Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Narrator: Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton, Justis Bolding, Jasmin Walker
Series: The Empyrean #3
Published by Recorded Books on January 21, 2025
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Length: 23 hours, 52 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple





After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.
Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth.
But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.
The Empyrean series continues and I’m not even going to try to avoid spoilers for previous books. The story and characters are highly entertaining and provide a dramatic, emotional tale.  Violet and Xaden are special snowflakes but they have some admirable qualities and aren’t all about themselves. They are frantically about each other, however. Rather than this emotional drama that goes nowhere, I’d rather have had better building of the supporting characters and the magic and the new worlds.
Violet is focused on finding the seventh type of dragon, Irids, and a cure for the venin. She wants to help the war effort since the Irid helped defeat the venin a few centuries ago. She works to find her father’s books, searches for the Irid, and develop her own skills. She does this while dealing with grief of losing her mother, fear over losing Xaden and numerous severe physical injuries. The mental and physical strain are intense.
Xaden is focused on keeping control and protecting Violet. He is able to use his role as Duke and a graduate of the War College to help them work on their priorities. But they are losing the war. Those directing the war effort and the college seem far away and very ineffective in Onyx Storm. The cadets who haven’t graduated are involved more often now.
I love the dragons. I was excited to learn more about the Irid and Andarna but we get so little. In general, we could have had so much better world-building which would make things more interesting. There could have been much more learned from Vi’s fathers’ journals, some things which helped them a bit more. The meetings with all the other groups on the different island could have had more depth and insight into the world. I’d especially have enjoyed more from Xaden’s mother and that past and present.
The battle strategy and battles were a bit of a mess. We don’t get the complete picture of the plan and then things don’t go according to plan. We do seeing our team getting injured or dying. I’d have appreciated more strategic strategies and battles. I don’t feel like there was a great description of the weapons and powers either.
The ending is shocking and leaves us with more questions than answers which is like the whole book. Onyx Storm is somewhat entertaining as an emotional drama but I’d prefer the strength of well-built characters and worlds.
Narration:
Rebecca Soler is the voice of this series for me. I had not known this narrator previously. In Onyx Storm, Xaden’s voice felt muted compared to the deep gravel and rasp I remember from the earlier books. I was into the story and not sure I can tell you about the other two narrators. Soler, and Violet, were my primary focus. I enjoyed the performance overall but was deep into the story more than doing an evaluation of any sort of the narration. I listened comfortably at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip:Â HEREÂ
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 25-Audio
- 25-COYER
This sounds like a “filler” book without much forward momentum. But I’m glad it was entertaining!
People have suggested that. I think it advanced things a bit but could have done so in far less pages.
I like dragons but I hear you with the problems you had with the book. Hopefully your next read is better.
I liked it and I’ll keep reading the series. But it could have been better.
Great review! I’m currently halfway through and the narrator is driving me up a wall. I started this series listening to the Graphic Audio and the regular audiobook just doesn’t compare. But at the same time I don’t want to be spoiled so it is what it is :/
I haven’t tried Graphic audio yet but it would be quite different and not the sane narrators.
I’ll be waiting until more books publish to pick this one up. Sounds like middle book syndrome and I’m not a big fan of emotional drama.
The book was longer than it needed to be for what it accomplished. But there was entertainment and I enjoy the series.
I do enjoy the series as well, but if I know there’s more questions than answers by the end of the book I’d rather wait until I can binge a few books.
Too bad this fell short of expectations but great that you still enjoyed.
yes it was entertaining but for the length of it I would have preferred more plot, character development or world-building. At least more of one of those 3 things. It was almost totally focused on Violet obsessing over Xaden.
This book and this series are everywhere. I’m tempted to read them this year.
They are very long. They are entertaining. I’ll be reading more of them and I think you should try them.
While I had a lot of fun with the first book, I didn’t love the second one. I’ve bought this, but I’m not jumping in to read it, yet. And based on your review, I will probably keep it lower on the priority list. Sounds like I’ll have issues with the same things you did. Thanks!
It will be really interesting to see how the 4th book goes. If it tightens up some of the issues it can be great. The first 2 books laid a foundation of characters and world that I care about. But this one was a bit frustrating. I wanted more.
I picked up book 1. *fingers crossed*
It’s a very captivating series, and dragons.
I loved book 1 and still need to read book 2, so I didn’t read a lot of your review, just the beginning and the end. I’ve heard others say some of the same things. Great review! I’m still eager to get to it!
Thank you. Of course I’m glad I read it even with my quibbles.
Great review. I’m about halfway through and still enjoying it. The one thing that I generally don’t like in these kinds of stories are the willingness of the characters to sacrifice themselves, instead of fighting to do better. Their death or disappearance, usually, are only going to be a temporary solution, and not very helpful to the people they leave behind.