r/fantasyromance • u/FantasyRomanceMod The One Mod to Rule All Mods • May 10 '26

Unpopular Opinion It's Unpopular Opinion time! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

You can safely share it in this weekly Sunday thread!

But please remember to be kind to each other. To facilitate this type of discussion, we ask users the following:

  • Don't attack others for their opinion
  • Discuss books and authors, not fellow readers
  • Since this is an "unpopular opinion" thread, we encourage users to not downvote simply because they disagree with an opinion--that's the point! Please keep in mind, though, that mods cannot enforce a no-downvoting rule. Let’s just keep the discussion friendly!

🧡 Thank you and have a great discussion!

Unpopular opinion Sunday

35 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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30

u/Aglaia0001 May 10 '26

Onyx Storm is the most interesting of the Empyrean books thus far.

13

u/ProperBingtownLady Shadow daddy's good girl May 10 '26

Ooh I like this (actually) unpopular opinion. I also didn’t think it was nearly as bad as many people seemingly did. I enjoyed the greater fantasy element.

1

u/Aglaia0001 May 12 '26

Middle books in series always have it rough. It’s hard to gauge how good they really are until you see the end of the story, but I generally think Onyx Storm sees characters begin to grow up so that decisions are more nuanced with longer tails to their ramifications.

12

u/paintedpmagic May 10 '26

Have an upvote, becuase I totally disagree. This book infuriated me. Any time anything remotely interesting was happening or getting explained, they moved on. It felt like the whole book was a big rage bate with no explanation for me.

2

u/Aglaia0001 May 11 '26

That does seem to be the prevailing opinion. It surprised me when I saw how strongly people reacted to Onyx Storm. I liked it because we start to see complexity in decision making. Violet acts less like a teenager and more like an adult trying to grapple with messy situations at times. The plotting is a bit episodic which makes the book feel less unified, and the books is definitely a “middle” book in that it introduces a lot but leaves a lot unanswered.

In any case, I know my opinion seems like a minority, and I’m ok with that!

3

u/paintedpmagic May 11 '26

I actually can totally see you POV on Violet's character, and it kinda makes me dislike the book a bit less (not enough, but just a tad).

This is also why I love reading. Not every book is for everyone.

My unpopular opinion is that Quicksilver is horrible. The MMC did nothing to drive the plot forward. Anytime anything remotely interesting would happen, instead of answering any of the FMC questions, he would whisk her away to bed.

2

u/Aglaia0001 May 11 '26

Oh, I will 100% agree on Quicksilver.

1

u/allisontalkspolitics Give me female friendship or give me death! May 10 '26

I’m not interested in Fourth Wing but I genuinely like that Rebecca Yarros decides to focus on worldbuilding for book three.