Rebecca Yarros, a traditional contemporary romance writer who’s been in the industry a decade publishing books for the common hopeless romantic, took on a new genre with a groundbreaking romantasy series in early spring of 2023. That May, “The Emperyan” series was born. 

The release of the debut novel, “Fourth Wing”, was closely followed by its sequel, “Iron Flame”, which was released in November of the same year – only five months after its debut. It instantly captured the hearts of a generation with 1.1 million copies of the first two books sold within 13 months of release.

In a social media-based culture, simmering with a hunger for revolutions (and apparently dragons), the obsessions for this book soared instantly.

No matter, by Christmas 2024, Yarros had captured readers’ attention, but not for all the best reasons. 

Dragon fantasy has been a genre dominated by male authors for…. a long time. Yarros has been credited with inspiring a new generation of fantasy readers. “Fourth Wing” quickly became nationally renowned, hitting number one on the New York Times bestseller list as well as international, securing an award for International Book of The Year at the Tik-Tok Book Awards, held in London.

By the release of the first book, Yarros was already well on her way with the sequel, “Iron Flame”. Publishing and popularity was moving very quickly in tandem, and Yarros has been very open with the fact that the new found fame was more than overwhelming. 

Living with neurodivergence, battling a chronic illness, virality on the internet just adds to that chaos. Yarros touches on fears of just existing the wrong way due to being constantly judged on the internet, sharing that her family had to move from the fear of people showing up at her house. In her interview at the National Book Festival she said, “People found my address, and scared my kids.” 

That isn’t to say the internet’s response to her novels were all bad. Much of the obsession had lead to beautiful fan art, Basgiath College merchandise, and theories about where the story is headed.

On “Good Morning America”, Yarros spoke on the fact she won’t watch or read any of the well-meaning fan arts for personal mental health reasons.

Yarros tackles insanely complicated relationships with power, truth, romance, and never-ending wars. Firsthand experience with her husband overseas is evident in her writing style in more ways than one, from organization of dorm units to the struggles of losing your closest friends to the devastation that is war, and how unfair that can be. 

Her military connection has also been one of her loudest points of controversy. Yarros leads a life as a traditional military spouse – she learned just how ruthless the internet can be when in 2023 people dug up an open letter to the army she wrote back in 2019. 

Her letter called out the United States Military for offering her husband over $100,000 to return to overseas combat for another three years – immediately following his retirement after 20 years of service. 

In 2023 the genocide in the Gaza strip was raging, people quickly used her letter, and the fact she worked with an Israeli publishing company to translate and publish her books in Hebrew, and slammed her across socials for being anti war and pro-Isreal.

A comment on a GoodReads discussion about Yarros position on the genocide, written by a user Zia said, “I won’t buy her books, how can she support Israel? Doesn’t she have any shred of humanity left in her. I’m horrified, although I liked her books but I don’t think I’m capable of giving her any good reviews.” This comment was left in November, weeks after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. 

Yarros took to her Instagram with a post defending herself and her Human Rights stance. She shared how hesitant she is to even indulge in a response on Instagram due to threats of assault and worse.

She said, “I abhor war in every form, which is why every military book I write delves into the myriad of ways war irrevocably harms people.” 

All negative or harmful comments have been deleted off her social channels and the comments on the post in question have been turned off. 

She has written a story with the capacity to inform and ease conversations about sensitive social issues like the effacing of a history and culture throughout war. Teaching us what some are willing to sacrifice for power and how historians can change the truths of our culture. 

Her main character Violet has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or EDS, a rare connective tissue condition that Yarros and four of her six children have. On tours and in interviews she’s always touching on how it motivated and inspired her to create one of the most diverse sets of characters we’ve seen in the fantasy setting in a while. 

As fancasts made it onto the internet, and the possibility of a screen-adaptation by Amazon, Yarros clarified that most, if not all, of her characters are written as a part of a minority revolution and will be cast by POC actors. The diversity and inclusivity in this book was a refreshing form of escapism for a moment from our unkind world.

The third book of “The Empyrean” series, “Onyx Storm”, releases Jan. 21. Yarros is glad to accept the rest post release day, and readers are more than ready to get their hands on the next special edition of the book.