Finished: Onyx Storm (Yarros) The third installment in what used to be the Empyrean trilogy by Rebecca Yarros, is now the third of five books, so there was no nicely wrapped up ending to the series. Not that I mind, since I love the books, but waiting to read the next one is hard! At the end of the second book, Violet Sorrengail discovered that her love, Xaden, had given in to the evil Venin just to save her. When she sees his eyes with an ever so small red ring around the iris, she knows that he's fighting it, but spends most of this book trying to figure out a way to rid him of his Venin poison. The couple is as in love as they always were, but each spends so much time sacrificing themselves for the other that I wonder if they will really end up happy at the end of the series. Greater things are happening worldwide than Xaden's slow Venin decline. Many of the professors who Violet once trusted have ended up being on the side of the Venin, the darkweilders. And, many of her allies, including her mother, who Violet counted on, have perished. There's a war coming between the Venin and what is left of the handful of loyal dragon riders. The story does delve into the ellusive "seventh" dragons...the very rare seventh species of dragon, who have the same incredible abilities that Violet's second dragon, Andarna, possesses. And of course, the one of a kind older dragon, Tairn, is again prominent in the story. With the war looming, despite Violet's superior signet power, the wielding of lightening, the book rushes to the end with several things hanging in the balance, especially the mystery of what last happens between Violet and Venin-turning Xaden before she wakes up to find him missing. Can't wait for the next book!