Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Tower of Dawn

Definitely recommend the tandem read with Empire of Storms
It really offers a nice balance, they're happening concurrently, and has a few overlapping story lines that flow better

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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful tense slow-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

Did I like this more than Empire of Storms?? Crazy. It was definitely slower paced, but felt very cohesive. I also loved that Chaol had a beautiful redemption arc- I hated him the last few books and this book actually changed my mind. I really appreciated getting to see the nuance and inner turmoil of his character. I adore Yrene and I also love Nesryn and Sartaq and felt like I was interested/invested in every plot line of this book. It ends much more hopeful than EoS so I feel like it fits in the series better before EoS if you don’t want to do the tandem read.

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jelkebooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.0

A four star? To a Throne of Glass book? From me? Yeah, I didn't see this one coming either. Truly, I still can't fully believe it, but I thouroughly enjoyed this book. I guess they'll just never make me hate Chaol, no matter how much of the fandom might do. No, my enjoyment of this book has nothing to do with the fact that I love Chaol. Well, it's not just that. I truly think this book and Empire of Storms are the best books from this series (so far) and which one you'll like more depends on your prefferences.
This isn't as action packed as Empire of Storms. It's pretty slowly paced. Most of it is spend healing Chaol, getting to know this different part of the world, and most importantly learning more about the Valg. We also got introduced to a brand new cast of characters with only Nesryn and Chaol returning from our old cast within this book. It did get some getting used to at the start of this one, but I still had a blast reading this book.
My biggest compliment for this book is that it didn't feel like its size to me. Like, this is a pretty long book, and considering not a whole lot happened this just flew by. It was an incredibly compelling read, and I did not want to stop reading. I thought the new land we were in was really interesting. I also loved the healing scenes. I mean, it was full of ableism, but when it comes to the magic and how the healing magic works I do think it was really interesting. Nesryn's storyline was also incredibly interesting in this book. We learned a whole lot about the Valg and their history as well, and I loved those parts as well. That came with some crazy reveals as well, so I can't wait to see it all play out in Kingdom of Ash.
The new cast of characters were great. I didn't care for all of the royals, but the characters that really took center stage this book I quite liked. As I mentioned before I have never hated Chaol, like most people, so I also loved that we focussed quite a bit on him in this book. Yrene was easily the best character of this book. She was just absolutely incredible. With new characters also come new romances, and I also really liked those. One of them is probably my favourite from the series as well. I won't tell you which one to keep you from getting spoiled but if you've read this book you can probably tell from this review as well. So yeah, not a perfect installement, but easily my favourite and I truly can't wait to get into the final book now.

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scarlett_f's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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merrow's review

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adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

An almost relaxing turn in the midst of this series, but still maintaining the mystery and global stakes. The book feels generally hopeful and introduces a new part of the world well, and is only let down by the characters’ very occasional childish behaviour.

Yrene is a very engaging character, and Chaol and Nesryn both grow to find their places in the series. Very interesting revelations and the setting contrasts very well with the northern continent.

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tupeloallie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful slow-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

3.0

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barbarianmissy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

How do I only have one more book to read in the SJM universe??? I’m quite cross. SJM, write more pls cause I’m gonna spiral after Kingdom of Ash. Thank you.

As for Tower of Dawn! When I first realized this was an entire book about my enemy ka-Chaol and his gal pal Nesryn, I wasn’t thrilled. But, in the end, I was pleasantly surprised!

This book wasn’t a crazy action packed story necessarily (mostly cause Chaol could not walk through most of it) but it was really cool going to a whole other continent and dipping my toes into a cool, complex, kind of off-the-chain culture that hadn’t been affected by the turd that is the King of Adarlan. There was a lot of political intrigue and world building that I thought was super cool. I wanna live in Antica! I wanna ride a big bird!

As for the new characters, I loved the royal family. I loved how they were all so different and sneaky and had defined personalities and roles. I loved the different relationships and banter between them all and how they used their influence for their own gain. I’m happy they’re coming to Tessaren, I’m excited to see how they integrate with our OG team.

I know we briefly met Yrene before but Yrene is very cool now. I love her, she fixed not only Chaols lil legs but also his shit personality. She said “I can fix him” and was one of the few women on Earth to prove herself right. She’s also just a badass on her own. Good for her!

The love stories in this one were really well paced compared to some of the more rushed ones in Empire of Storms cause the lack of 27 main characters and different storylines, so they were really able to make it focused on them. Was it a smidge slow at times because of that fact too? Yes. Did I enjoy it overall? Also yes.

Also, side note. I know they are side characters but I love Borte and Yeran. Their love/hate relationship is wonderful and I just like em.

Now, for the finale of all finales…. ITS TIME FOR KINGDOM OF ASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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annikenr's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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