Onyx Storm

The Empyrean is a five-book series beginning with Fourth Wing (2023) and Iron Flame (2023). In the series, signets are magical abilities that dragon riders develop after bonding with a dragon. Each rider’s signet is unique and reflects both their dragon’s abilities and their own innate traits. However, signets do not manifest immediately. A rider must first survive Threshing, the brutal selection process where dragons choose their riders. Once bonded, a rider’s signet typically develops within weeks, though some take longer.

Signets vary in nature, ranging from elemental abilities like lightning wielding to mental powers such as mind-reading or dream-walking. Some abilities are highly effective in combat, such as shadow wielding, while others provide strategic advantages, like teleportation or memory reading. However, signets come with risks. Using one requires significant energy, and overuse can result in signet burnout, causing permanent physical damage or even death. Some signets, such as mind control, are outlawed due to their dangerous potential. Additionally, if a rider’s body is unable to withstand their developing signet, they may not survive its manifestation.

Throughout the series, signets play a crucial role in shaping battles and alliances. For example, Violet Sorrengail possesses lightning wielding and later discovers her ability to dream-walk, allowing her to enter others’ dreams undetected. Xaden Riorson wields shadows, making him a formidable force in combat. Dain Aetos can read memories, and Imogen Cardoso has the rare and dangerous ability of mind compulsion. These unique powers make each rider formidable while emphasizing the balance between strength, restraint, and survival.

Fourth Wing acts as the exposition of the series, introducing the characters and their world’s geography, political climate, and complicated history. The protagonist, Violet, lives on a continent occupied by two warring kingdoms. Her home kingdom, Navarre, is native to dragons who reproduce in a protected area called the Vale, while the Poromiel kingdom is home to creatures called gryphons. Magical wards surround Navarre to block all non-dragon magic—a defensive mechanism to protect those within from both gryphon magic and, secretly, the dark-magic wielders called venin who ride beasts called wyverns. At the start of Fourth Wing, Violet—and all her classmates—know venin and wyvern only as mythical creatures and villains from folklore. However, as the series continues, Violet and her peers discover that Navarre leadership erased these creatures from history 600 years prior. The death and destruction the venin and their wyverns cause outside of Navarre’s borders is covered up by leadership and passed off as gryphon attacks led by Poromiel—causing a deadly rift between their two kingdoms.

Violet’s time attending Basgiath War College begins six years after a failed rebellion led by the Tyrrendor Providence—the kingdom of Poromiel’s closest neighbor. The rebellion began by Fen Riorson, who helped Poromiel defeat the venin at their borders. Navarre leadership swiftly silenced the rebellion to avoid involvement and sentenced all the rebel-leaders’ children to serve in the Riders Quadrant.

In Fourth Wing, Violet becomes a rider instead of the scribe she was trained to be. She bonds with an unprecedented two dragons—Tairn and Andarna—and becomes great friends with her fellow riders Rhiannon, Ridoc, Sawyer, and Liam while also developing a romance with Xaden. Violet becomes entangled in the rebellion through her relationship with Xaden. She is betrayed by her childhood friend Dain, whose loyalty to Navarre and his father leads Violet and her friends into a dangerous trap that kills Liam. At the end of Fourth Wing, Violet is surprised to learn that her assumed-deceased brother Brennan is alive and leading the revolution, supplying weaponry to those outside Navarre in the fight against the venin.

Iron Flame introduces more characters such as Sloane Mairi, the sister of Liam, whose manifested ability of siphoning signet power saves Navarre by allowing the riders to repower their wards against the venin—but at the cost of Violet’s mother’s life. Sloane’s ability is pivotal in Onyx Storm, as she uses it to save Mira’s life. Iron Flame also reintroduces an antagonistic classmate from Violet’s first year whom she believed she killed—Jack Barlowe. Barlowe returns as a venin and is eventually captured and locked away. Though he is somewhat inactive in Onyx Storm, the venin leaders make several attempts to retrieve or kill him, leading Violet and her allies to believe that he holds valuable information.