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Onyx Storm (Chapter 50 to Chapter 52)

Onyx Storm (Chapter 50 to Chapter 52)

STATS

Title: Onyx Storm

Series: The Empyrean (Book 3)

Author(s): Rebecca Yarros

Genre: Fantasy (Epic)

First Printing: January 2025

Publisher: Red Tower Books

Rating: 1.5 / 10

SPOILER WARNING

Heavy spoilers will be provided for the entirety of The Empyrean up through the end of the content covered in this part. Mild spoilers for elements later in Onyx Storm may be provided, but I will keep the first paragraph of each section as spoiler-free as possible. Heavy spoilers from later in Onyx Storm will be confined to clearly labelled sections.

STORY

Violet has what is seemingly another prophecy dream. She wakes up to find that Xaden is having a nightmare. When they start discussing their dreams, Xaden says that Violet’s dream was actually his dream. It’s at this point that they realize that Violet is able to enter dreams - and not just his. We get the big reveal of Violet’s second Signet: she’s a form of inntinnsic knows as a “dream walker”, projecting her consciousness into the dreams of others when she sleeps. (Naturally, this makes her “exceptionally dangerous”, and Yarros takes time to explain to the audience why this makes Violet the most powerful inntinnsic ever.) Multiple pages are spent on rationalizing this twist and trying to use it to dial up tension. This is interrupted when an alarm is sounded. Aretia is under attack.

Areria’s on-site riders rally for defense. As Violet heads to her assigned post, Aaric urges her to protect Aretia’s temple of Dunne instead. Violet ignores the warning, but the battle eventually dumps her and Tairn there anyway, and Tairn is grounded near the temple after a wyvern injures him.

Violet and Tairn regroup with Andarna, Rhiannon, and Rhiannon’s dragon on the steps of the temple. Theophanie arrives to monologue … and then, just one page after she appears, runs away for no apparent reason. Soon after, wyverns start falling dead from the sky. Leothan, the rainbow dragon from the same family group as Andarna, then reveals himself and announces that he reignited the Aretia wardstone with his breath.

PLOT

Dream Walker

We touched in this twist somewhat while covering Chapters 9 through 11. However, that was almost exactly 6 months ago, so I want to do a quick recap before we dive into a proper analysis.

It is very hard to tell whether this twist is a badly executed retcon or just incompetently set up. It’s also hard to tell whether Yarros is gaslighting her audience to sell the twist or really doesn’t realize how terrible the setup is. The crux of the problem is the interview that Yarros did with Variety on January 31st. She was directly asked about the twist, and she effectively blamed the audience for now spotting the “obvious”.

Variety Interviewer: We get confirmation in “Onyx Storm” that Violet’s second signet is dream walking.

Yarros: I thought it was obvious in Book 2! I felt so bad when everyone was like, “We don’t know what it is!”

Variety Interviewer: 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?

Yarros: I would say it evolves with her understanding. The maps evolve with her understanding, everything is through Violet’s lens.

At first glance, this is nonsense, but only in presentation. The obviously plot-relevant dreams Violet has been having through the previous books could have been dream walking. There's nothing about them that prevents this from being possible. I also can’t recall anything that would lock those dreams into being prophetic. Myself and others simply jumped to that conclusion because it was the most cliché answer, and Yarros has given us no reason to think she wouldn't default to a cliché.

Still, I’m happy to acknowledge that Yarros could be completely honest here. Maybe she really did think she’d done enough to explain the -

And Then Yarros Lied to the Audience … Again

Regardless of whether this twist was always planned but terribly written or a last-minute swerve that Yarros is trying to gaslight us about, she does the same thing she does with every nonsense twist from Iron Flame onwards: attempt to justify the twist to the audience on the spot. In the process, she lies.

“It doesn’t make sense. Signets are based on our unique bond and the power of the dragon.” My thoughts tumble over themselves as I babble. “And what we need most, so it’s logical that you needed to know everyone’s intentions when you manifested. You had to keep the marked ones safe. But there’s no part of me who wants or needs to know what anyone else is dreaming—” The trembling stops as it clicks and I understand.

“Except when I did. I was cut off from her while she slept all those months.”

“Andarna.” He nods. “That makes sense.”

