Onyx Storm

Okay, wow.. Feeling very conflicted because I love this author and this book was probably my most anticipated since Harry Potter & Wheel of Time. While also, the first 20% was so tough I considered putting the book down and not finishing a few times. It actually gave me anxiety as I was reading, thinking about how I was going to have to come in here & give it 3 stars. And then it got A LOT better. Here are the things I’d love addressed for future books: - Can we actually make Violet & Xaden people their friends would want to hang out with? Sure, they trust each other during life and death battles. But you know who you wouldn’t want to hang with as a normal person? Couples with constant PDA & no respect for anyone else who’s around. Bratty teens who only have negative things to say. At one point, Xaden had one nice respectful question to Aetos about if he and Violet rode horses a lot growing up, and everyone freaked out because it was so out of character for him to be kind and in a good mood. IMO the main characters were unlikable for a meaningful chunk of the book, and it also took away from other lovable characters when they still followed them around like puppy dogs. - Their connection lost its thrill for me. There was something missing in the explanation of why either would be turned on. Y’all have been together too long now to want to jump the other person’s bones for walking in a room. I need some REASONS why you’d want to rip the other person’s clothes off. I literally skipped through the spicy scenes because it felt forced. - Pacing was really odd at the start of the book. Like, if I had JUST put book 2 down maybe it would have worked? I just was constantly like - huh? Who’s that person? Why does that matter? There was no ebb and flow of pacing, it’s like they wanted us at level 10 anxiety for the first X chapters. None of the 20 TikTok recaps I watched prepared me. - I don’t understand why Xaden & Tairn like Seagyl - she’s kinda the worst. - The clue dropping definitely spans multiple books, which is okay, but I didn’t feel like I had a storyline “payoff” or that the ending was an even remotely useful place to stop for this book. - Lastly, if you want to end another book like this Rebecca I’m going to wait the 5 or whatever years it takes to you finish all of them!! No more pre-orders for you if you do this to us again!! Short list of things I loved: - Our new worlds! - New customs, peoples, traditions at each of the Isles - Aaric - I hope we spend more time with him! - Second signets - Andarna & Tairn - Learning more about how their magic works, like runes - Theophanie was a great villain