“You have been the gift of my life.”

Rebecca Yarros, Onyx Storm

I have bad news.

I feel so ‘meh’ after finishing Onyx Storm.

A precursor: I am admittedly a hater of smut. It’s not for me. I am definitely hate-reading this series. It’s fun but a disaster. I love to dissect a bad book.

However, this book didn’t hit many of my boxes for any book. 

To break it down, I thought Fourth Wing was incredibly cringe but had a lot of heart. It made me excited to see where the story would go. Iron Flame was one of the worst books I’ve ever read, and it made me so angry I had to know where this train wreck would end up. Onyx Storm made me feel wildly indifferent. It wasn’t as fun, didn’t have as much heart, and was all-around very mid. It didn’t make me want to read more.

I will hold for the boos.

Because I didn’t write many notes on this book, we’ll do things a little differently. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

The Good

The world-building really shines in this book. I loved seeing the Continent, the different isles with their different customs and levels of magic and beliefs. It’s really fascinating. The world she created is interesting. From the college itself to the magic/dragon lore to the outside world beyond Basgiath. I wish Yarros would’ve expanded on her world-building skills because that’s where she excels. If she adjusted the plot just a smidge, she could’ve done something special.

I’m also still hooked on the concept. I think that’s because of the world-building. It’s such an immersive world. But I also just love magic, and the idea of dragons and humans working together to weave this magical bond and the power that comes with it is fascinating. It’s a good story. I will never deny that.

I do enjoy the battle scenes, as well. They’re well done. There’s lots of them. They’re varied. The characters are not infallible. They make mistakes, they get hurt, their dragons suffer. It adds some higher stakes to the narrative when characters are not all powerful, it means anything can happen. Except to Violet, which we’ll get to. 

And speaking about battle scenes, the final battle at Draithus where Xaden uses the earth to channel in order to save Violet and Sgaeyl was epic. I honestly figured he’d eventually turn fully, but the way it happened was so cool — the wall of shadows just taking down everything. GOD DAMN BOY. And for Violet to wake up MARRIED?!?! It makes sense, but I was shooketh. 

The Bad

The dialogue was still the cringiest shit I’ve ever read. It is BAD BAD. It’s like a mix between Disney Channel and porn acting — which should never be mixed under any circumstances. Gross. I can’t believe I typed that. 

You know how those TikTok girlies say they skip everything between the dialogue in books? I wish I could skip around the dialogue. It’s that bad. I laughed, I cringed, I gagged, I laughed some more.

I also thought Violet and Xaden were a bit too sexualized at moments. It just felt forced. Like why are we thinking about Xaden’s arms every time he enters a room? It was just over the top and eye roll-y. There’s creating chemistry and there’s forcing chemistry. This is forced. They’d have a better bond without the forced sexual attraction every other page. 

I also felt as if the plot didn’t serve Violet as much as it should. I liked that she didn’t whine as much in Onyx Storm as she did Iron Flame, and grew into her confidence. I wish we saw her take more on. I think the last quarter of the book let her excel until Xaden whisked in, but the rest sort of pulled her back just as she was cresting. 

Lastly, I didn’t care about Trager’s death. There wasn’t a great bond between him and the reader for it to hit hard enough. I did like how it occurred for plot purposes and the implication — it could’ve been any of them … Xaden … Violet … — but it didn’t make me feel anything. I think about how devastating Liam’s death was both for the plot and emotionally for me, and I wanted another moment like that. Because Liam literally haunted the narrative in Iron Flame, while Trager’s death was just shock and gone. 

The Ugly

The repetitive plot lines.

This was probably my biggest gripe with Iron Flame. The same series of four or so events just kept repeating. Yarros does the same thing in Onyx Storm. For about 75 percent of the book, it was: go to an isle, request meeting with queen, compete challenge, look for irids, leave isle.

Along the same line, it’s the same story on the romance side of things that we’ve been dealing with for the last two books. It’s still Xaden saying, “You shouldn’t be with me because I’m dangerous.” And Violet screaming, “But I love you!” It’s annoying to still be doing the same thing after almost 2,000 pages. 

The other thing I hated was Violet’s plot armor. Of course she’s our main character, so I don’t necessarily expect her to die. I have more of an issue with her not facing consequences for her actions. Because of her signet and dragons, she literally gets away with treason. She doesn’t face any repercussions for her actions outside of a battle. She just does what she wants, and it’s all fine. She’ll feel guilty for not obeying orders, so it’s okay. 

Overall, reading Onyx Storm felt like driving past a car crash. It’s awful and makes me uncomfortable, but I’m also straining my neck to see the gory details I don’t really want to know. I don’t know when the next book is coming out, but I also don’t care. I’m not sure I’ll even read it (let’s face it, I probably will). 

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