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khaley0127's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
savage_book_review's review against another edition
- 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
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'!
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and War
Minor: Infertility, Sexual assault, Slavery, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol
spatterson7's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, and Grief
Minor: Confinement, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
aksmith92's review against another edition
- 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
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],
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.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Alcohol
Minor: Toxic relationship and Pregnancy
tiredtori's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol
tupeloallie's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Confinement, Gore, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit
yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, and Stalking
Minor: Incest, Slavery, Torture, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
readwithde's review against another edition
- 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
I felt like Aelin's path was so jarring and chaotic at the beginning of the book, but by the end
Lysandra, Elide, and Manon shone brightly in this book; I was happy to see each of them step fully into their potential.
As nice as it was to have so many other POVs, I would have loved a bit more Aelin. She controlled many of the plot twists, and I would have loved a bit of extra foreshadowing or even just getting to see her thought process.
I did read this in tandem with Tower of Dawn; I feel like both books benefited from that system, getting extra action in this book to balance the extra lore in Tower of Dawn. I highly recommend reading these together.
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and War
undecidedpersonality's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Child death, Genocide, Rape, and Sexual assault
kayceeisbookish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War