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adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This might be an unpopular opinion, but the more of Yarros’s writing I read, the less I like it. I’m already invested in the Empyrean series and I need to know what’s going to happen. Am I going to continue reading these books? Absolutely. Are they well written? No.
The most irritating parts of Onyx Storm were the downright cringey dialogue and the parasitic-adjacent relationship between Violet and Xaden. “Is it toxic? Maybe. Is it us? Absolutely.” If that’s not a sign to go to therapy, I don’t know what is. Not to mention, Violet is annoyingly offended by every label anyone puts on her or her relationship with Xaden. Girl, you’re in a relationship with a moody duke during a war to save your kingdoms. You have much bigger fish to fry.
Despite my complaints, the tale remains enjoyable, the characters are (mostly) relatable, and Yarros knows how to write a good cliff hanger!
Recommend for those who are into this series!
The most irritating parts of Onyx Storm were the downright cringey dialogue and the parasitic-adjacent relationship between Violet and Xaden. “Is it toxic? Maybe. Is it us? Absolutely.” If that’s not a sign to go to therapy, I don’t know what is. Not to mention, Violet is annoyingly offended by every label anyone puts on her or her relationship with Xaden. Girl, you’re in a relationship with a moody duke during a war to save your kingdoms. You have much bigger fish to fry.
Despite my complaints, the tale remains enjoyable, the characters are (mostly) relatable, and Yarros knows how to write a good cliff hanger!
Recommend for those who are into this series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow - action packed from beginning to end! And the ending ahhh MARRIED?!?! Xaden is no longer an initiate?!?! I need Book 4 like right now
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Death, Grief, War
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
SPOILERS!! This book will keep your attention that’s for sure - but the growing number of questions you develop throughout the adventure will not be answered. In fact, they will be answered by more questions. Does Yarros keep notes when she world-builds? Did I miss something, what did Imogen do to Xaden? what was the purpose of looking for the irids? Why was Theophanie so easy to kill? Why was Sgaeyl defeated by a NET? I feel cheated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, War
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What even happened? To all the reviews that complained about this book being a filler (it couldn’t be THAT bad, I thought), you were right. I was wrong.
If you like lusty sex, there’s lots of it. Explicit sex: part of ch 3, the first few pages of ch 12, steamy kiss in 18, ch 25, 48-49, and LOTS of sexual innuendo to go around. Yes, even when the world is breaking around them due to, you know, war with evil human beings. Doesn’t matter. More lusty sex will solve that problem! Especially if the furniture is broken. Extra points for that!
Quest squad went on quest. Saw islands (only ever called “isles”… what’s up with that? It’s a less common word to use in place of “island.” Odd authorial choice). The islands could have been SO cool, but we got like thirty pages at each one and for what? One iffy alliance and a dragon rejection without further answers.
The war keeps going… (Who are the major players again? I don’t remember or care. Xaden’s in charge, but he’s no general. Why don’t we have some adults with real military experience in the room?)
And Xaden’s turning… yeah, I just didn’t care. I didn’t care about Violet and Xaden’s relationship, so I really didn’t care about him. He’s already borderline narcissistic, so the venin thing was just the catalyst for fully destructive behaviour. Don’t even get me started on the number of times “I love you” was said in this book was astounding. I love you, I love you, I love you. Yeah, we get it. And I’m actually not convinced that you love each other. I’m more convinced that you’re stuck in a dangerously toxic relationship that will do incredible harm to everyone around you, and you don’t care. Xaden only becomes more obsessive and emotionally abusive as he turns.
Thank you, Ridoc, for speaking sanity to Violet’s insanity. Not that it helped. “Give me a real, logical line he has to cross for you to walk away.” Violet and Xaden’s love still feels like a toxic lustfest to me. Like there’s nothing they won’t do for the other person… really?? Nothing?? It’s not healthy. It’s a BAD relationship. And the ending? Didn’t help matters. It’s still a BAD relationship, only now you’re married. Congratulations.
Who’s sticking around to see how badly this turns out in book four? Not me, goodbye. 👋
If you like lusty sex, there’s lots of it. Explicit sex: part of ch 3, the first few pages of ch 12, steamy kiss in 18, ch 25, 48-49, and LOTS of sexual innuendo to go around. Yes, even when the world is breaking around them due to, you know, war with evil human beings. Doesn’t matter. More lusty sex will solve that problem! Especially if the furniture is broken. Extra points for that!
Quest squad went on quest. Saw islands (only ever called “isles”… what’s up with that? It’s a less common word to use in place of “island.” Odd authorial choice). The islands could have been SO cool, but we got like thirty pages at each one and for what? One iffy alliance and a dragon rejection without further answers.
The war keeps going… (Who are the major players again? I don’t remember or care. Xaden’s in charge, but he’s no general. Why don’t we have some adults with real military experience in the room?)
And Xaden’s turning… yeah, I just didn’t care. I didn’t care about Violet and Xaden’s relationship, so I really didn’t care about him. He’s already borderline narcissistic, so the venin thing was just the catalyst for fully destructive behaviour. Don’t even get me started on the number of times “I love you” was said in this book was astounding. I love you, I love you, I love you. Yeah, we get it. And I’m actually not convinced that you love each other. I’m more convinced that you’re stuck in a dangerously toxic relationship that will do incredible harm to everyone around you, and you don’t care. Xaden only becomes more obsessive and emotionally abusive as he turns.
Thank you, Ridoc, for speaking sanity to Violet’s insanity. Not that it helped. “Give me a real, logical line he has to cross for you to walk away.” Violet and Xaden’s love still feels like a toxic lustfest to me. Like there’s nothing they won’t do for the other person… really?? Nothing?? It’s not healthy. It’s a BAD relationship. And the ending? Didn’t help matters. It’s still a BAD relationship, only now you’re married. Congratulations.
Who’s sticking around to see how badly this turns out in book four? Not me, goodbye. 👋
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Violence, War
Severe profanity: 200+ uses of f*ck.
Several explicit sex scenes: part of ch 3, the first few pages of ch 12, steamy kiss in 18, ch 25, 48-49.
Frequent sexual innuendoes and dialogue (they’re in the middle of a war and all Violet can think about is sex?).
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, War
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Ableism, Abandonment
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, War
Minor: Genocide, Death of parent