SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers from Rebecca Yarros‘ “Onyx Storm,” the third book in her “The Empyrean” book series.
Rebecca Yarros published No. 3 out of the five books she has planned in her “The Empyrean” series last week and has already broken the record for fastest-selling novel targeted at adults in 20 years with the romantasy title, “Onyx Storm.”
“It’s wild. I’m absolutely humbled by it. It’s insane. I don’t think it’s registered,” Yarros told Variety in the middle of her whirlwind tour of sold-out Q&As and morning-show appearances to promote the book, which sold more than 2.7 million copies in its first week following Jan. 21 release. “I’ll probably burst into tears at home when I’m actually in my real life with my children and my husband. But right now, it’s like two different segments of my life.”
From Entangled Publishing’s Red Tower imprint, “Onyx Storm” (and its “The Empyrean” series predecessors, “Fourth Wing” and its sequel “Iron Flame”) tells the continued story of Violet Sorrengail, a dragon-riding cadet at a military college who is uncovering the long-held magical secrets of her country. Yarros has released the first three books in the series in under two years.
Here, Yarros breaks down some of the biggest plot points in “Onyx Storm” with Variety while teasing where things are headed in Book 4 and how the “Fourth Wing” TV series, currently in the works at Amazon MGM Studios from Michael B. Jordan’s production company Outlier Society, is shaping up.
Throughout this post-release tour, you’ve had to carefully navigate spoilers at these big events because you don’t know how much of the audience has been able to read the book since it came out on Jan. 21. What’s that been like?
It was so hard because it leaked, and because of everything that happened before the release, it was devastating. The people who want to read it have been waiting, and then suddenly people are just posting spoilers, and I’m like, “You’re stealing the joy of an entire group of people.” And it just felt like highway robbery.
One thing you have teased so far is “someone you love won’t make it in Book 4.” Is that the correct wording — someone we love?
I think it depends on– I mean, yes, always. But it’s also, who do you love? Everybody loves different characters. So it could be someone you don’t love, but someone someone else does. But I think when you’re writing a book that examines war, it’s very important to make sure that people know that losses are real, right?
In this book, it’s revealed that Violet had two relationships before Xaden. We now know one was with Prince Halden, and the other one was someone her dad “never knew about.” Have we met this character already?
No.
You’ve also teased you’ve started your playlist for Book 4 and the first song is off of Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.” If I guess what it is, will you tell me if it’s correct?
Maybe.
“I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” or “The Prophecy,” is it either of those?
No, neither. “The Prophecy” I’ve always assigned to Dain.
Taylor Swift is closely tied to the “Fourth Wing” series through reader fandom and you citing her songs as inspiration in playlists. As a result, have you heard from her at all about the books?
No, of course not. The queen has bigger things to do.
But last week, Cynthia Erivo said she was a fan and currently reading “Onyx Storm.”
Oh my God. I squealed and died.
I’m assuming if Taylor wanted an early copy of one of the books, Taylor could get an early copy?
I would never say that, because we didn’t give out early copies. So I would never say that one person could or could not have an early copy. I think the earliest that copies went out this time was maybe two days before release, just for anyone who is moderating an event. I mean, I’m not against Taylor Swift moderating! I’m here for it, I will make that available.
There’s a lot of mentioning of Violet’s father, Asher, in this book, and there’s three different names used that fans are tying to the character — Asher Daxton, Colonel Daxton, and Asher Sorrengail. Are these all the same person?
So the [Colonel] Daxton that wrote the scribe quadrant book is not the same. It’s related to him, and Asher is a legacy scribe. But [Asher] took [his wife and Violet’s mother, Lilith Sorrengail’s] name. And if you look through the epigraphs, his rank changes and his name changes.
Is there anything we should read into in the prevalence of second signets among the marked ones that we find out about in this book?
It’s a theme that you have a certain group of people that has more than one. And it seems as though they’ve been chosen with deliberation and purpose.
So when Violet gets interested in this particular topic and asks Bodhi if he has a second signet, he answers an interesting way, by saying, “I don’t have one, just like Xaden.” But we as the reader know Xaden does have a second signet. Does Bodhi know?
Violet is the only one who knows about it. She is the only one who knows. Because in that world, it’s a death sentence.
We get confirmation in “Onyx Storm” that Violet’s second signet is dream walking.
I thought it was obvious in Book 2! I felt so bad when everyone was like, “We don’t know what it is!”
Is it official that it’s dream walking? So in the fourth book, where the signets are listed at the start of the book would it be fair to say it will say “dream walking” and that would be the correct answer?
I would say it evolves with her understanding. The maps evolve with her understanding, everything is through Violet’s lens.
In “Onyx Storm,” it’s mentioned there are six signets that are deemed the most powerful, but they aren’t listed out. Have we either seen or heard examples of each of these signets throughout the first three books?
I think most. But I have two more books. I haven’t completely delved into history and how other events have transpired.
At the start of “Onyx,” there’s a prologue that takes place in the final moments of “Iron Flame,” and then there’s a two-week gap before we return to the story. Will we find out what happened during that two weeks, and is it important?