No, it does not. That didn't happen. For all the worrying Violet did for Andarna in Part 1 of Iron Flame, she did not dwell on what Andarna was dreaming about in the DREAMLESS SLEEP. (I went back and combed through the text. Violet worried about Andrna’s health, but what her dragon was dreaming was not on her concerns.) If anything, per the rules Yarros leans on here, any of the following would have made more sense as abilities for Violet to develop at that time:

  • A Signet to erase memories or tamper with emotions, so that Violet could make Draconis Umbridge lose interest in Andarna.

  • Distance wielding, so that she could spend more time with Xaden and aid with the smuggling effort.

  • Manipulating and generating wards, the way Mira can, so that she could help with the Aretia wardstone.

  • Mending, so that she could help Andrana heal, since the prolonged period of Andarna’s Dreamless Sleep was clearly evidence that something had gone horribly wrong. (Yes, mending wouldn't help Andarna’s wings in the long run, but Violet didn’t know that at the time.)

  • The powers of a true inntinnsic (i.e. the unlimited mind reading power that used to be the most powerful one), so that Xaden couldn't keep secrets from her.

Bear in mind that I am only listing Signets that Yarros has already established to exist. With how new powers keep getting whipped out, there are no practical limits on alternative Signet powers Violet could have unlocked at that stage of the story. She could manifest the Phoenix Force and still have it make as much sense as any other power.

Once again, Yarros is resorting to deception to seem clever, and once again, her efforts to build up herself damages her narrative.

Yawn

Continuing right along …

“My signet doesn’t work on dragons, and I’m guessing yours doesn’t, either, so you unknowingly developed it on a human.”

“On you.” I search his face for any sign of anger but find none. “I’m so sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” He strokes my hair and holds my gaze. “You didn’t know. Didn’t do it on purpose—”

“Of course not.” I would never purposely violate his privacy that way—or [Red Shirt Flier’s].

“Which is what makes you exceptionally dangerous.” His jaw flexes twice. “I can only read someone while they’re awake, and I’m limited by their ability to shield. No one can shield while they’re sleeping. You could potentially walk straight into Melgren’s own dreams and he couldn’t stop you. Probably wouldn’t even know.” His face twists for a heartbeat before he quickly masks it. “Violet, they’ll kill you if they find out. It won’t matter that you’re the best weapon they have against the venin—against me. They’ll snap your neck and call it self-defense.”

Well, that’s…terrifying.

No, it’s not.

We have done this song and dance before. Great power, the promise of death if the truth is revealed … There was been tiny variations, but it always plays out the same. Yarros is insisting the danger is real to try to inject stakes, but she’s not going to commit. This danger doesn’t surface by the end of Onyx Storm, and based on past precedent, I have zero confidence that it will be relevant in future books.

Also … thanks, Ms. Yarros, for once again confirming that shielding stops inntinnsics, and thus that Navarre never needed to kill inntinnsics in the first place. They could have made use of inntinnsics as weapons by just teaching everyone with classified knowledge how to shield.

Self-Indulgent

I’m tempted to say that dream walking contributes nothing to the narrative … but that downplays the problem.

Onyx Storm is the first time Violet has plot-relevant dreams that can properly be said to be dream walking (versus retconned prophecy dreams). The first is the dream she had in Chapter 10, which was into Red Shirt Flier’s head (a fact confirmed by the end of this chapter, when Violet goes to ask Red Shirt Flier some questions to confirm that this is what happened). The second was just now. You could cut all dream walking out of the story without negatively impacting the narrative.

Except …there’s a narratively irrelevant scene a little further along, Violet will help Xaden through a nightmare.

This is a repeat of Violet giving encouragement to Sawyer. It is more self-indulgence. Only Yarros’s self-insert Mary Sue has the power to help Bad Boy Love Interest through his nightmares. We are meant to clap as we watch her overcome everyone else’s conflicts.

Sue Shutdown / Violet is a Dumbass

Violet confirms that she had indeed entered Red Shirt Flier’s dream by asking if Red Shirt Flier has the family portrait that she saw in said dream.

“Did you happen to have a portrait of your family?” I ask.

“I still do,” [Red Shirt Flier] answers, her forehead puckering. “Is something wrong with my brothers? I just saw them a few hours ago.”

“No.” I shake my head vehemently. “Nothing like that.” Maybe we’re wrong and this is just some weird effect from the bond. If [Red Shirt Flier] still has the portrait, then it couldn’t have caught fire. Then Xaden can’t be right—I didn’t walk into her dream.

