Empire of Storms

Note: Although this review does not contain spoilers of the book, it may contain spoilers of PREVIOUS books in the series. You have been warned. Proceed with caution.

Series: Book #5 in Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: YA fantasy

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 693 pages (paperback)

Swift Synopsis:

The assassin-queen Aelin heads to Terrasen to raise an army against Erawan. We can’t say anything more.

Review:

This book is epic.

EPIC.

One of the reasons is that there isn’t one big problem, there are many smaller problems that just heighten the sense of hopelessness (Game of Thrones vibe!). With so many conflicts happening at once, it means there is never a dull moment in this book. We found Queen of Shadows’s pacing slugged along but Maas changed this in Empire of Storms. Every chapter - you’re guaranteed heart-stopping action and wrenched heart strings.

The book is told in many POVs and this really developed characterisation. In previous books, it was just Aelin and one or two other characters whose personalities were really fleshed out and delved into. New POVs in this novel are Lysandra and Aedion. This novel changed all of that and even starts to show a more vulnerable and human side to Aelin’s very unhuman court. You see characters starting to doubt themselves, and realise that they are very, very flawed.

Favourite Quote:

However, there are 3 things that annoyed us:

1. The love scenes. Must it happen with almost every character? We mean please, can’t the characters just be friends and not lovers? And what really frustrated us was some of this characters are centuries old warriors and they were unable to control their lust and desire.

2. Every character is so beautiful. We mean they are literally flawless. Yes, we understand the characters are Fae and monsters and all, but there are humans in the mix as well and they too have beauty that rivals a Fae’s (insert name: Elide). The unearthly beauty gives the book a fantastical vibe but we wish there is something blemished in the characters. It makes them more human and relatable.

3. This book has some very similar events to A Court of Mist and Fury. It seems as Maas was writing one series, it rubbed off to the other series. Because of spoilers, we can’t tell you what several events were extraordinarily similar but it made the book predictable and unfresh.

But, this book on the whole is amazing. Maas really grows as a writer, as unlike Throne of Glass in which the plot is very jarring and jumpy, the plot of this book is fluid and coherent. The writing is beautifully crafted and the ending will be seared in your heart forever.

Just a note, this book references A LOT to The Assassin’s Blade. Characters and events are mentioned that you will have absolutely no idea of knowing if you haven’t read the prequel yet.