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Rebecca Yarros

Author Guide

Books Written by Rebecca Yarros

Yarros had already published over a dozen contemporary romance novels before Fourth Wing turned her into a global publishing phenomenon, launching the ‘romantasy’ genre into mainstream bestseller lists and selling millions of copies within its first year. She lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a chronic illness that directly informs the disability representation in her Empyrean series’ protagonist.

Fourth Wing is the essential and inevitable starting point — the book that launched the Empyrean series and the broader romantasy boom it’s now closely associated with.

By Lisanne Swart · 5 books · Fantasy Romance · Updated August 2026

Quick answer

Rebecca Yarros is best known for Fourth Wing (2023) and its sequels Iron Flame (2023) and Onyx Storm (2025), the Empyrean series, along with the standalone novel Variation (2024). Fourth Wing is the essential starting point.


01
Fantasy RomanceStart here

Fourth Wing

Rebecca Yarros · 2023

Violet Sorrengail, expected to join the scribes due to a chronic illness, is instead forced into the deadly dragon rider training program by her mother, a general, in a war college where the odds of survival are brutally low.

Became one of the fastest-selling adult novels in recent publishing history and is widely credited with launching ‘romantasy’ as a mainstream commercial category — Violet’s chronic illness draws directly on Yarros’s own experience with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

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02
Fantasy Romance

Iron Flame

Rebecca Yarros · 2023

The direct sequel to Fourth Wing, following Violet into her second year at the war college as political tensions, new threats, and the consequences of the first book’s revelations escalate.

Released just six months after Fourth Wing, capitalizing on the first book’s explosive success and deepening the series’ worldbuilding and central romance.

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04
Contemporary Fiction

Variation

Rebecca Yarros · 2024

A standalone novel outside the Empyrean series, following a former ballerina confronting a life-altering injury and the difficult process of redefining herself apart from the identity dance gave her.

A departure from fantasy romance into contemporary fiction, though it carries over Yarros’s recurring interest in characters navigating chronic illness, injury, and reshaped identity.

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05
Contemporary Romance

The Things We Leave Unfinished

Rebecca Yarros · 2021

An earlier novel following two intertwined love stories generations apart — a dying romance novelist reflecting on her past, and the ghostwriter hired to finish her final, unfinished book.

Written before Fourth Wing made her a household name, this novel shows Yarros’s range in contemporary romance before her turn to fantasy.

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Watch: Rebecca Yarros on Literary Tropes, Chronic Illness and ‘Fourth Wing’

Rebecca Yarros speaks with NPR about the Empyrean series, the romantasy genre’s rise, and how her own experience with chronic illness shapes her writing.


Where to start with Rebecca Yarros

If you want the book everyone’s talking about

Fourth Wing is the essential starting point and the one that launched the romantasy boom.

If you’ve already read Fourth Wing

Iron Flame is the direct sequel, continuing Violet’s story at the war college.

If you want her range outside fantasy

Variation and The Things We Leave Unfinished show her contemporary romance work.

Frequently asked questions about Rebecca Yarros’s books

How many books has Rebecca Yarros written?

Rebecca Yarros has written over a dozen novels, including more than ten contemporary romance titles before her Empyrean fantasy series — Fourth Wing (2023), Iron Flame (2023), and Onyx Storm (2025) — became a global bestselling phenomenon.

What order should I read the Empyrean series in?

Fourth Wing (2023), then Iron Flame (2023), then Onyx Storm (2025), with further installments planned to complete the series.

Is Rebecca Yarros’s disability representation in Fourth Wing based on her own experience?

Yes. Yarros lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, which directly informs protagonist Violet Sorrengail’s chronic illness and physical limitations in the Empyrean series.

Written by Lisanne Swart

Lisanne curates books for curious readers at lisanneswart.com, publishing original reading lists, author deep-dives, and honest recommendations since 2021. Read more about Lisanne.


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