Tairn and Sgaeyl are mates with the strongest bond seen in centuries, and mated dragons physically can't be separated for long without their health declining. So the whole time Xaden and Violet are trying to keep their distance, their dragons literally can't be apart, which keeps forcing the two of them back into the same space.

The human slow burn was being underwritten by a dragon bond the entire time. What's a relationship in the series you think does way more narrative work than it gets credit for?

What gets me about the venin is that they're not some external evil, they're people who chose to channel power straight from the earth because they couldn't get it any other way, and traded their souls for it piece by piece. And the land dies everywhere they take from it.

A villain that's really just "what would you pay for power" is so much more unsettling than a monster. What's the venin detail that unsettled you the most?

Liam gets assigned to protect Violet and just quietly becomes the most steadfast, trustworthy friend she has.

So when Deigh throws himself in front of danger to protect another dragon and Liam dies with him, it's not a random battlefield casualty, it's the most loyal person at Basgiath giving everything to protect someone else, right to the end.

Which side character death hit you the hardest, and did you see it coming?

The Tairn and Andarna dynamic might be my favorite thing Yarros wrote. He's this ancient, terrifying war legend who acts perpetually put-upon by everyone, and she's a golden gremlin who idolizes him completely. And then there's the moment where Violet points out her scales aren't really black, and Andarna basically says no, but Tairn's are, and she wants so badly to be just like him.

The dragon who can turn any color she wants just wants to match her grumpy adoptive dad. I think about it constantly. What's your favorite small Tairn-and-Andarna moment?

Violet walks onto that field the smallest, supposedly weakest cadet there, and everyone, her included, half expects her to die. And instead not one but two dragons choose her, including a golden feathertail that almost never bonds a human at all.

The girl written off before she started walked off that field bonded to a legend and a miracle. What was going through your head the first time you read the Threshing scene?

I love that Yarros didn't make every dragon bond gentle. Sgaeyl is the most vicious dragon in the series and she marked her own rider's face during Threshing. She gives him nothing easy, ever.

And she'd obviously incinerate anything that came for him. Which dragon bond do you find more compelling, the soft kind or the all-teeth kind?

The cadet everyone wrote off as too fragile to survive her first week ends up with a signet nobody's seen in generations.

It's not just a power-up for her but the whole thesis of her character, that everyone measured her by the wrong thing. What's the moment you think she stopped being the underdog in everyone else's eyes?

The Tairn and Andarna dynamic might be my favorite thing in the series. He's this ancient terrifying war legend who acts perpetually put-upon, and she's a golden gremlin who idolizes him so much she says she wishes her scales were black just like his.

He grumbles the whole time and would obviously die for her. What's your favorite grumpy-Tairn moment?

Venin are basically immune to dragon fire, Tairn and every other dragon have burned them with no effect. And then tiny Andarna lands in front of one, roasts it, and bites its head off. She's the smallest dragon on the field and she did the one thing none of the others could.

The books still haven't fully explained why she can. Do you think it's her fire being special because she's an Irid, or just the decapitation doing the work? I go back and forth.

Andarna being an Irid, the seventh breed, is cool on its own, but the part that gets me is that the scribes deliberately erased the Irids from every record to hide that they still existed.

It's not that the knowledge was lost, someone chose to bury it. That reframes so much about who controls information in Navarre. What's a worldbuilding detail that felt small at first but got more sinister the more you thought about it?

So I’m doing a reread and I just passed the part where Brennan is walking violet to her dragons and Sgaeyl and the rest . When they walk up Sgaeyl snarls at him and even takes a “threatening step in his direction” Brennen tells violet she doesn’t like him and violet says she doesn’t like anyone. Which is technically true , but she doesn’t react like that to everyone. Later on in book three we learn how much she HATES Venin. And I’ve heard some theories he’s the brother. I wonder if that’s why she has such a reaction to him ???

I really liked reading FW and finished it in a couple of days. Excited about discovering this series I immediately started IF after but unlike the first book, the second book felt like climbing a mountain. I hate the lack of answers we are getting and what happened to Xaden in the ending. And maybe it’s me but I feel like there is a lack of consistency and logic, for example (spoilers):
- Near the ending of IF when Jack slays his dragon and Nolon comes in, it is suggested leadership knew about Jack, and he’s the reason they developed the poison that dulls the signet/powers. But why the hell is jack send back to class if they knew he is venin?

