![28260587](https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463107108l/28260587.jpg)
Book: Empire of Storms, Sarah J. Mass
Series: Throne of Glass #5
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Release Date: September 6th,
2016
The long path to the
throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius. Loyalties have been
broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who
possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.
As the kingdoms of Erilea fracture around her, enemies must become allies if Aelin is to keep those she loves from falling to the dark forces poised to claim her world. With war looming on all horizons, the only chance for salvation lies in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.
Aelin's journey from assassin to queen has entranced millions across the globe, and this fifth installment will leave fans breathless. Will Aelin succeed in keeping her world from splintering, or will it all come crashing down?
As the kingdoms of Erilea fracture around her, enemies must become allies if Aelin is to keep those she loves from falling to the dark forces poised to claim her world. With war looming on all horizons, the only chance for salvation lies in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.
Aelin's journey from assassin to queen has entranced millions across the globe, and this fifth installment will leave fans breathless. Will Aelin succeed in keeping her world from splintering, or will it all come crashing down?
*minor spoilers*
I want to go rock my body in a corner
with tears running down my face, kick Sarah J Maas for making me feel in this
way, and then give her a massive hug. My emotions are all over the place.
I don’t know what I can say about
this book that hasn’t been said in a hundred other reviews of this book. It was
crazy. There was action, there was suspense, there was love, there was lust;
there was hate. There were shocking developments and massive surprise guests,
and all the while you’re just sitting there with tears rolling down your face
from the emotion of it all.
I'm going to start with the
characters. First – Aelin. She is still one of the most badass literary
characters written in this decade. I love her, and I did love her in this book…
However, she did annoy me. Ever
since she accepted her past and left Celaena Sardothien in the dust and fully
embraced being Queen of Terrasen to win back her land and her kingdom, she has
fallen into the role of being a leader beautifully. She has soldiers who will
follow and listen to her and respect her. Except that in this book she kept a
lot of secrets. Whenever their group met someone and they told them something
cryptic, only Aelin understood what they were talking about, and never told the
group what it meant. She just locked herself in her room and wouldn’t even tell
Rowan! She also never told the group that she was attempting to get other
armies to join their cause. There is one part where we meet a character from
one of the novellas and everyone in her group, including me, thought it was the
enemy. Only Aelin knew that the fleet were coming to help. And I found
extremely irritating! I understand why she did it, to an extent: she was afraid of failing, and having
her group see her failure. Except that her group are not just her soldiers – they are her friends, her family. And
she needs to learn to trust them. They already know she is not perfect. She may
not be human, but she still makes mistakes. Aelin needs to realise that she
does not need to be perfect for them. Even though all her secret plans
eventually come to fruition by the end, I wish she could’ve confided in Rowan
and Aedion at least so they wouldn’t be so in the dark.
There’s not much I can say about
Rowan and Aelin as a couple that hasn’t already been said in a hundred
different reviews already. Type their names into Tumblr and you’ll get loads of
fanart depicting the love these two have for each other. The quotes between the
two of them declaring their love for each other, how they’ll always be there
for each other, the strength they have between them, it makes me want to
cry.
“Even when this world is a forgotten
whisper of dust between the stars, I will always love you.”
I remember in Crown of Midnight (my
favourite in the series), Aelin (while she was still Celaena) was with Chaol,
and they were wonderful together. However, when you compare their love to the
love Aelin and Rowan have for one another… well there is no comparison. They
are like two puzzle pieces that are perfectly aligned. Chaol and Aelin weren’t
a perfect match - close, but not in the way she is with Rowan. It’s just
beautiful reading about them. I’m sure other people will have a lot more to say
about them, but just know that I love them, and reading about them is sure to
put this big goofy smile on your face.
Now I need to talk about other
characters. Namely, Elide. In the previous books I adored Manon’s chapters, but
here, it was Elide’s voice I wanted to hear the most. She is a girl that has
been through so much in her life, so much torture and pain, and never truly
experienced love. Despite that, she is
the strongest person I have ever read about.
Aelin knows she’s strong – she’s arrogant,
she knows what she wants and she gets it. You love her for it.
Manon also knows who she is – she’s a
leader of her Thirteen and she’ll do whatever it takes to protect them,
whatever needs to be done.
Elide has a quiet
strength. She’s been tortured; she’s got a shitty ankle that she
limps on. She has no idea what it’s like to come from a stable home and have
people support her. Does this make her a weak, unstable person? HELL NO. She is
clever! She may not be able to read, she may be emotionally scarred, but she is
a very smart person and she uses it to her advantage. When she gets paired with
Lorcan to find Aelin, he is completely impressed by her, and is shocked at how
strong she is despite being a frail human. He is so used to people being afraid
of him and running away, that he’s in shock at how Elide always puts him in his
place. She didn’t take any of his shit and wasn’t afraid of him and I loved her
for it!
Besides all these kick ass
characters, the story was very well done. Aelin is still on the hunt for the
Wyrdkeys to lock Erawan away and there was plenty of action sequences and
development between the characters. All our ships have their moments and I just
pray that Sarah will keep them floating until the end of the final book. I need
my characters to have their happy ever afters!
I did think the book was a little
long, and it was really daunting to try and finish a 700 page book. And knowing
Sarah, the last book will be even longer.
However, I still loved this book and
series and count it as one of the best high fantasy book series ever written.
Pick this up as soon as you can!
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