{"id":77938,"date":"2025-02-08T06:32:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T11:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=77938"},"modified":"2025-02-08T06:32:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T11:32:04","slug":"audio-review-onyx-storm-the-empyrean-3-by-rebecca-yarros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=77938","title":{"rendered":"Audio Review: Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) by Rebecca Yarros"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon<\/a> |\u00a0 \u00a0B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple Books<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/b><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

4 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

Phew! Once again I have finished a book in this series with my mouth wide open and wondering what the hell just happened. It\u2019s a wild ride in a world that I love, with characters that I adore, and I really enjoyed this one.<\/p>\n

The much anticipated third book of The Empyrean<\/i> series, this book dives right back into the story where the killer cliffhanger of Iron Flame<\/a> left off \u2013 thank God. Violet\u2019s whole world has been turned upside down and, once again, the story has shifted direction. I do love a good twist, and I\u2019m enjoying the ride that Yarros is taking us on with this series.<\/p>\n

Just a note that these books are a run-on series, and should absolutely be read in order. I will keep my review vague to avoid spoilers.<\/p>\n

Violet and her \u201cQuest Squad\u201d are off on a mission to find the answers to a recently uncovered secret, and to search for allies in their ongoing war. It\u2019s an adventure that takes us to new places with new people and new challenges to face, and though I did really enjoy the character interactions, so much of this book didn\u2019t move the plot forward and could have been completely removed without impacting the story at all. It felt a bit like filler just dragging the series out. Everything seems to happen towards the end of the book as the war continues, and the action scenes are great, the dragons are awesome, and I was engrossed as that all played out.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed the romance in this book. After communication issues plagued the love story in the last book and frustrated me to no end, I was happy to see Violet and Xaden together and committed, and though they are facing some monumental challenges, there is no doubting the love they have for each other, or their emotional, passionate (wildly steamy) connection.<\/p>\n

He cradles my face and leans down, resting his forehead against mine. \u201cI am yours and you are mine, and there\u2019s no law or rule in this world or the next that will change that.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Violet\u2019s own personal story progresses (again, mostly at the end of the book). We learn more about her past, and some big questions are answered, and I loved seeing her embrace her intelligence and her growing power as she gains confidence in who she is and her place in her world. She has some truly badass moments in this one, delivering a couple of well-deserved verbal slapdowns which were highly entertaining. And, of course, she\u2019s continuing to hone her strength and skills as a rider and is become a true powerhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me something, Violence.\u201d A muscle in his square jaw ticks as he stares down at me, rippling the tawny-brown skin of his stubbled cheek. \u201cWhy is it always you?\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is a phenomenal cast of characters backing her up, and with each book I fall in love with more and more of them (Ridoc owns my heart!). It\u2019s a close knit group with unique dynamics, and each one of them has their own backstories and journeys to go on, and I love the details that we get to explore with them. It connects you to the characters, and I felt so much for all of them \u2013 heartache at their losses, intrigue as hints are dropped and their stories develop, and I cheered at their big moments. It\u2019s such a great group, and I love spending time with them.<\/p>\n

Having said that, Yarros knows how to write a bad guy, and holy hell I have so much hatred for people in this series. But we all love to hate a bad guy, and it just makes the moments where our heroes shine even better.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more than one big twist at the end and yet another hideous cliffhanger, and I\u2019ll be hanging out to come back to this world to see where it\u2019s all going to go from here.<\/p>\n

Not quite as epic as I was hoping, but still a great read \u2013 4 stars.<\/p>\n

Note \u2013 I listened to this as an audiobook, and like the earlier books it\u2019s narrated by Rebecca Soler (with a few alternate POV chapters from other characters \u2013 Teddy Hamilton as Xaden FTW!), and it\u2019s such a great audio to listen to. Soler does an amazing job bringing all of these characters to life and I highly recommend listening to these books.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Empyrean<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\"\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\"Cover \u00a0<\/strong>\"Cover<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Fourth Wing (#1)
\n*6-STAR FAVE*<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Apple Books<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n

Iron Flame (#2)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Apple Books<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n

Onyx Storm (#3)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon<\/a> |\u00a0 \u00a0B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple Books<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n

Untitled (#4)<\/strong>
\nTo be released<\/p>\n

Untitled (#5)<\/strong>
\nTo be released<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find more great reads on our Rebecca Yarros Author Spotlight<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon |\u00a0 \u00a0B&N\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple Books\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Kobo Review 4 stars Phew! Once again I have finished a book in this series with my mouth wide open and wondering what the hell just happened. It\u2019s a wild […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,454,522,9,29],"tags":[273,48,1480],"class_list":["post-77938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action","category-audio-recommendation","category-fantasy","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-rebecca-yarros","tag-review","tag-the-empyrean"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Onyx-Storm.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-kh4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}