Fans lined up for Onyx Storm, the hotly anticipated new book from best-selling fantasy author Rebecca Yarros, in one of the publishing events of the year.
Onyx Storm is the third novel in Yarros’ Empyrean series, set in a world of dragons, magic, warfare and stormy romance.
Its publisher Little, Brown said it would be the company’s biggest pre-order title since it released a Harry Potter game script in 2016.
Almost 60 Waterstones branches held special events – either opening at midnight on Monday or early on Tuesday – and the chain said the book was likely to “completely eclipse our first day sales” of the previous installment.
Stores also held special openings around the world, including in the US and Australia.
In the US, some avid readers waited until 3am for the online release of the exclusive special edition from Target – but many who stayed up complained on social media that the store’s website could not cope with the demand.
Rebekah West, editorial director of Little, Brown’s Piaktus, he told the Telegraph: “This level of fan devotion hasn’t been seen since the days of Harry Potter.”
In a message to fans on Instagram, Yarros wrote: “1. It’s in your hands now. 2. Thank you for sharing this amazing experience with me. 3. Enjoy the ride.”
One reader replied: “About the first chapter and I’m already dying”, another wrote: “Thank you for sharing this amazing world with us!!!” and someone else asked, “Is it bad that I’m very close to quitting my job to read?”
A magical and brutal world
American writer Yarros is one of the biggest names in the booming romance genre.
In anticipation of Onyx Storm’s release, the first two Empyrean books, The Fourth Wing and The Iron Flame, returned to the top two spots on the New York Times Fiction Bestseller list.
They are also both currently in the top five of the Sunday Times paperback fiction chart in the UK and were the two most read books worldwide last year among Goodreads users.
The Fourth Wing introduced the heroine Violet Sorrengail, a 20-year-old who is thrust into brutal training to become an elite dragon rider.
Like the author, Violet has a genetic condition that means the character dislocates joints and breaks bones easily – so she has to use her wits and inner strength to survive.
She is also in a relationship with a fellow candidate named Xaden Riorson, who comes from a rival family.
Iron Flame is then set during Violet’s second year at the Basgiath War College, while in Onyx Storm, according to the publisher, she “knows there is no more time for lessons” as “the battle has truly begun”.
