'I have thoughts about the new Fourth Wing book. Not all of them are good.'

Have you guys heard of a little old book called Onyx Storm? It's the latest in the Fourth Wing (AKA The Empyrean) series, and it's only the only thing in the world that anyone is talking about right now.

Everyone is clamouring to know what happens next to Violet, Xaden, the dragons, and the gang from the verrrrrry popular Fourth Wing book series.

You know what they're also clamouring for? My opinions on it. So, you're welcome, I guess.

(If you haven't read Onyx Storm yet, please stop right now — this review is basically one big spoiler, and I can't be held responsible for anything you might find out. There are some spoilers for the first two books, too, so… look out.)

Watch: If all the girls in the world could read. Post continues below.

How it started.

I don't like not liking things. Liking things is actually a great hobby of mine. I am practically performing a gymnastics routine to like every single thing I read, watch and hear because I am inherently lazy and can't be bothered to find a new piece of content to consume.

I tell you that for context so you understand that, when I'm picking up Onyx Storm, I am ready to do some Simone Biles-level s**t.

I loved the first two books. I am begging author Rebecca Yarros to let me fall back in love with these characters. Remember the rush when we realised Violet had bonded with two dragons? I'm right here ready to relive that high! 

But I'm sorry to say that the first half of this book just did not get there for me. The pace was too slow. I get that searching for the other irids (AKA 'iridescents', like Andarna) was a long and arduous task, but, if you will excuse my bluntness, it was also a long and arduous read.

You know the part in the seventh Harry Potter book where they spend a bunch of time in the forest? And it's just not, erm, that interesting? The quest squad hanging out in the isles looking for Andarna's family is verrrrrry that. 

I understand it takes a lot of time and effort to fly around between far-flung places looking for a potentially extinct species of dragons, and in my view, that is why we invented email.

I kept waiting for someone to invent a nifty communication rune to neatly solve this problem, but nobody did, and that, my friends, is why we here on Earth are smarter than the Navarrans.

How it's going.

BUCKLE UP, RIDERS.

As soon as we meet the irids, things start happening again, and I am here for it. Ridoc knows Xaden is venin, and so do the rest of the gang! Now we are really cooking with dragonfire (which is not something a reasonable person would do because it would be too unwieldy and definitely burn your food).

The irids are firing the Aretian wards! The good guys are in with a chance here! And then… ANDARNA LEAVES?!?!?

For the final 20 per cent of the book, I was glued to my seat, cycling through this internal (and, okay, external) monologue:

Andarna is coming back though, right? She'll be coming back? She's definitely going to come back? She'll have to come back. But is she going to come back? IS IT POSSIBLE SHE WON'T COME BACK? 

OH MY GOD, SHE'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I cried). 

How it ended.

Ooooooooooft.

I thought the ending of Iron Flame was a gut-punch, but this was something else.

We've come away with more questions than answers, but I'm kind of thrilled about it. I had some concerns going in that there wouldn't be enough here to sustain a five-book series, and now I feel very confident that there will. 

I'm still torn up about Trager and Quinn — commend their souls to Malek, etc, etc — but am a little miffed at Mira surviving having her throat slit.

There's a tricky balance in fantasy books like this one: the author needs you to feel like everyone is always in danger, but you sort of know deep down that your heroes are going to survive. After all, there are two more books to come. Switching to Rhiannon and Imogen's POVs in the final chapters was a nice touch, but I don't think any of us really felt like Violet wouldn't survive.

For that reason, I think killing off Mira would have been a good move. I know the stakes are high, but they don't seem that high when all of our pals are still alive. (For the avoidance of doubt, I do not consider Lilith Sorrengail a pal.)

And look, I know Liam basically just died, so maybe that's my fault for having a short memory and being too bloodthirsty. Maybe this is just an unfortunate side effect of spending the last 48 hours reading about warriors who refuse to let emotions get the better of them in battle. I don't actually want anyone to die! I take back what I said about Mira!

How it ended (again) (I can't stop thinking about it).

Alright, if you've made it this far, here's my hot take: while Garrick and Bodhi are the obvious choices for the new venin-slash-Xaden's "brother" who he refuses to kill, I'm not sure it'll be that easy.

My money, personally, is on Dain — the scene where Sloane commented that he "shouldn't have that much power" was too fishy for my taste. He's exactly the kind of person who Xaden would never expect to turn venin because he's an enormous square (sorry, Dain fans!).

And why else would Imogen need to wipe Violet's memory? Who can read memories? Oh, just a little old guy named Dain Aetos…

If you need me, I'll be scrolling r/fourthwing on Reddit for the foreseeable future.

Feature Image: Supplied.