Quick Review

Rebecca Yarros’s Threshing Day is a companion collection of 13 stories, each showing a different cadet’s experience of the dangerous dragon-bonding ceremony at Basgiath War College. “complete Threshing Day guide”

Rather than continuing Violet Sorrengail’s story, the book returns to characters such as Xaden, Brennan, Mira, Garrick, Dain, Liam, Sloane, Ridoc, and Aaric, allowing readers to experience their Threshing Days from their own perspectives. Rebecca Yarros — official Threshing Day review page

The result is a short, fan-focused return to the world of The Empyrean: emotional character moments, dragon lore, overlapping events, and additional information about the bonds between riders and dragons.

Our verdict: 4/5

★★★★★

Best for: Fourth Wing fans who want more character perspectives and dragon lore.

Not ideal for: Readers looking for the continuation of the main plot or a replacement for Empyrean Book 4.

First Impressions

The biggest thing to understand about Threshing Day is what kind of book it is.

It is not Book 4.

It is not a conventional sequel.

And it isn’t a single continuous adventure.

Instead, Yarros takes one important event from the world of Fourth Wing—Threshing—and revisits it through 13 different characters. The official description frames the collection around thirteen cadets facing the brutal trial where dragons decide who will become riders.

That structure could easily have become repetitive.

And some readers did find the repeated Threshing setup repetitive, particularly because every story revolves around essentially the same event.

But the structure also creates the book’s biggest strength: perspective.

The same world feels different when Violet isn’t the person explaining it.

What Is Threshing Day Review About?

Threshing Day Review returns to Basgiath War College and follows thirteen cadets as they face the moment that can determine the rest of their lives: Threshing.

Each story follows a different character and their attempt to survive long enough for a dragon to choose them.

The collection includes:

• Brennan Sorrengail
• Mira Sorrengail
• Xaden Riorson
• Garrick Tavis
• Dain Aetos
• Bodhi Durran
• Imogen Cardulo
• Rhiannon Matthias
• Sawyer Henrick
• Ridoc Gamlyn
• Liam Mairi
• Sloane Mairi
• Aaric Graycastle

For a closer look at every character and dragon, see our [13 Threshing Day POVs explained].

Violet is deliberately absent because her Threshing has already been told in Fourth Wing.

The stories are arranged chronologically across different years of Threshing, which also allows certain characters’ stories to overlap. Xaden and Garrick, for example, experience the same period from different perspectives.

What I Liked

1. More time with characters who usually exist around Violet

This is probably the biggest reason to read Threshing Day.

The main novels naturally filter much of Basgiath through Violet’s perspective. Here, characters who were previously supporting players get their own internal worlds.

That gives readers additional context for their fears, motivations, relationships, and decisions.

Post-release readers particularly highlighted how much the book adds to their understanding of characters such as Liam, Sloane, Imogen, Ridoc, Bodhi, and Xaden.

2. The dragons become more important

The book isn’t only about seeing familiar humans again.

It also gives readers considerably more time with the dragons and their relationships with their riders.

That is one of the more interesting aspects of the collection because the rider-dragon bond is central to the Empyrean world, yet the main novels don’t always have room to explore how every bond begins.

Several reviewers specifically praised the different rider/dragon personalities and the way the stories explore why particular dragons and riders fit together.

3. The overlapping stories

One clever aspect of the concept is that these aren’t thirteen completely isolated events.

Some characters experience Threshing during the same period, meaning readers can see familiar moments from different angles.

That makes the collection feel more connected than thirteen unrelated short stories.

4. It’s relatively short

At roughly 200–224 pages depending on edition/listing, Threshing Day Review is considerably easier to finish than the main Empyrean novels.

For readers who simply want to spend a little more time in the world without committing to another huge fantasy novel, that’s a genuine advantage.

What Didn’t Work for Me

1. The premise inevitably becomes repetitive

There are thirteen Threshing stories.

That is also the book’s biggest structural weakness.

Every story has to return to the same basic framework: enter Threshing, face danger, encounter dragons, and attempt to survive.

Some readers felt that repetition limited the amount of new material the collection could provide.

For fans who love the characters, that may not matter.

For readers expecting a major new plot, it could.

2. This isn’t the next main Empyrean novel

This is perhaps the most important expectation to manage.

Threshing Day Review expands the universe, but it does not replace the next main installment.

