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Threshing Day is exactly the kind of companion book I wanted from the Empyrean world. The first-person format works so well because we get much closer to both the riders and their dragons, and the dragons’ personalities ended up being one of my favorite parts of the entire collection. Some are serious, some are ruthless, some are completely exasperated by their riders, and some are every bit as chaotic as the person they choose. I also loved the framing of the stories being transcribed by a rider rather than by the scribes. In a world where we already know information can be filtered or hidden, that immediately made the accounts feel more personal and trustworthy. Seeing why certain dragons chose their riders added so much personality to bonds we already knew about, especially because those bonds are not all built the same way. Some dragons balance their riders, while others feel like they were simply made for each other.
What surprised me most was how much additional character context these thirteen stories gave me. Some sections helped me understand characters I already had complicated feelings about, while others made me even more attached to people I already loved. Not every story felt equally revealing, but even the quieter ones usually added something to the way I see that character, their dragon, or their relationships. There were also several moments that made me stop and wonder what the dragons know that the riders, and the readers, still do not. By the end, I had even more questions about dragon history, bonding, and what may be coming later in the series. This could easily have felt like a collection of extra scenes, but instead it deepened the world and made me even more excited for book four. Five stars, easily.
Spoiler Discussion
Major spoilers for Threshing Day and the Empyrean series through Onyx Storm below.
Brennan
Brennan’s story was such a fun way to start. I loved getting the actual reasoning behind why his dragon chose him, especially the idea that Brennan was too predictable and needed an unpredictable dragon to balance him out. His dragon’s sass made the whole exchange even better. I also loved the little moment where Brennan thinks he should write something to help his sister. Knowing that this is essentially the beginning of the Book of Brennan made the scene feel like a tiny piece of series history clicking into place.
Mira
Mira and Teine were interesting in a completely different way. Teine is much more serious and does not really understand Mira’s jokes, so this was definitely not the dragon I would want for myself. Their dynamic was useful to see, but it was not as fun for me to read as Brennan’s because Teine feels much more rigid. It did reinforce how different every dragon-rider pairing can be.
Xaden
Xaden was one of the sections I was most excited for, and it delivered. Finding out that Sgaeyl gave him his scar was huge, and the entire confrontation where Xaden kills the second-in-line prince while protecting himself and Garrick added so much more weight to his history. The conversation between Xaden and Sgaeyl gave me chills. She is ruthless, and I love her for it, even though she is absolutely not the dragon I would personally want to bond.
Garrick
Garrick’s story was immediately funnier. His dragon sounds completely exasperated by him before they have even properly met, then proceeds to sass Garrick for his lack of awareness while hiding right in front of him. That was exactly my kind of dragon humor. At the same time, his dragon never sounded remotely twenty-seven years old to me. He talks like he has far more experience with riders than his reported age should allow, and that was the first moment where I really started thinking something was off with these dragon records.
Dain
Dain’s section gave me much more context for where he started. His father is incredibly manipulative, and so much of Dain’s thinking revolves around making him proud and being afraid of disappointing him. Seeing his father push him toward essentially spying on and reporting on the marked ones made the unhealthy dynamic very clear. I was also fascinated that his father wanted him to choose a green dragon while Dain wanted a red. When Dain chose the red anyway, even with the green right there and knowing exactly what his father wanted, I loved that he made that choice for himself. It does not erase everything he does later, but it makes his character feel much more understandable.
Bodhi
Bodhi’s section might have given me the most anxiety about the future of the series. I loved seeing Xaden hype him up because even though they are cousins, their relationship feels so much like big brother and little brother. Bodhi lives in Xaden’s shadow while also wanting to be his right-hand man, and so much of his story is about not getting to choose his own life. He struggles with his lack of agency and with the fact that Xaden does not get to choose for himself either.
That immediately made me scared that Bodhi could be the “brother who fell.” If he became venin because he could not let Xaden do it alone, it would be devastating, especially because that could also be one of the first truly autonomous choices he ever made. His focus on promises and never breaking his word, combined with his dragon’s comments, feels like foreshadowing that we do not fully understand yet. I love him, and I would really like the series to stop making me worry about him.
