Onyx Storm

A stronger read than Iron Flame, with fewer Yarrosisms every few pages to distract you, but the story threatens to try and do too much at once and ultimately leads to an unsatisfying non-conclusion that feels mostly like we've just circled back around to where we were at the beginning of the book again.

Onyx Storm does a lot to fully open up and flesh out the world of The Empyrean, and “Quest Squad's” journey beyond the Continent is by far the strongest part of the story. Had it been the longer, fuller focus of Onyx Storm, the book probably would have been better for it. Instead, the ‘Quest' ends about two-thirds of the way through, and the story seems to stall out afterwards.

The climactic battle at the end is a welcome pick-up in pace and action. But, even though it shakes things up by expanding our perspectives to additional members of Second Squad, this constant switching around also throws the pacing entirely out of whack. The new villain, Theophanie, is somewhat lost in the chaos of it despite being built up so well otherwise as a potential direct rival and foil for Violet.

Theophanie's not the only character that gets a bit lost in the narrative, either. The world opening up also balloons out the cast of allies, enemies, and everyone in between, and it becomes clear that there isn't much room to fit all of them into the condensed timeline on which the story operates. Characters, including core cast members of Second Squad, will rush in and out of being useful to the narrative. Sometimes, with hundreds of pages between.

Overall, Onyx Storm is a more entertaining adventure than Iron Flame, and a more complete picture of the world, which fits nicely into Navarre's new status quo. It is, however, a less complete story than the previous two books and leaves almost every dangling thread from Iron Flame still dangling, barely any shorter than we left it. So, it's a good thing that a story is about the journey, not the destination. Hopefully at least, no one will be able to say the same of book #4 when it comes and, ideally, provides conclusion and closure.