Rebecca Yarros has described it as a companion experience, and recent coverage notes that the major developments necessary for the main series will still be incorporated into the fourth primary novel.

So if you’re buying it because you desperately want Book 4, adjust your expectations.

If you’re buying it because you want more Empyrean, it’s a much better proposition.

3. Not every POV will have the same impact

With thirteen stories, personal favorites are inevitable.

Post-release reader reactions show a wide range of favorites, with Sloane, Imogen, Xaden, Ridoc, Brennan, Liam, Garrick, and Aaric all receiving particularly enthusiastic reactions from different readers.

That also means some stories will inevitably feel more important to individual readers than others.

Themes & Messages

Despite being a collection built around one event, Threshing Day explores several recurring ideas.

Identity

Many characters enter Threshing carrying expectations from their families, reputations, or relationships.

The dragon they bond with can become part of their identity—but the stories also ask whether that bond reflects who they already are or helps shape who they become.

Choice and destiny

Threshing is fundamentally about uncertainty.

Cadets can prepare, hope, and compete, but ultimately the dragon chooses.

That makes the ceremony an effective reflection of one of the larger ideas in the Empyrean series: characters constantly try to control a world that refuses to behave predictably.

Family

The Sorrengail, Mairi, Aetos, Riorson, and other family histories become more meaningful when readers see characters before the events of the main novels.

The collection therefore works partly as a backstory book.

Dragon-human bonds

This may be the strongest world-building element.

Rather than treating dragons simply as magical weapons or transportation, the stories give more attention to the personalities and choices involved in forming these bonds.

Writing Style

Threshing Day keeps the fast, dialogue-heavy style associated with Yarros’s Empyrean books.

That works particularly well for a collection of short stories because the book doesn’t need to spend hundreds of pages establishing a new conflict.

Several post-release reviewers also noted that the dialogue and character interactions are among the book’s strengths.

The trade-off is that readers looking for the expansive plot development of a full-length Empyrean novel may find the format comparatively lightweight.

Is Threshing Day Important to the Empyrean Series?

Yes—but with an important qualification.

It isn’t required in the same way as the main novels.

However, it adds meaningful world-building around:

• dragon-human bonds
• character histories
• rebel families
• signets
• relationships
• the history surrounding Basgiath

Post-release coverage has also identified several pieces of information that may become relevant to future Empyrean storylines.

That doesn’t mean every detail is a prediction of what happens in Book 4.

It’s better to think of Threshing Day as additional context and potential setup, rather than a required bridge between Onyx Storm and Book 4.

Who Should Read Threshing Day?

Read it if you:

• Loved Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, and Onyx Storm
• Want more Xaden
• Want more Liam and Sloane
• Are fascinated by the dragons
• Enjoy multiple POVs
• Want additional character backstories
• Like discovering hidden connections and lore

You can skip it if you:

• Only want the main plot
• Don’t enjoy short-story collections
• Are expecting Book 4
• Prefer Violet’s perspective exclusively

Is Threshing Day Worth Reading?

For Empyrean fans: yes.

The book’s value isn’t that it moves the main story dramatically forward.

Its value is that it makes the existing world feel larger.

Characters who were once filtered through Violet’s perspective become more complete. Dragons become more than distant magical creatures. Familiar events gain new context when viewed from different angles.

And because the collection is relatively short, it doesn’t require the same investment as another full-length Empyrean novel.

The main criticism is equally straightforward: thirteen versions of Threshing can feel repetitive.

So whether you love it depends largely on what you want from it.

If you want plot progression, wait for Book 4.

If you want more of Basgiath, its dragons, and its characters, Threshing Day delivers exactly that.

Final Verdict

Rebecca Yarros’s Threshing Day is a worthwhile companion for fans of The Empyrean.

It isn’t essential reading for understanding the main storyline, but it provides something the main novels cannot easily deliver: thirteen windows into one of the most important experiences in the series.

The strongest reason to read it isn’t simply finding out what happened during each Threshing.

It’s discovering why these characters became the people we already know.

Want the full picture? Continue with our Complete Threshing Day guide, covering the ceremony, characters, reading order, release information, and more.

FAQ

Threshing Day Review: Is Rebecca Yarros’s Empyrean Companion Book Worth Reading?

Spoiler warning: Threshing Day Review discusses the book and references events and characters from Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, and Onyx Storm.

URL: https://pagesandprose.com/threshing-day-review/

Author: Zakaria

Editor's Rating:
4