Two days after releasing her massive romantasy hit Fourth Wing, author Rebecca Yarros took to her Instagram to announce the forthcoming second book in her Empyrean series. The sequel, titled Iron Flame, was released on November 7th, 2023. On its release day, the book sold over half a million copies. Publishers Weekly ranked the novel the number one national fiction bestseller that same month.
Readers are ravenous for Yarros’s sultry and epic series, making it a massive success. Even today, almost three years later, the book is still all over shelves. On Goodreads, the book is still ranked as a “Most Read Book of 2026,” with users of the platform having shelved Iron Flame more than 390,000 times.
On the platform, the book holds a 4.36 rating, has over 2.8 million ratings from users, and more than 260,000 reviews.
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Iron Flame picks up with Violet Sorrengail returning to Basgiath War College for her second year. The leaders of Navarre convince Violet to keep quiet about how defenseless the kingdom’s borders really are, and she continues to grapple with Xaden’s, now a lieutenant, many secrets. On top of all of this, the new vice commandant Major Burton Varrish has made it his personal mission to eliminate Violet from the Dragon Riders unless she’s willing to turn on Xaden. When she joins forces with an underground revolution and her brother, whom she previously thought to be dead, Violet faces her biggest test and threats yet.
According to Yarros, the Empyrean series will be five books and she is currently underway with the fourth installment. A book of short stories in the universe titled Threshing Day will be released on September 29th, 2026.
Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, and Onyx Storm are all out now and available wherever books are sold.
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