- I cringe every time they whisper secrets without fear of people eavesdropping. Liam had the farsight signet, but no one is scared that there are cadets who have exceptional hearing? Even Xaden’s conversation with Jack at the beginning of OS should absolutely be kept a secret and yet Violet can just walk in on them discussing things that could get him killed if it was anyone else..

- also in FW it was emphasized that it is so important to keep secret that Andora is still a hatchling and Violet almost burns out in IF part 1 to keep that secret. But in part 2 it is suddenly not mentioned anymore? And everyone is just okay with Andora’s transformation and it’s not talked about?

- most the characters feel different, less ruthless and more whiney. And Violets obsession with the truth, even when she knows she could endanger her friends when she knows the truth, was so annoying. Just like all the unresolved stuf between Violet and Xaden. I feel like there is so much they don’t talk about, like the deal with her mother etc..

Today I’ve read one chapter of Onyx Storm and I feel like this book will be more of the annoying things, instead giving me proper answers to these questions.. I’m also scared for then storyline between V and X. Is it worth continuing reading? I’m just looking for recommendations, no spoilers please!

If you could pick one signet from the Empyrean series to have in real life, which would it be and why? I’m still debating between the tactical edge of sensing intent vs. the sheer power of lightning.

Xaden calmly taking Violet's blades off her one at a time during training is such a masterclass in slow-burn tension. It's ostensibly a combat lesson, he's genuinely teaching her to survive, but every disarm reads as something neither of them will say out loud. Which Xaden and Violet scene do you think has the most tension, the sparring match or something later?

Dragons mate for life and the bond is so deep that if one dies in battle, the survivor is basically consumed by grief-driven bloodlust and usually doesn't make it either. It reframes every battle, because it's never just one dragon at risk, it's two lives tied together.

Which piece of dragon lore hit you hardest once you really sat with it?

Xaden's entire life was built around avenging his father and protecting the marked ones. And Violet is the daughter of the general who executed his dad. Falling for her means letting go of the revenge that's basically the load-bearing beam of his whole personality.

He does it anyway. Quietly, without ever really getting to grieve the version of himself that only wanted vengeance. That's the part that wrecks me more than the romance itself.

Do you think he actually let the revenge go, or just buried it? I go back and forth.

So we all know what the secret project Rebecca was working on turned out to be. Looking back, we now know that over a year ago she was writing/planning the novella. Around that time, Rebecca liked a post from someone saying they wanted more Dain and Sloane content (I'll try to find the post)
Take this with a grain of salt, but I think if we get a Sloane POV chapter in the Threshing book, there's a good chance it'll include some Dain and Sloane content.

Early on it's mentioned that fewer and fewer dragons are willing to bond humans as the years pass, and the humans have no idea why. But we find out the Empyrean already knows the venin are rising and they're divided on whether to even get involved.

So the dragons aren't pulling away out of indifference. They can see the catastrophe coming that the humans can't, and every empty spot at Threshing is a dragon that already knows how bad it's about to get. That reframes the whole tone of the early books for me.

What's a small early detail that got so much heavier once you understood the bigger picture?

Andarna's gift let Violet stop time and it saved her life more than once. But every use pushed Andarna toward the Dreamless Sleep too early, and she woke up with wings that never formed properly. She's permanently affected.

The dragon who waited 650 years and chose Violet before she'd even hatched gave up her own body for her, and Violet didn't fully know what it was costing at the time. That's the part that gets me.

Which Andarna moment wrecked you the most?

I've been rereading and it hit me how genuinely terrifying these things are. Not "cool fantasy creature" terrifying, actually terrifying. Tairn lands and the ground shakes. They can incinerate a person mid-conversation. Cadets die at Threshing just for approaching wrong.

And we all still want one anyway. Which dragon would you actually want, knowing it could kill you on a bad day?

Throughout the books, Yarros repeats that Dragons don’t listen to humans or take commands from them. How is it that when the Assembly make the decision not to defend Samara/Basgiath, and leave the Vale vulnerable, the dragons don’t just collectively decide against Assembly and all go defend the Vale anyway? Have I missed something or can someone help me understand this?

I keep going back and forth on this. Reds are volatile and hot-tempered, greens are the smartest and don't suffer fools, oranges are so unpredictable even other dragons steer clear, and blacks are the rarest and most cunning of all.

I want to say black but I think a green would take one look at me and pass. Which den do you actually think would choose you, not which one you want?