Rebecca Yarros was a successful contemporary romance author for more than a decade before Fourth Wing made her a household name. If you discovered her through the Empyrean series and are wondering what else she's written — she has a substantial backlist of contemporary romance, including some of the most emotionally devastating sports and military romances in the genre. Here's every Rebecca Yarros book in reading order, organised by series.
The Empyrean Series (Romantasy)
Also known as the Fourth Wing series. This is the one you actually want the reading order for. The books must be read in publication order — each ends on a cliffhanger that matters for the next.
1. Fourth Wing (2023)
Violet Sorrengail is forced into the Riders Quadrant at Basgiath War College, where cadets who aren't chosen by dragons die. She meets Xaden Riorson — the son of the rebel leader her mother executed, and the man supposedly ordered to kill her. Enemies-to-lovers with dragons. The book that launched the modern romantasy wave.
2. Iron Flame (2023)
Immediate sequel. Violet and Xaden deal with the consequences of the first book's ending. Pacing is slower; the book is deliberately denser. Divisive among fans, but essential to understanding the series.
3. Onyx Storm (2025)
The third book. Released January 2025 and sold 2.7 million copies in its first week — the fastest-selling adult novel in BookScan's 20-year tracking history. Course-corrected the pacing issues from Iron Flame and broadened the world's politics significantly.
4. Book 4 (expected)
The fourth book in the planned five-book arc is expected in 2026. Yarros has said the series will be five books total.
Flight & Glory Series (Military Romance)
Her earliest major series and the one that established her reputation before Empyrean. Contemporary military romance — aviators in the US Army. Each book can be read as a standalone, but the emotional weight compounds across the series.
1. Full Measures (2014)
Ember Howard loses her father to the war in Afghanistan. Josh Walker — her brother's best friend and son of the captain who led the mission — keeps showing up to help. A grief-and-found-love novel.
2. Eyes Turned Skyward (2015)
Peyton Montgomery, a civilian, reluctantly gets involved with Jagger Bateman, a soldier preparing to deploy. Military romance with higher emotional stakes than most of the subgenre.
3. Beyond What Is Given (2015)
4. Hallowed Ground (2016)
5. Point of Origin (2016, novella)
Renegades Series (New Adult / BASE Jumping Romance)
Contemporary new adult romance about a group of friends involved in extreme sports. Three books plus a novella.
1. Wilder (2016)
2. Nova (2017)
3. Rebel (2017)
4. The Reality of Everything (2018, novella)
The Things We Series (Standalones)
A loose trilogy of contemporary romances about grief, loss and starting over. Widely considered her strongest emotional work outside Empyrean.
1. The Things We Don't Say (2018)
A second-chance contemporary romance. Willow and Camden broke up ten years ago; now she's broken and raising her nephew after her sister's death, and he's back in her life as a soldier struggling with PTSD.
2. The Things We Keep (2020)
3. The Last Letter (2018, related standalone)
Not technically part of the Things We series, but Yarros fans read it with them. Ella Reed receives a letter from the best friend of her fallen brother, and her life changes. One of the most-cried-over books in Yarros's backlist. Gloves-off grief romance.
Legacy Series (Hockey/College)
1. The Chance (2019)
2. A Risk Worth Taking (2019)
3. What If (2020)
4. In the Likely Event (2023)
Standalones
Great and Precious Things (2020)
Willow Bradley returns home to the Colorado mountains after her brother's death and ends up tangled with her ex Cam. Single-POV, emotionally heavy, arguably her most literary standalone.
Muses and Melodies (2020)
Music-industry romance. Underrated.
Variation (2024)
Her most recent standalone — Allie, a ballerina, unexpectedly returns to her hometown and faces the Coast Guard rescue swimmer she loved before her career took off. A return to her contemporary strengths after the Empyrean phenomenon.
How to Choose Your Starting Point
If you want the dragons: Fourth Wing. Obviously.
If you want to be devastated in the best way: The Last Letter. Have tissues ready.
If you want her most recent non-Empyrean work: Variation. Proof she still writes beautiful contemporary when she wants to.
If you want military romance done right: Full Measures (book 1 of Flight & Glory).
If you loved the emotional weight of Empyrean: read The Things We Don't Say. It shares DNA with Yarros's best character work.
What ties Rebecca Yarros's entire catalogue together — across romantasy, military romance, contemporary, sports — is a willingness to put her characters through genuine grief. She's not afraid of heavy. That's why Fourth Wing hit the way it did; the dragons are great, but the emotional stakes are what make the series work.