Imogen
Imogen’s story was another huge one. Garrick’s section had already made me think that he was in love with her, and then her perspective makes it clear how much she cares about him too. She refuses to let herself act on it because everyone she loves dies, which makes the whole dynamic much sadder. I also loved that Imogen and her dragon sass each other back and forth. Most riders seem far too intimidated to talk to their dragons like that, but Imogen absolutely is not.
Then came one of the biggest lore reveals in the book. Imogen already knew her dragon because she had been her grandmother’s dragon, and both the name and age she is using now are false. I had already been suspicious about some of the dragon ages, so this reveal felt like confirmation that the official records cannot necessarily be trusted. It also makes me wonder how many dragons have longer histories with these families than the riders realize.
Rhiannon
Rhiannon’s dragon has a mix of seriousness and sarcasm that I liked, but this was probably the least enlightening story for me. Compared with everything else happening around it, I did not feel like I learned nearly as much about Rhiannon, her dragon, or the larger world. It was not bad, it just did not give me the same kind of payoff as the stronger sections.
Sawyer
Sawyer’s dragon commenting on his terrible flirting skills was immediately hilarious, but the really interesting detail is that his dragon says he was not available to bond the previous year. That completely reframes Sawyer having to repeat. Why was the dragon unavailable? Did he already know Sawyer was going to be his rider? Can dragons recognize a future bond before Threshing actually happens? That one comment created an entire new set of questions for me.
Ridoc
Ridoc’s dragon initially made me suspicious because he is supposedly only twenty-one and has had no previous riders, but the more I read, the more I started believing that he really is that young. The splashing, childish bickering, and general mischief feel genuinely youthful. Ridoc and his dragon are not opposites who balance each other. They are the same brand of unserious chaos in two bodies, and they feel completely made for each other.
Liam
Liam’s section was quiet, but incredibly sweet. The letters he writes to Sloane for when she eventually comes to the quadrant, along with the patience and care he shows her, were exactly the kind of details that reminded me why I love him. Nothing huge needed to happen. It was just Liam being Liam, which somehow made it hurt more.
Sloane
Sloane’s section completely surprised me. She is already receiving Liam’s letters, but she still does not want to bond and is in such a hopeless place that she is willing to die rather than step into this future. Then Dain saves her from an orange dragon, which is such a strange emotional moment when you know what she will eventually mean to him even though that relationship has not happened yet in the timeline.
Then we find out that Sloane’s dragon is Liam’s dragon’s sister, and I was literally crying. The entire story starts from such an angry, resistant place and gradually turns into something beautiful. The detail I loved most is that her dragon lets Sloane choose when she is ready to wield. Sloane has had so little control over what is expected of her, and her dragon gives her agency over her own power instead of forcing it on her. That was one of my favorite emotional moments in the book.
Aaric
Aaric’s story is so short, but it might be one of the most elegant. His certainty about his own future hits completely differently when you know his signet becomes the ability to see the future. He is so convinced of the path ahead of him that his eventual power feels almost poetic. It was a beautiful note to end on.
What Are the Dragons Hiding?
The dragon lore is probably what I am going to think about most after finishing this book. I was surprised from the beginning by how young so many of the dragons supposedly are. Several are under one hundred, some are under fifty, and yet some have already had multiple riders. Considering riders do not even enter Basgiath until adulthood, those previous rider counts quietly reinforce just how quickly and frequently riders die.
But once Imogen’s dragon confirms that names and ages can be false, every strangely young or suspiciously experienced dragon becomes a question mark. I do not think every dragon is necessarily lying, especially after Ridoc’s genuinely youthful chaos, but the records clearly are not as reliable as they seem. Garrick’s dragon still feels especially suspicious to me, and I cannot stop wondering how widespread this deception actually is.
Questions I’m Taking Into Book Four
- How many dragons are lying about their names, ages, or previous riders?
- Why does Garrick’s dragon seem so much older and more experienced than his reported age?
- Is Bodhi the “brother who fell,” and are all those comments about promises setting up something devastating?
- Why was Sawyer’s dragon unavailable the year before he bonded?
- Was there a deeper reason Dain’s father wanted him to bond a green dragon?
- How much do dragons know about their future riders before Threshing?
Threshing Day gave me so much more than I expected from a companion collection. Instead of simply filling in old scenes, it changed how I see several characters, made the dragon bonds feel much more individual, and opened up an entire new layer of questions about what the dragons know and what they have been hiding. I finished it even more invested in these characters and even more impatient for book four.
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