If I were to write a bonus scene, but really it’s everything that they talked about in relation to them trying to come to a peace accord with Poromiel, and all those events are transpiring in that two week period. Xaden’s eyes are returning back to normal, all of that. I try not to bog down the reader with too much info dumping or “news of the day.” So that’s why you time jump.
There’s some arguing going on in the fandom — for a key reason at the end of the book when Xaden leaves a note that says “It’s yours now” without explaining what “it” is — about whether Xaden only refers to Tyrrendor as a “she” or “her,” or if he has called the province an “it.” I have found passages where he does say “it” — but can you clarify what’s correct here?
He goes back and forth because I’m pretty sure he says, “I need your help protecting it,” when he’s talking about the fact that he’s been reinstated to the dukedom. That’s off the top of my head! I don’t have a copy of the book with me. I think that’s phenomenal and I think that’s wild [people are parsing it]. I gotta be more careful. But he goes back and forth.
Basgiath’s birth-control serum — does that work based on magic, or is it medicinal?
Oh my God! It would be medicinal.
So theoretically, it would work in a place without magic, like Deverelli?
Yeah, it would work anywhere. I think that it’s really important, especially in relationships, when you’ve stated a certain preference for whether or not you’re on birth control or whatever safety measures you are continuing, that you continue those safety measures, and if not, you would need consent from your partner to continue, or acknowledgement that you’re not using something. I think that’s part of a healthy relationship.
Is all the information we need to figure out who Xaden’s venin “brother” is already in this book, or is there stuff purposely withheld that makes it so we couldn’t decipher it until Book 4?
It’s hinted at, but it’s not laid out, because you’re never in that person’s point of view. So it’s hinted at.
“Onyx Storm” got a limited collector’s edition run at Target tied to release. These special editions have become more popular in recent years and I’d love to get your thoughts on what makes for a quality collector’s edition and if it needs different art or bonus chapters to warrant that?
I think there’s a lot of mystery in what happens in publishing behind closed doors, and why it is special editions exist, and what it is retailers seek when you’re looking for numbers that they’ll shelve. My personal opinion on collector’s editions is, if you like to collect books, go for it. I love to collect seashells and I love to collect very random things. So if books are your things to collect, absolutely go for it. But I never want a reader to feel like they have to buy two copies of any of my books to understand the story. That being said, I get limited because of copyright and contracts, as to what can be put out for free on a timeline, but whenever I write bonus chapters, those will always, within a few months of publication, go up for free on my website. Because, again, if you want to collect, more power to you. I think it’s super cool. The edges are gorgeous. But I never want that pressure on the reader to have to buy two copies to get one story.
You’ve said you’re a plotter. I know that you’ve got the beats planned out through the end of the series, but how much of the entire series have you been able to share with Amazon and with showrunner Moira Walley-Beckett so that they can plot out what the “Fourth Wing” TV show would need to look like?
So they have the five-book arc, which went a little awry in Book 3 just because the positioning, but they already know that. But they have the five-book arc and the general big points of what happens in between each book, but they don’t have the specifics between Book 4 and Book 5, because I’m getting ready to go to my crazy plotting board and and plot out every single event that happens in each book, so that I make sure that I’m within my two books there. But they have general ideas. And Moira is great. She’s phenomenal.
What has it been like working on the show so far, which was first put into development before “Fourth Wing” was even released in 2023?
It was so conceptual back then, so it was kind of just trying to wrap my head around the fact that we would have an adaptation. And now, having met with Moira — and she came to a signing in Vancouver, so she got to meet some of the readers, and kind of see their energy — and having read a couple versions of the pilot, I have nothing but respect for her, and watching how she handles the book with such respect and such zeal. It really is phenomenal. I was kicking my feet the entire time I read it. Really, just no notes. I think it’s always scary to give your book baby to a person and say, “Hey, tell me what you think is important.” But she nailed it and she gets it.
You’ve said you’re going to take a break before writing Book 4, and there is no release date set yet. Do you think the show could come out and get ahead of you?
The show has no chance of getting to Season 4 before I get to Book 4. The show has no chance in lapping me and I’ve already talked to Moira about that. I think people are scared that I’m gonna go lay on a beach for a year or something, when really what I want to do is get to an eight-hour work day, five days a week. I just want to get to where I go to work and I stop working when my kids are home, and I go to their hockey games, and I sleep in my bed with my husband, and my entire life isn’t based off of a deadline and trying to write thousands and thousands and thousands of words a day.
You go back and forth writing a contemporary romance book in between “The Empyrean” books. Do you have your next contemporary lined up yet?
I do. I’m already excited. I think the idea came to me and I was like, yes, here we go. Which is always the sign that I’m not broken, that I’m healing from burnout, is when a new idea comes. I’m like, alright, I could have fun with that.
Do you ever see a connection between where you left off in “The Empyrean” books and what you choose to do in contemporary?
Yes, absolutely. If you read “Variation,” it’s very much about a ballerina who’s struggling to recover from a physical injury, and mine’s more mental. And trying to find her footing and trying to decide how hard she really wants to work to recover. She hasn’t really made that decision where, “Am I going to work to recover? Is someone going to come and take my spot?” And trying to find her own balance between what she thought was the pinnacle and what she’s been told is the pinnacle for her career and what is really important in her life.
