NEW YORK – To celebrate an upcoming milestone, Alyssa Math could think of nothing more fitting than front-row tickets to “Onyx Storm” author Rebecca Yarros' appearance at The Town Hall in Manhattan.
“I'm getting married next weekend, so this is my bachelorette party,” said Math, an accountant who traveled with friends from her home near Annapolis, Maryland. She has been one of millions of admirers of Yarros' work and a year ago drove two hours to Reston, Virginia, to see the author.
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“It's a huge cult following,” said Math, wearing a white veil in homage to one of Yarros' characters. “The drama (of her books) keeps you on the edge of your seat.”
Friday night at The Town Hall had the feel of a costume party, rock concert and family reunion as a capacity crowd of around 1,500 clapped, laughed and shouted, “Yes, Queen!" The “Empyrean” series has made Yarros one of the country's most popular and obsessed-about leaders of romantasy, a newly branded genre combinging romance and fantasy.
“Onyx Storm” is the much-awaited third installment of a planned five centered on the lovers Violet and Xaden, and the first since the million-selling “Iron Flame” came out in 2023. In its first week of publication, "Onyx Storm" has already topped the bestseller lists of Amazon and sold more than 300,000 copies just through Barnes & Noble, according to a spokesperson for the superstore chain.
Yarros, interviewed for some 75 minutes by Olympic gymnast and avowed fan Laurie Hernandez, shared a few insights about her writings (she already knows how the series will end), spoke lovingly of her husband ("He's 6'4" and hot as hell with a baby strapped to his chest"), swore casually and joked that hers was the “only profession where you can have imaginary fiends” and not be considered insane.
She expressed relief and pleasure over completing “Onyx Storm," noting she had to block out her own popularity to get the writing done.
“As much as I love you guys, I kind of pretend you don’t exist,” she said. “I kind of ignore you, but I love you at the same time.”
“Onyx Storm” isn't quite a Harry Potter-level phenomenon — the final Potter book by J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” sold more than 8 million copies in the U.S. in its first 24 hours — but it carries a similar feeling of obsession, identification and spontaneity.
Like the Potter books, the release of “Onyx Storm” was welcomed with midnight store parties around the country, gatherings for which fans showed up in costume. Some fans at The Town Hall finished the 526-page “Onyx Storm” within hours of receiving it, others are in no hurry.
"This is a book I personally want to take my time with," said Scarlett Fuentes, who arrived with her friend Zy Bao-angan, both of them in black leather.
"I want to savor this moment," Bao-angan said.
Like Potter, enthusiasm for the Yarros books extends well beyond any organized publicity campaigns. The Potter books helped inspire some of the first Internet fan sites for books. Yarros and such fellow romantasy authors as Sarah J. Maas have been favorites of the young readers on BookTok, a TikTok community that has emerged as publishing's most effective driver of sales. Countless fans on BookTok and other social media — some crying, some cursing in amazement — have been posting their responses to “Onyx Storm."
On Friday, Hernandez and the audience posed questions about her books as if gossiping about friends. If Violet and Xaden were at a bar, what would they order? Violet would go for a lavender lemon drop, Xaden is fine with a beer. And which music genres define them? Xenon is heavy metal, Violet harder to label.
Asked what was the most important lessons she has learned from writing the books, Yarros reminded her fans that she wasn't only a writer or public figure.
“I can say plotting and I can say everything, but probably the most important thing I've learned is that real life is what happens in my house, and what happens around my kitchenette and what happens in my living room chairs and what happens when my kids are all together and my husband's together,” she said. “Real life is not what happens on the internet.”
“I love you guys,” she added. “But peace out.”