“Here, I’ll show it to you,” [Red Shirt Flier] offers, then disappears into her room. She’s back within a few seconds and holds out the portrait.

Recognition hits with all the subtlety of a dagger. “I’ve seen it before.” The soft smiles, the honey-brown eyes. Gods, no wonder the boys looked familiar tome. I was just in too much pain to register why the first time. “It’s beautiful.” I force myself to swallow.

“Thanks.” She draws back her hand. “I keep it with me wherever we go.”

“You’re not worried about losing it?”

“That used to be my worst nightmare, actually,” she says, staring down at the miniature. “Until I lived through losing them.”

Worst nightmare. It takes every ounce of self-control I have to keep my expression flat.

This is Yarros making use of her aftshadowing in Chapter 11, when she had Violet recognize the boys and then write off the recognition. Once more, Violet’s Sue-ness backfires. When Violet can jump to absurd conclusions and always be right, then a rational dismissal of an oddity kills any potential mystery. The narrative potential of her recognizing the boys ended in that scene, and providing a new explanation now comes across more like a retcon than a revelation. That’s before we get into that this was the ONLY HINT prior to Chapter 52 about dream walking … and it was a throwaway moment in Chapter 11. All this is to say that the setup for this moment was pointless and inadequate.

Now, for the “rational woman” chosen for her “intelligence” demonstrating yet again that she deserves neither label. I am willing to accept that Violet didn’t recognize the boys due to the pain of her injuries. I was prepared to use that same excuse as a way to patch the double Signet retcon, after all. What baffles me is that Violet thinks, for even a second, that Red Shirt Flier having the portrait would rule out the possiblity of Violet walking into her dream. Does Yarros’s self-insert Mary Sue think that people only dream about their memories?

Bone-Dry Well

My caustic criticism of this twist may be par for the course, yet truth be told, I find this more sad than infuriating.

Yarros is completely out of ideas, isn’t she? She’s just repeating herself. I can understand that when it comes to the tactics she uses to lie to and manipulate her audience, but this is a whole plot point being recycled as this narrative gasps for air. This is literally the Xaden inntinnsic twist all over again, just portrayed more sympathetically (since, after all, the self-insert Mary Sue is on the receiving end now). She’s handed out “power for power's sake” so much that even rolling my eyes took more effort than it deserved. She's danced this empty dance of death striking if a secret is revealed enough times that her stakes are disintegrating.

At the time of writing this post’s publication, there is still no date announced for Book 4 in The Empyrean. I don’t think it is because Yarros is finally learning to pace herself. I think she’s stalling. I think Book 4 is as in as much trouble as The Winds of Winter. My gut tells me that Yarros is going to hide behind Contemporary Romance books until her popularity cools and she’s desperate for another validation fix, at which point, she’s give us a book that is just a rehash of elements from the series thus far.

I’d like to be wrong about that, but as of this chapter, it really does read like Yarros's well of creativity is exhausted.

The Battle

Aaric Aftshadowing (Heavy Spoilers)

Aaric telling Violet to protect the temple of Dunne is aftshadowing. It is going to be leveraged as part of yet another rationalization of a nonsense, story-breaking twist when we get to the climax.

The reason I know that it’s aftshadowing is that it ends up not actually mattering to the events of the battle.

  • Violet ignores him telling her this. She and Tairn then crash-land near Dunne’s temple when Tairn sustains an injury to his wing, one that keeps him from taking off. Theophanie then attacks the temple while Violet is trying to minister to Tairn’s wing. Violet has to defend the temple, both because she wants to protect innocents (this time) and for her own survival. The same events would have played out even if Aaric hadn't told her.

  • The attack on the temple doesn’t even end up mattering. Theophanie barely has time to start monologuing before she and the venin with her flee before the reactivation of the Aretia wardstone. This means that, even if the temple had been left undefended, the absolute worst that could have happened was that any priests standing near the doors could have gotten taken out by a death wave … except even that probably wouldn’t happen, as Theophanie apparently has just as much motivation to monologue at the high priestess as she does at Violet, so she would still waste time and then need to run away before she got anything done.

