Trivia / The Empyrean

• Christmas Rushed: The second book, Iron Flame, was hastily put together so it could be published in November 2023, seven months after the first book and on time for the Christmas season, which is unusual given it's a 600+ page novel. Several reviews noted that the first printings contain some typos and grammatical errors that an editor should've picked up on, but they were likely missed due to the short deadline. There were also some egregious printing errors with the physical books (including poorly-printed titles, some copies having the wrong cover altogether, pages being stuck upside-down, placed out-of-order, or outright missing, to name a few reported problems) and problems with people not receiving pre-ordered special editions, with the publisher issuing an apology for the mistakes.
• Creator's Favorite: The author describes herself in an interview as "the ultimate Dain apologist".
• Creator's Oddball: The majority of author Rebecca Yarros' other novels are contemporary romances. The Empyrean series is an epic fantasy taking place in a Constructed World, though the story does still place heavy emphasis on romance.
• Diagnosis of God: While Violet's medical condition isn't named in the text due to the low-tech fantasy setting, Rebecca Yarros has stated that Violet is intended to have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which both Yarros and her sons also have.
• Dueling Works: Iron Flame was released the same day as Nightbane, the second book in The Lightlark Saga (November 7th 2023). Both are fantasy stories that heavily feature dragons/dragon-like creatures, emphasis on romance plots and love triangles, rebellions and warring factions, a 20-something heroine grappling with newfound powers and betrayal, and so on. A notable difference is that Iron Flame is marketed to adults rather than teens like Nightbane, so it has more graphic sexual content.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Rebecca Yarros intended for the series to be a trilogy, but partway through writing the second book, she realised the story would be better told over more installments, resulting in the series being expanded to a planned five books.
  • Yarros said she considered dividing the events of Iron Flame into two books, but her editor persuaded her to keep it as one book.
• Word of God: The author confirmed on her TikTok that she intended for Xaden to be a person of colour (though she's been vague about his exact ethnicity and the books don't provide many clues seeing as they're not set in our world). She only shares fan art depicting him as such and expressed confusion over fan art and fan casts depicting him as white (including referring to it as "whitewashing").

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