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entroarchives 's review for:
Onyx Storm
by Rebecca Yarros
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Do not dehydrate yourself on my account."
Just off the first half of Onyx Storm, I was already more invested than I was reading Iron Flame. There were a lot of issues with that book, and the community collectively agreed that it didn’t cook as well as Fourth Wing, which was surprising.
The pacing in Onyx Storm is amazing. It’s a medium-fast pacing. It's not a snail’s pace but not rushing the story. We were given day-to-day detail when needed but then a lot of unnecessary travel time was skipped and we could get into the meat of the story right away. I appreciated that because it kept me hooked at every minute.
The lore drops in this book??? God tier. literally, the ENTIRE world and story just opened up. We got confirmation on Andarna’s seventh species specifically that was mentioned in Iron Flame. We got more backstory on Violet’s family, Xaden’s family, and the Continent’s history as well. AND it was done in a way that didn’t involve two-page chunks of text just talking about the lore. It was very well woven into the story.
The balance between politics and action was pretty good overall. Although there were obviously many points where the discussion was political, unsurprisingly, but there were just as many action scenes to balance out the dialogue. Many books can get caught up in all the politics and forget that, at their core, they are an action fantasy.
The world-building and power system progressions just had my jaw dropped to the floor. We get to see whole new cultures, powers, upgraded powers, and a very specific cute caveat in the power systems of the rebellion relics.
There were quite a few things that didn’t go as I’d predicted from Iron Flame, but there were a couple things that I requested that I did get. Dreamwalking, double signets, traitors, fractured relationships, additional growing relationships, fake out deaths and real meaningful deaths, so much amazing banter, I skipped every intimate scenes, and more POVs from other characters, and so much more. But I didn't love the ending. It felt too abrupt.
All in all, I think it’s going to be really tough for Yarros to top this book with book four. It would have to get insane to top everything that happened in here.
Just off the first half of Onyx Storm, I was already more invested than I was reading Iron Flame. There were a lot of issues with that book, and the community collectively agreed that it didn’t cook as well as Fourth Wing, which was surprising.
The pacing in Onyx Storm is amazing. It’s a medium-fast pacing. It's not a snail’s pace but not rushing the story. We were given day-to-day detail when needed but then a lot of unnecessary travel time was skipped and we could get into the meat of the story right away. I appreciated that because it kept me hooked at every minute.
The lore drops in this book??? God tier. literally, the ENTIRE world and story just opened up. We got confirmation on Andarna’s seventh species specifically that was mentioned in Iron Flame. We got more backstory on Violet’s family, Xaden’s family, and the Continent’s history as well. AND it was done in a way that didn’t involve two-page chunks of text just talking about the lore. It was very well woven into the story.
The balance between politics and action was pretty good overall. Although there were obviously many points where the discussion was political, unsurprisingly, but there were just as many action scenes to balance out the dialogue. Many books can get caught up in all the politics and forget that, at their core, they are an action fantasy.
The world-building and power system progressions just had my jaw dropped to the floor. We get to see whole new cultures, powers, upgraded powers, and a very specific cute caveat in the power systems of the rebellion relics.
There were quite a few things that didn’t go as I’d predicted from Iron Flame, but there were a couple things that I requested that I did get. Dreamwalking, double signets, traitors, fractured relationships, additional growing relationships, fake out deaths and real meaningful deaths, so much amazing banter, I skipped every intimate scenes, and more POVs from other characters, and so much more. But I didn't love the ending. It felt too abrupt.
All in all, I think it’s going to be really tough for Yarros to top this book with book four. It would have to get insane to top everything that happened in here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore
Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, War, Classism