So … defending the temple was not, in fact, something Aaric needed to tell Violet to do. At the absolute most, it’s his fault the temple needs to be defended. Andarna chooses to guard the temple (rather than the Aretia wardstone, where Violet told her to be) because of Violet’s warning. Because of how the events where Tairn gets injured unfold, it’s unclear whether the venin were gunning for Andarna or the temple. When Theophanie does get there, she’s focussed on abducting Violet. This means that, even if Aaric’s warning influenced events, it did nothing to protect the temple. He just changed the location of the scene with Theophanie, thereby putting the temple in danger.

What makes this aftshadowing so nonsensical is that Aaric knows all of this in advance. His Signet is precognition (more powerful that Melgren’s, of course). The reveal of this fact is the big twist that this aftshadowing is for. With such power, he should, at bare minimum, realize that telling Violet was unnecessary. In fact, if we’re supposed to take this idea of great power bringing death upon the wielder at all seriously, him telling Violet was the dumbest thing he could do. He is risking the exposure of this secret (and he is indeed trying to keep his Signet a secret, as the twist reveal with confirm) when he should know that doing so will have no benefit.

It’s clear the Yarros wrote the encounter at the temple as its own thing and then slapped on Aaric’s prophecy after the fact. That’s fine in principle. The context of things can change over the course of edits. The problem is that it shouldn’t be this obvious.

If Yarros cared even the slightest bit about the quality of her work, she should have made some change that would make Aaric telling Violet have a ripple effect on the narrative. At bare minimum, she could have had Violet choose to go against orders and trust Aaric, and she should have clearly established that Theophanie prioritized whatever was in the temple over abducting Violet at this time. That way, Aaric telling Violet would have been an unambiguous hinderance to Theophanie’s plans.

Promise of Treachery

Speaking of nonsensical aftshadowing to set up a twist in the climax … that’s a line at the start of the battle that only makes sense as an attempt to set up said twist. It’s not aftshadowing. It’s simply a phenomenally dumb thing for a “rational woman” chosen for her “intelligence” to say.

At the start of the battle, Violet realizes that the wyvern assault is coordinated such that she won’t be able to slaughter waves of them with single bolts of lightning. This prompts the following exchange between her and Tairn.

“Either they’ve traded the security of formation in hopes smaller pairing will get through,” Tairn muses, “or they know you’re here and formations make a bigger target.”

“That would require one of the dark wielders to have escaped Basgiath.” I glance downward and see Sliseag and Aotrom land at the gates, a row of gryphons manning the walls above them.

“It would,” Tairn agrees, then rumbles low in his chest.

Violet, what are you talking about? Of course venin escaped Basgiath. The only reason you were fighting venin in the opening of this book is that some of the venin who escaped the final battle of Iron Flame chose to hang back and engage in guerilla tactics against the riders. Surely you realize that some of them could have also chosen to slip away. For that matter, you know Theophanie got away after the failed attempt to free Jack.

Does Yarros not realize that, by saying this, she implies that the venin seen in the opening of this book arrived after the battle, further hammering in that the venin could have walked in and overwhelmed Navarre at any time in the past six centuries?

Dogfighting

The dragonback action in Chapters 51 and 52 shares both the strengths and flaws of the scene in Chapter 10. Yarros put in effort, and that effort paid off.

That said, even in a reread, I find myself enjoying this scene far less than the one in Chapter 10. Part of this is burnout. While both of these action scenes are effectively filler to make us think something is happened while Yarros bloats the page count, this one comes after many additional scenes of power fantasy and Yarros simultaneously making the venin overpowered and incompetent. What is the point of fighting wyverns when she’s established that a small venin strike team could level Aretia on their own? There’s also the matter that Yarros has demonstrated herself to be a coward when it comes to sacrificing elements for her story. I can believe that Violet’s efforts to defend a newly established village might fail - it’s effectively a Red Shirt location, so if it is destroyed, that’s par for the course - but it’s simply not credible that Yarros would sacrifice Aretia.

Theophanie

The involvment of Violet’s supposed nemesis within this action sequence falls flat on every level.

First, there’s Violet’s obsessive push to shoot Theophanie down while the fight is still airborne. In isolation, I do like this as a character beat, but it isn’t supported. Theophanie’s four interactions with Violet in the course of this book have been her running away for no reason on the first two occasions and taunting Violet via notes in the second two. Violet’s ready to risk burnout to kill Theophanie when this is their history? I’ve had arguments with people over Star Wars that ran deeper than this, yet I’m not about to go to such suicidal lengths to obliterate them. How did Violet get to this point, then?

