It’s been almost two weeks of this hangover now, and it’s only barely starting to go away. The longest one of my life. It came about with a lot of the usual symptoms. The kicker of it all? I hadn’t drunk anything. All I had to do was turn the last page of the book I was reading.
I was among the many millions of people anxiously waiting for Onyx Storm, the third book of The Empyrean series by the romance and fantasy writer Rebecca Yarros, detailing Violet Sorrengail’s journey as a dragon rider in a military college amid a devastating war in her magical continent. Fourth Wing, the first in the series, and its sequel Iron Flame were both released in 2023, so it’s been a bit of a wait. The series is one that became incredibly popular on BookTok, and since the release of Onyx Storm, Yarros has been breaking records and topping bestseller charts. Deservedly so!
When I realized the delivery of my copy was going to be delayed, I bought it on my phone at midnight on its release day and stayed up…way too late reading. Six days later, I finished it. Then the feelings hit me almost immediately. I was, naturally, feeling depleted and sad, like all my emotions had been drained out of me. It was exhausting. Picking up a new book and starting over again felt unappealing. The excitement and rush of energy from reading had all ceased too soon — and given that the fourth book’s release date is nowhere in sight, I’ve got a long way to go from here.
My Year of Reading “Faerie Smut”
Why are young women entranced by “romantasy” novels stuffed with dragons, magic and passionate sex? It all made sense once I joined the club.But this phenomenon isn’t an uncommon one within fiction. If you’ve ever read a book you’ve loved and didn’t want to finish, and upon finishing, you found yourself in a similar trance — maybe more realistically for a few hours or days at most — you’ve probably experienced it before. Let me introduce you to my favorite and simultaneously least favorite kind of hangover: a book hangover.
These “book hangovers” function similarly to any run-of-the-mill hangover. It’s an accumulation of unpleasant feelings that occur after finishing a book, however in this case, they come on immediately and don’t wait until the next morning, and it can persist for days — or weeks, in my terrible case. It can present in a variety of ways: sadness or fatigue, mental brain fog, a stomach ache or trouble sleeping.
So, why does this happen? Once you finish a book, you start to feel the abrupt effects of reeling yourself back into reality after diving into a good story. It’s a lingering aftermath — you still feel deeply invested in it, but it’s over, so a lot of those feelings have nowhere to go and leave you feeling kind of…drained and empty inside.
Turns out, there is a bit of a science to it. Clare Barnett at Book Riot spoke with a psychologist about book hangovers, and experiencing the phenomenon can reveal a few different things: Shorter-lived book hangovers, consisting of a few hours or days, can be as simple as sadness over a book ending. We emotionally transport ourselves into the books we read, which can increase our empathy toward the characters and events unfolding, leaving us with a feeling of loss when it’s over.
Longer-lasting ones, however, can indicate how active the lingering thoughts from the books are within our psyche. This is also a greater indicator of how much reading an impactful book can actually change us: The longer you struggle and reflect on the content, it’s more likely that the book had a deep impression on you and how you view the world. Since we kind of “exit” reality when reading a genre like fiction, it puts us in a mindset that makes it easier to think outside ourselves and enter more of a reflective state.
This is probably the best hangover that you can have — especially considering they can be transformative toward our personal growth and don’t leave you with regrets the next day. Outside of maybe regretting you read the book as fast as you did. But in this case, even your best hangover trick isn’t going to cure you.
A few ideas I’ve read that work: Take a reading break, reread the book, start a new book — one in a different genre, even. I haven’t picked out the next book I’m going to read yet, but talking about it with friends has been the most helpful resolution I’ve found so far. My boyfriend started listening to the audiobooks so that we could discuss it more together too. It’s all over my TikTok and Instagram, and I’ve found that to be a good extension of consuming related content too. Outside of connecting with other people about it, it’s been slow progress.
Ultimately, even though book hangovers are kind of a stuck feeling, being in a daze like this brings about several positive reminders: I’m making time to read books I enjoy instead of doomscrolling, the influence of a good book is priceless and there are still so many books I’ve yet to read that will leave me feeling this way again. Writing this all out has also made me realize I should probably go outside and touch some grass though, too.
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