And so I found myself working out a lot of my own feelings of how badly I injured myself mentally and physically to put out “Fourth Wing” and “Iron Flame” and “In the Likely Event” in that short time span — at the same time, writing “Variation” and knowing I had to go into “Onyx.” So it’s usually whatever I’m going through or processing, kind of trips into those books. Dealing with social media trips into “Variation.” And through “Variation,” I was able to really turn off social media and take a step back, kind of like lecturing myself, “Hey, this isn’t healthy.”
“In the Likely Event” is set up as a movie at Netflix. What’s that adaptation process like compared to the “Fourth Wing” TV series?
It’s just different because whatever book I’m in has my full attention. I have ADHD and I hyper focus in that book. It’s how I can write them so quickly. So when I’m hyper focused in that book, and it is my world, I am building up that world, those rules and those characters. So when that adaptation process happens, it’s very much speaking to the writer and talking to the writer about what’s important to me in that world, and how I built it, what playlists I use, things like that. It’s just a smaller snippet, because it’s more confined, it’s a standalone compared to “Fourth Wing.”
Casting has not begun on the “Fourth Wing” TV series yet. There’s not even a casting director yet, correct?
I keep trying to say that, too! We are not at that point yet. We are not at that point.
You’ve said your one big stipulation with casting is that Xaden is a POC character, he is “not white.”
Moira and I’ve had really great conversations about that, and she knows how important it is to me that we not remove marginalized people from the cast.
Do you have the title picked out for Book 4 yet?
I have one in my head, but I’m keeping everything so close to the chest, just because I feel like when something this big happens, it becomes like a train. And if you start that train, even when you throw up your hands and you say, “I’m not OK! We gotta stop it! We gotta pause it!” The train’s in motion, and everyone’s like, “Ah, so sorry!” And so the only way to not start that train and to make sure that I am as healthy as possible for my children is to not start the train. So I keep everything about Book 4 right here. No one has any details on it.
We got two new POVs in this book beyond Violet and Xaden: Rhiannon and Imogen. Why did you pick these two characters?
I fought for that really hard in my draft to keep it because I figured that one of the lessons Violet is learning is that she cannot be all things to all people. And I do find that sometimes heroines get overpowered where they are the only one who may accomplish this. And that’s not how it works in a military unit. You have to delegate. And her mission is to go over here and take out this one objective which leaves all of this major battle happening without Violet present. And I kind of think cinematically, as I’m writing, I would want to know what’s happening back there. And the most logical choice is really that Violet believes that Rhi is the best of them, and to go back into Rhi’s head and see how Rhi is also, while outwardly very confident, struggling with, “Are these the right decisions? Is this leadership? Is this what I should be doing?” And seeing her evolve through that scene and her relationship with Feirge.
And then going into Imogen’s head, I knew that Imogen was where I wanted to be, because she knows things that other people don’t. She’s a marked one. And she’s one of my favorite characters, she has been since Book 1. And that evolution of where she first steps onto that mat with Violet in Book 1, versus where she’s standing with Violet at the end of Book 3, is one of my favorite arcs, and I knew that needed to come from her. Plus, there’s a moment where she gives up her dagger because we need more power to power these wards. And to me, it’s very symbolic of what the marked ones have done, which is continuously give away this power to try and shield others and defend others. And for it to be Imogen that does it was symbolic to me.
Any plans to explore even more points of view in Book 4?
I think I left myself some really great opportunities.
Violet and Xaden are married by the final chapter of “Onyx Storm.” Among the many questions we have about those missing 12 hours Violet can’t remember during which she got married is: did she take Xaden’s last name, Riorson?
Wouldn’t you like to know? I think Violet would like to know! I think there’s a lot that’s unaccounted for, and I think everyone can safely assume that’s what we’re going to pick up Book 4, is what just happened in those 12 hours?
Will we ever get to see the wedding scene, either from Violet’s or someone else’s point of view?
I would say that, my guess is she wasn’t the only one there.
Xaden stills uses “Violence” as his nickname for Violet a few times in “Onyx Storm,” but also uses “love” as a nickname a lot more throughout the book. Why is that?
I think there’s an evolution in their relationship, and an evolution from where he calls her Violence, almost sarcastically, to where he does understand she is violent by nature, to where she is his love and constantly that’s what he clings to. And even in those moments when he fully turns venin, the only thing he holds on to is that love for her. That’s the last thing he’s got a hold of in his humanity. And so it’s kind of a theme there where that’s what he’s calling her and that’s what he’s grasping onto as his last foothold into humanity.
When Brennan first sees Violet in the final scene, his eyes bulge. Is that due to some change in her appearance?
No, just Brennan’s perspective is she’s been missing for 12 hours. It’s already noted that they have missing riders. So he’s just very much relieved and is shocked to see his sister and see that she’s no longer among the missing.
Because there is a theory that her hair has gone full silver, and so that is why he’s first shocked when looking at her.
Interesting.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