Second, there’s what happens when she gets to the temple. Setting aside the things we need to talk about in the Spotlight analysis for the religious worldbuilding (coming tomorrow), Theophanie’s only priority is to abduct Violet … by asking politely and twirling her moustache. Then, just ONE PAGE after she begins talking, Theophanie turns and … runs aways.

Ms. Yarros, why do you think Theophanie is the slightest bit credible? Is it just because she’s immune to Andarna’s flames?

Two more venin, men wearing red robes, walk through the grass behind her, and Andarnaleaps over Tairn’s tail, blasting a stream of fire Theophanie’s way. The scents ofash and sulfur fill the air, but when Andarna lands at the base of the steps to myright, Theophanie still stands untouched.

“Why?” Andarna shrieks.

“Marvelous,” Theophanie says with a smile. “Did that make you feel bet—”

This isn’t enough to make Theophanie scary, Ms. Yarros. It just compounds the issue of you tearing open that plot hole back in Iron Flame. You need to explain when and why Andarna can or can’t kill venin before not killing this particular venin means anything.

The Deus Ex Machina

I already discussed this when we talked about the agency of the rainbow dragons, so I’ll keep this brief.

The intervention of the rainbow dragon Leothan at this precise moment is utter nonsense. What, exactly, happened between him deciding to leave Andarna on that island with Violet and the squad and him coming here? What are the odds that he arrived just in time to ignite the wardstone during the battle? If he was here already, what took him so long? Why did he not fire it much earlier, since he already understood the danger Aretia was in?

There’s also the issue of Theophanie. Why did she run? Let’s assume that Yarros is implying that venin can’t use their Signets inside the wards, and that Theophanie wanted to run before they lost the power to teleport out. (This would contradict Jack using an obvious venin Signet in Fourth Wing and Xaden using an amplified Signet in this book and the previous, but for argument’s sake, we will ignore these contradictions.) Why did Theophanie not use her incredible speed to kill everyone and seize Violet before the wards washed over them? That should be well within her abilities. We’re shown that it takes several seconds for the blast front (so to speak) of the wards to reach the temple after Theophanie realized what was about to happen. Why did she not use this time to take Violet? Why did she not take Andarna? Why did she not take Rhiannon or Xaden to use as leverage against Violet?

Vapors

Yarros is running nearly on empty here. Every chapter since the end of the rainbow dragon hunt has been filler, but the sheer pointlessness of both the dream walker twist and the battle demonstrate just how desperate Yarros is getting as she struggles to justify the length of this book. Neither of these things ultimately impact the narrative outside of the wardstone being reignited, and that could have been done at any arbitrary point before now.

Things are only going to get worse in Chapter 53. I’ll hold off on explaining the details until two weeks for now. Suffice it to say that Yarros could have cut 10 chapters worth of this book if what happens next chapter had happened before Leothan departed back in Chapter 43.

CHARACTER

For once, I have no commentary on the characters. Everyone is consistently written, and the majority of the problems would be things we’ve already covered.

WORLDBUILDING

Dream Walking

“I can only read someone while they’re awake, and I’m limited by their ability to shield. No one can shield while they’re sleeping. You could potentially walk straight into Melgren’s own dreams and he couldn’t stop you. Probably wouldn’t even know.”

Mechanics

Credit where it is due, the way that Yarros describes dream walking does make sense within the context of previously established mechanics. Shielding requires active focus, so it makes sense that someone sleeping can't shield. Given that Xaden didn’t even realize Violet was doing this until she described his own dream to him, the idea that the subject is unaware of this intrusion is also consistent with what we have seen thus far.

Scaling

The idea that Violet is the most powerful inntinnsic of all (and, even if not explicitly stated, that is the idea Yarros is pushing here) falls apart upon under the slightest bit of scrutiny.

Let’s give Yarros the extreme benefit of the doubt and say that Violet is capable of not only entering dreams but manipulating them. We’ll give her the full range of abilities demonstrated in Inception, making the target dreamer into a prisoner whom she can rob at will or else coax into giving her what she needs by interacting with them. She could indeed steal secrets from anyone this way, and since she’d been targeting their subconscious directly, they’d be helpless to stop her even if they became aware of what was happening and tried to consciously resist. Let’s also nerf other inntinnsics and accept the proposal that all of them need the subject to be conscious (despite the fact that Dain, as someone who reads memories, shouldn't have this restriction).

