Because surviving Fourth Wing was hard enough. Now try finding something that hits just as hard.
If you’re currently Googling “books like Empyrean series” at 2 a.m. while clutching your copy of Iron Flame like a lifeline, we see you. You’ve just been emotionally ejected from Basgiath, your reading standards are now sky-high (like, dragon altitude), and regular books just aren’t cutting it.
Good news: you’re not broken. You’re just in a committed relationship with a fictional universe.
Even better news? There’s a whole world of fantasy out there waiting to destroy you in all the right ways.
We’ve rounded up first-in-series reads that deliver the vibes you’re desperate for. Deadly training grounds, enemies who make you blush and scream, heroines who fight smart (and dirty), and enough emotional trauma to keep your group chat screaming.
Why the Empyrean Series Works
Before we shove you into a new fictional war zone, let’s break down why you’re obsessed.
Let’s start with the stakes. Because in Basgiath, the only thing more fragile than your alliances is your life expectancy. This isn’t your average “learn to harness your magic while flirting with danger” academy. No. It’s “climb this death trap or die trying,” where the entrance exam is a death-defying gauntlet and the dropout rate is measured in funerals. Every chapter reads like a survival guide written in panic and blood.
Then there’s the romance, and oh, is it delicious. Tension you can chew on, banter that bruises, and a brooding love interest with a dagger collection and a moral compass that points mostly to “I’d kill for you, but I might not tell you why.” It’s the kind of slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers chaos that makes you yell at your book in public. (And possibly get banned from cafés. Hypothetically.)
The worldbuilding? Let’s call it what it is: unhinged brilliance. You’ve got dragons who choose their riders—or don’t, and then you explode. A war no one fully understands. Factions within factions. And, of course, the kind of magical system that’s just coherent enough to follow but mysterious enough to keep you paranoid. Every rule feels like it’s seconds away from being weaponized.
And at the heart of it all? Violet Sorrengail. Our girl. Fragile but feral. She’s the underdog with spine, the chronic overthinker who somehow keeps surviving when logic says she shouldn’t. She’s not the strongest, but she’s scrappy, tactical, and impossible not to root for—especially when the world seems determined to crush her. If you’re not ready to fight fictional characters on her behalf, are you even reading correctly?
Altogether, The Empyrean series doesn’t just hook you. It launches you into a vortex of obsession. It’s got the grit of a war story, the heat of a romance novel, and the pacing of a thriller. You’re not just turning pages. You’re making deals with yourself about “just one more chapter.”
And now that you’ve survived that particular storm, you’re not looking for a book.
You’re chasing that feeling.
Your Next Fantasy Obsession Starts Now
So what do you read when your heart’s still stuck in Basgiath?
When your brain keeps whispering “venin,” your Kindle misses sizzling dagger-staredown tension, and your group chat won’t stop screaming “WHEN’S THE NEXT BOOK?”—you know it’s time. Time to find your next fantasy obsession.
Because while The Empyrean may have wrecked your soul (lovingly), it’s far from the only series out there with dragons that choose violence, love interests with trauma and jawlines, and female leads who could out-strategize a general while bleeding out. These first-in-series fantasy reads serve up the same wild ride: fresh worlds, fierce heroines, and stakes that’ll have you canceling plans, skipping sleep, and maybe rethinking your current relationship.
What unites them? It’s not just the dragons (though, yes, some have dragons). It’s the emotional wreckage. The feral loyalty. The deadly trials, forbidden powers, secret pasts, and “oh no I think I love my enemy” moments that keep us all turning pages like we’re trying to summon lightning.
You’re not just looking for something to read.
You’re looking for something to feel, again.
And lucky for you, there’s a whole new battalion of books waiting to blow your mind and destroy your TBR.
Ready to get wrecked all over again?
