Rebecca Yarros says it's going to be a minute before we get book 3 of the Empyrean series

We will not die today. Nor will we get to read the third book in the Empyrean series.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros hit shelves back in May, and BookTok quickly propelled it to the top spot on the New York Times bestseller list. So when the second book, Iron Flame, was given a November release date, it felt like rapid speed compared to other fantasy series.

But Yarros says it's not quite going to be that way going forward. "We haven’t announced yet," she tells EW, while joining us for our new EW Book Club. "I will tell you that the speed at which I wrote Fourth Wing, in between I wrote In the Likely Event, and then I wrote Iron Flame happened so quickly in the middle of touring, in the middle of everything, that it was really hard on my body."

Yarros has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition she shares with her Fourth Wing heroine, Violet Sorrengail. "I’m respecting my limitations and taking [things] a bit slower so that I can be healthy through all of it," she says. "So it’s going to be a little bit slower. But I have a release date, I just can’t tell you yet."

In a wide-ranging conversation with members across the EW "quadrants," Yarros talks about creating the world of the Empyrean series, breaks down some of her sexiest and saddest scenes, and answers (or mostly doesn't) some of our most burning Iron Flame questions.

The Empyrean series follows Cadet Violet Sorrengail, a young woman who is plunged into a deadly training school for dragon riders when her mother enrolls her. From the moment Violet crosses the fatal Parapet, she has an undeniable connection with Xaden Riorson, a fearsome third year and son of the executed leader of the Tyrrish rebellion. When she bonds with legendary dragon Tairn and a young feathertail Andarna, Violet is thrust under scrutiny she never anticipated.

Iron Flame follows Violet into her second year, alongside her fellow surviving squad members, as she must wrestle with the fact that everything she believed about her country and her family is a lie.

Watch the video above for more from Yarros.

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