The problem?

Violet can only access the mind of the dreamer while both she and the dreamer are asleep.

Oh, and it gets better. The only people Violet has thus far dream walked into are Xaden (with whom she has a preexisting telepathic bond) and Red Shirt Flier (who, in the scene in question in Chapter 9, was sleeping in the same room). This implies that extreme proximity or an existing telepathic link are necessary factors.

I used Inception as the point of comparison for a reason: Violet is no more dangerous than any member of Cobb’s crew from that film. Sure, she can steal anyone’s secrets under optimal conditions, but those optimal conditions require significant planning and preparation. She’s not going to be snatching thoughts from anyone nearby. Every other inntinnsic, including those Navarre tolerates, is more of a security risk than her. For that matter, even the lie detector Signet is more dangerous than hers. That also bypasses shields and would be perfect for stealing secrets if wielded by someone competent.

Heretic of Dunne

In this chapter, we learn that Theophanie is a former priestess of Dune. This is what Yarros was aftshadowing by calling attention to Theophanie’s silver hair and when she mentioned the forehead tattoo in passing on Unnbriel.

“Heretic! You are not welcome here,” [the high priestess of the temple] shouts, her voice breaking with a rasp.

Heretic? My gaze darts between the two women as my mind races in time with my heartbeat. Thefaded forehead tattoo. Theophanie was a priestess of Dunne. Her silver hair matches the attendants’ on Unnbriel…matches mine—

My thoughts stall as the white-haired priestess raises her sword toward Theophanie with a trembling arm.

Oh shit. Power floods my body in a scalding rush of fire. There are too many people around for me to miss, and if she drains this close—

“Perhaps I am not welcome,” Theophanie muses, her feet planted in the grass, “but they are.”

At first, this sounds like more badly written “cool” action banter. Yarros actually means it literally. The epigraph of Chapter 62 makes this clear.

There is no goddess more wrathful than Dunne. Entering Her temple will slice the soul from any attendant who has shunned Her grace.

—Major Rorilee’s Guide to Appeasing the Gods, Second Edition

Let’s ignore for a moment that venin are “soulless”, so logically, a threat against her soul shouldn't stop Theophanie from entering the temple. What Yarros is setting up here, and what she will lean deep into for the climax, is that the gods actively intervene in this setting and have an influence on the magic system.

This passage is the reason I wanted to Spotlight the religious worldbuilding here at Chapter 52. While there are a couple of moments where Yarros fumbles this aspect of her story, this is where things tip over the edge.

SPOTLIGHT: RELIGIOUS WORLDBUILDING

On this upcoming Sunday, November 23rd, we will break down the religious worldbuilding in Onyx Storm (and, by extension, The Empyrean as a whole). This is an aspect of the story I find incredibly frustrating because of how much damage it does for so little gain. The religions of this world, along with the divine, did not matter to The Empyrean prior to this book. By opening the can of worms that is divine intervention, Yarros found new ways to damage her narrative while gaining nothing of value from it.

SEND-OFFS

Originally, I was going to follow up this review by going straight into Dragons of a Vanished Moon, thereby wrapping up the War of Souls trilogy. That review is written and ready to go. However, after reviewing my analytics and seeing what you all seem to be most interested in, I realized that I should shuffle up my schedule of Friday reviews to fast-track content that more closely aligns with what you all are most interested in right now. (See this post for the full details.) Thus, Dragons of a Vanished Moon is going to wait until the New Year.

In its place, we will be getting back into Warhammer 40K novels with the third book of the Eisenhorn trilogy, Hereticus. That review is coming your way next Friday, November 28th. We’ll then follow it up on Sunday, November 30th with “The Keeler Image”, an Eisenhorn short story set after the events of Hereticus.

The week after, on December 5th, we’ll be reviewing Chapters 53 through 56 of Onyx Storm. These are chapters of transition, dealing with (or, rather, erasing), the aftermath of the assault on Aretia before shunting us into the climax. In the process, they deliver some developments that I want to like but are handling horribly.

Whatever you’re here for, thanks for stopping by. Please remember to subscribe to the newsletter if you’d like weekly e-mails with the latest posts. Please also share this review with others if you enjoyed it. Take care, everyone, and have a good weekend.

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