Rebecca Yarros Books in Order: The Empyrean Series & Her Contemporary Romances (2026)
Rebecca Yarros books in order split neatly into two shelves: the Empyrean, the dragon-rider fantasy series that began with Fourth Wing in 2023, and the emotional contemporary romances she was writing long before anyone had heard of Basgiath War College. Here’s the Empyrean in order with years, the latest on book four and the TV show, then her contemporary novels by series and standalone.
If you only know her as the Fourth Wing author, the contemporaries are a treat: military heroes, small towns, big grief and slow-burn love stories that hit as hard as any dragon bond. The two shelves don’t connect, so you can start on either one.
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Where to Start With Rebecca Yarros
The quick answer: start with Fourth Wing (2023) if you want fantasy, and read the Empyrean strictly in order, since each book picks up where the last one ends. Never read fantasy before? Fourth Wing is a friendly first one, because you learn the war college’s rules right alongside Violet. For contemporary romance, start with any standalone; when it comes to Rebecca Yarros books in order, only her series need to be read in sequence. Prefer to choose by mood?
- Dragons, a deadly war college and enemies to lovers: Fourth Wing.
- A dual-timeline love story with a World War II heart: The Things We Leave Unfinished.
- A military romance that will wreck you: The Last Letter.
- Fate, a plane crash and a second chance: In the Likely Event.
The Empyrean Series in Order
- Fourth Wing (2023): Violet Sorrengail was raised for the quiet life of a scribe, until her mother, the commanding general, orders her into the Riders Quadrant at Basgiath War College, where dragons choose their riders and cadets die.
- Iron Flame (2023): the story picks up straight after Fourth Wing, with darker secrets, bigger stakes and an ending that makes book three essential.
- Onyx Storm (2025): the third book pushes the war, and the world, far past anything the first two showed you.
Fourth Wing and Iron Flame landed six months apart in 2023, and Onyx Storm followed in January 2025. The series is fantasy built like a thriller: a brutal military academy, bonded dragons with very strong opinions, a heroine who survives on brains rather than brawn and a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance with Xaden Riorson, the son of a rebel leader executed by Violet’s mother.
Coming from Sarah J. Maas? The Empyrean moves faster and feels more military than ACOTAR: fewer balls and less court intrigue, more flight formations and combat drills, with the same pull of found family and a love interest who keeps secrets.
Heat is moderate and open-door: a handful of explicit scenes inside long books packed with training, battles and politics, with plenty of yearning in between. The first two books end on cliffhangers, so have the next one ready. Finished all three? Our lists of books like Fourth Wing, books like Iron Flame and books like Onyx Storm pick up the dragon-rider thread, and if a mate bond is what you’re chasing, try books like When the Moon Hatched.
What’s Next for the Empyrean
Book four: a fourth Empyrean book is on the way, but we couldn’t confirm an official title or release date at the time of writing. For context, Onyx Storm arrived about fourteen months after Iron Flame. Until Yarros or her publisher announces a date, treat any you see online as a rumor.
The TV show: Prime Video is developing a Fourth Wing series, and the project brought in a new showrunner along the way. We couldn’t confirm a premiere date or official casting yet, so for now Basgiath lives only on the page.
Rebecca Yarros Contemporary Romance Books in Order
Before dragons, Yarros built her readership on contemporary romance, much of it rooted in military life. These books are emotional and grounded, with open-door love stories and plenty of tears, and they’re a great fit if what you loved in Fourth Wing was the yearning more than the battles. Her recent ones are standalones, so you can pick by premise.
Standalone Novels in Publication Order
- The Last Letter (2019): a soldier keeps a promise to his best friend and falls for the single mom whose letters got him through deployment.
- Great and Precious Things (2020): a homecoming, a second chance and a family secret that refuses to stay buried.
- The Things We Leave Unfinished (2021): Georgia Stanton and a hotshot novelist clash over finishing her great-grandmother’s last book, a World War II love story with secrets of its own.
- In the Likely Event (2023): two strangers meet on a flight that ends in a crash, then collide again years later on far more dangerous ground.
The standalones show Yarros’s range best. The Last Letter and In the Likely Event pair military danger with slow-building love, The Things We Leave Unfinished braids a modern romance with a wartime one and Great and Precious Things turns a homecoming into a second chance. Heat is moderate, and the emotional beats do most of the heavy lifting.
See The Things We Leave Unfinished on Amazon →
Earlier Contemporary Series
Flight & Glory, her military romance series, runs five books:
The Renegades runs three books:
If The Last Letter is your favorite of her contemporaries, Flight & Glory is the natural next stop. Whichever shelf you start on, you’ll notice the same fingerprints: heroes who serve, heroines who refuse to be protected into the background and grief the story takes seriously.
