Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Empire of Storms

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

24 reviews

aidamaria_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

If I read the word ‘rutting’ one more time, I swear I’ll vomit my guts up. Also, this book could have been way shorter, except for its brutal cliffhanger ending - did I just read the equivalent of a filler episode? Also, Elide and Lorcan’s little side quest became the only thing pulling me through. Too much fighting sequences in one go, maybe? I might need a break before moving on to the next book in the series.

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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Wow. I did the tandem read with Tower of Dawn and it was honestly such a long haul but also so enjoyable. The plot progression and the character growth throughout this book is so good. My one gripe would be that everyone is coupling up which feels a little obvious/contrived. I wish there was a little bit more variety in the relationship statuses. But I adore these characters and my heart broke at the end of this book 😭.

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savage_book_review's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really wanted to try and do the tandem read with 'Tower of Dawn' via audiobook, but I don't have the patience to try and set up all of the bookmarks, nor have I figured out a way to make it work smoothly, so I'm reading then one at a time this go round... I'm interested to see what difference it makes to the flow of the overall narrative, at any rate! And nervous about having to now wait another 22+ hours before getting to the resolution of the climax of this book...

Despite the different story threads happening contemporaneously, they are woven together so well that it all still forms a cohesive narrative and it doesn't feel disjointed. Likewise, while I'm not sure that each thread receives equal page time, they are all well thought out and the whole thing feels very balanced.

The book serves a dual purpose - it absolutely moves the overall series plot along apace with a great story in itself, giving you a great mix of action, adventure, romance and jeopardy. But equally it's clearly another case of a book serving to move all of the players into the right places at the right times to make sure they're ready for the grand finale. You are rewarded with a lot of payoffs from earlier books in the series, and with the development of newer characters and so it is certainly not lacking in elements to pull you in and keep you reading, but there is a small part of me that keeps saying 'just get on with it already!'

There are a few moments that I found harder to follow via the audio, for example Elena's story and the events that laid the foundations for the current predicament. I get it, but it's not a particularly straightforward backstory (IMO) and, once again, because it takes so much longer to listen to than to read, it just didn't make as much sense. On the other hand, I think I spotted an error in the text that I would probably not have picked up on when reading the physical book. Although it's a throwaway comment, it contains quite a big spoiler for later in the book (although saying that, you're 100% expecting it by this point if you're familiar with the Maasverse).

On to 'Tower of Dawn'!

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spatterson7's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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aksmith92's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I read Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn as a tandem read, as requested by most BookTokers I've seen out there. Many recommend this because they love Aelin and Rowan and didn't want to be a part of them for one whole book; plus, there will ALWAYS be Chaol haters. I honestly don't care much about Aelin and Rowan (sorry!), and I am notoriously known for thinking there is more than meets the eye with Chaol. But, I will admit it: the tandem read slightly improved my experience with my Throne of Glass journey. While reading nearly 1400 pages, give or take, seemed daunting, I did fly through this read (these reads?).

Set up: The main characters are thrown into every direction as war breaks out between citizens and the infamous Vlag. Empire of Storms follows Aelin, Rowan, Dorian, Manon, Lysandra, Aedion, Elide, Lorcan, and others we know and love. Tower of Dawn follows Chaol and Nesryn as they trek to the southern continent to, hopefully, gain support from the kaghan there in the upcoming war. Also, to see if they can get Chaol walking again. In this book, we meet Yrene again after briefly meeting her in The Assassin's Blade.

What I liked: Lysandra. I also enjoyed Elide's and Lorcan's characters. I liked their romance. Theirs didn't feel forced per se, but their POVs were sometimes redundant. Finally, I was invested in this plot. I wanted to see how SJM wove in all the moving pieces and how it would end. I was invested. I didn't see TOO many plot holes. This is some decent high fantasy plotting.

What I didn't like: Aelin. Always. She's so annoying, even if she spouts some funnies occasionally. I didn't enjoy Rowan and Aelin either. "Just bang!" I would say throughout this novel, and THEN they did, and I was underwhelmed. Something about velvet-strapped steel also just....yuck.

"She really tortured them, she realized, by shoving her way into danger whenever she felt like it. Perhaps she'd try to be better about it if this dread was at all like what they felt." LOL, yeah, AELIN.

This (these) book(s) also did teeter on the ROMANCE scale so much. I was finally glad not to have a love triangle anymore, and thankfully, those (kinda) went away, but everybody is paired with somebody. I'm not sure why it annoyed me because I've read other books where this happens (Roots of Chaos - Samantha Shannon), but I don't think anybody quite hypes it up and makes it a considerable plot point like SJM. I also wished I counted how many kisses characters gave at the "corners of mouths."

"She thought of the new, delicate scars on his back - marks from her own nails (*cough* sex *cough*), that he'd refused to heal with his magic, and instead had set with seawater, the salt locking the scars into place before the immortal body could smooth it over. Her claiming marks, he'd breathed into her mouth the last time he'd been inside her. So he and anyone who saw them would know that he belonged to her. That he was hers, just as she was his." WHAT. First. What? Second. How would people look at his back and be like THOSE ARE FROM F'in! Third. What. Fourth. The dramatics. Fifth. What. Lastly, they can do that with salt water? Since freaking when? This internal monologue was also the start of a BATTLE IN WAR. Lol. Just lol.

Lastly, there is a plethora of toxic perseverance and the glorification of war, which is something I must get used to with SJM writing. In addition [I'm putting a spoiler on this just in case],

but
kind of healing Chaol's injury wasn't done super well in my opinion. He was disabled and then "magically" healed, yet still tied to Yrene's life and it can still go wrong? It's honestly a cop out of him being healed enough to still be mr macho man yet then things can go wrong? I don't know, it didn't quite sit well for me.

Overall, though, it was fine. This was a solid read (reads). However, I have officially decided that my TBR is too long for any more SJM. I will finish this series with Kingdom of Ash, and I will stop reading her works. Fated mates, toxic perseverance, and unnecessary romanticism of war simply isn't for me and I will officially put the books down after.

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tiredtori's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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tupeloallie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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chapters_and_pages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sarah J. Maas is honestly a mastermind… this series just gets better and better!

As this is a sequel, I won’t go into the storyline. This was my second time reading this book, and my first tandem read, with Tower of Dawn, and I have to say, even though it took awhile, tandem reading is the way to go with these two books!

My favourite thing about this series is the characters, honestly Sarah J. Maas never fails when it comes to writing her characters. Sometimes when books follow so many characters, it can be difficult to differentiate them as readers, and make them unique as writers, but I never have an issue with these characters!

Overall, I absolutely love this series and have loved rereading it!

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mangofraiche's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this one. All of my favorite characters together fighting for each other and for a better world. There were definitely some raw and emotional moments and a few slower moments where I wasn’t as interested but overall it was a great read. Aelin really made good on her promises and proved although not perfect she is a force to be reckoned with. So many relationships forming has me a little scared for the future but these characters deserve love and peace.

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