (who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend) along as the royal representative. In the kingdom of Deverelli, Halden makes a bad deal with the king, which results in the squad being attacked. Xaden channels to save Violet, and has to hide while waiting for his eyes to return to their normal color.
Violet and her squad visit several more isles, facing difficulties at each one. In one of the isles, Violet is amazed to see that everyone has silver hair. She sees a young brunette girl with half-silver hair, just like hers, making her wonder if she has been to the isle before.
On the last isle they search, a group of irids appears to talk to Andarna, who is excited to meet them. However, they tell her she was left behind as a way to measure whether humans had grown, and decided they had not. The irids also get angry when they see that Xaden is Venin, and Ridoc notices as well. He tells Violet she has to tell the rest of their friends, so she does. The irids fly away and don’t let Andarna join them.
When Aretia, Xaden’s home, is under attack, one of the irids from the isles shows up and saves the day by firing the ward stones, which need to be fired by one dragon of each breed. The irid tells Andarna to come with him and learn about her kind, which she does, leaving Violet heartbroken.
Theophanie, one of the most powerful Venin who has been looking for Violet, kidnaps Violet’s sister, Mira, and lures her squad into battle. Theophanie nearly kills Mira, but Brennan is able to mend her with the help of Sloane and Dain. Violet realizes that Theophanie is a storm-wielder, just like her mother was. The two battle and Violet kills Theophanie once Andarna surprisingly returns to help. Meanwhile, Xaden fully channels in order to win the battle, progressing his transformation into Venin.
At the end of Onyx Storm, Violet wakes up in the middle of a field with Imogen. Brennan tells her that they’ve been looking for her and that there are other missing fliers and dragons they’re worried Xaden is responsible for. Brennan asks Violet where she’s been, but she doesn’t remember—Imogen has erased her memory of the last 12 hours. Violet looks down at a ring on her hand and a note from Xaden that reads, “It’s yours now.” The two of them are married, making Violet the Duchess of Tyrrendor.