Read Next: Hotter Romantasy From Fractal Enigma
Fourth Wing works because danger and desire share every page. These Fractal Enigma romantasies keep the danger and the morally gray love interests, add one very possessive dragon and turn up the heat, starting with the closest match. Working through the other big romantasy shelf too? Our Sarah J. Maas books in order guide covers ACOTAR, Throne of Glass and Crescent City.
Hoard of the Dragon — Draven Moore
Here the dragon is the love interest, not the ride. Master thief Elara Vance has seventy-two hours to save her dying sister, so she breaks into a Manhattan vault for a legendary ruby and wakes Valerius, the last of the Dragon Lords, after five hundred years asleep beneath the city. By ancient law her life is forfeit, but he would rather keep her, and this MF fated-mates romance makes that possessiveness the whole point. It’s book one of the Dragon’s Sanctuary series and a complete story with a happily ever after. Free with Kindle Unlimited.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Fated Mates, Dragon Shifter, Monster Romance, Captive Romance, Size Difference
Start reading Hoard of the Dragon →
The Demon’s Tithe — Rowan Black
For readers who fell for Xaden’s shadows and secrets. Kaelen Ashward hunts monsters for coin, and the demon blood forced into his wounds makes villagers bar their doors before he reaches them. A contract at Castle Voss pulls him toward Lady Seraphine Voss, whose secrets go back centuries, and deep into a web of supernatural politics and ancient hunger. Rowan Black built it as one 267,000-word saga, so it’s an immersive binge with enemies to lovers and a hero who falls first. Free with Kindle Unlimited.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Monster Hunter, Morally Grey Hero, Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Touch Starved, He Falls First, Ancient Entity, Found Family
Start reading The Demon’s Tithe →
The Shadow Sovereign — Draven Moore
Vesper Ashford watched the Imperium execute her father, then spent ten years as an invisible servant in the governor’s mansion waiting to strike. The weapon she finds is a starving god sealed beneath the cellar: Malakor, Lord of Shadows, who trades power for her touch and is hiding a secret that could break them both. It’s an MF dark fantasy about rebellion and a power balance that flips as she grows stronger, told as a complete standalone with a bittersweet happily ever after.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Morally Grey Hero, Touch Her and Die, Forced Proximity, Power Exchange, He Falls First
Start reading The Shadow Sovereign →
The King of Tides & Ruin — Draven Moore
A former imperial witch-hunter turned cursed pirate king, and a healer whose gift could kill her. Rourke Thorne, the Salted King, is slowly turning to living crystal; Sera Blackwood can cure any curse, but only by taking it into herself. When his crew takes her captive, saving him and saving herself become the same dangerous problem. An MF pirate romantasy with enemies-to-lovers tension and a little less heat than the rest of this list.
Heat: Scorching 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Curse Breaking, Captive Romance, Morally Gray Hero, Enemies to Lovers
Start reading The King of Tides & Ruin →
Bite the Hand That Feeds You — Isla Wilde
For readers who loved Violet’s daggers and the knife’s edge of enemies to lovers. Iris Morcant takes a blood-companion contract at the black-stone estate of Countess Vespera Saint-Clair with a silver blade hidden against her ribs and orders to kill the three-century-old vampire before the next full moon. Then Vespera refuses to feed without permission, uncovers the plot and hands Iris the blade back. An FF gothic romance about choosing between the mission you were raised for and the woman you were sent to destroy.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Vampire/Courtesan, Hidden Assassin, Gothic Age Gap, Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Touch Starved
Start reading Bite the Hand That Feeds You →
FAQ: Rebecca Yarros Books in Order
Where should I start with Rebecca Yarros?
Start with Fourth Wing if you want fantasy. For contemporary romance, The Things We Leave Unfinished and In the Likely Event are easy entry points, and her standalones can be read in any order. If you love both romance and war stories, In the Likely Event sits closest to the Empyrean in mood.
What is the reading order for the Empyrean series?
Fourth Wing (2023), then Iron Flame (2023), then Onyx Storm (2025). Each book continues the same story, so don’t skip ahead.
How many books are in the Empyrean series?
Three so far: Fourth Wing, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. A fourth book is on the way, but we couldn’t confirm its title or release date at the time of writing.
How spicy is Fourth Wing?
Moderate and open-door. There are a few explicit scenes, but most of the page count goes to training, battles and political intrigue. If you want dragons with far more heat, Hoard of the Dragon is rated Inferno (🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️) and free with Kindle Unlimited.
Is Fourth Wing becoming a TV show?
Prime Video is developing a Fourth Wing series, and the project has changed showrunners along the way. We couldn’t confirm a premiere date or official cast at the time of writing, so for now the books are the only way into Basgiath.
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