Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas

Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)

by Sarah J. Maas

Kingdoms collide in Sarah J. Maas’s epic fifth installment in the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series.

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.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what -- and who -- to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.

Reviewed by Nessa Luna on

5 of 5 stars

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Warning: This review has spoilers in it for the previous books in the series. Proceed with caution. (There are also some spoilers for this book, but they're all tagged.

Damn, I've been bad at keeping up with reviews lately, so I thought I'd try to keep up by writing one for the last book I finished. Empire of Storms is the fifth and next-to-last book in the Throne of Glass series, and at the moment the biggest one as well. Throughout this series, we've followed Celaena Sardothien as she became the king's assassin, and on her trip to become who she was born to become - Aelin Galathynius, the true queen of Terrasen. But after defeating the king of Adarlan in the previous book, trouble is far from over for Aelin and her court. In fact, it has only just begun.

I was really scared when this book arrived at my house, because the last SJ Maas book I tried to read, I had to put away after a while. A Court of Mist and Fury ended up not really being what I wanted to read at that moment, and I have yet to pick it up again. Still, I started EoS almost immediately after it arrived, and I am glad to tell you I managed to finish it without putting it down for longer than a day.

Empire of Storms takes us back to the world of Erilea; where Aelin and her court are on their way to Terrasen. Also on her way there, is Elide, who escaped from Morath with the help of Manon and her Thirteen. Back in Adarlan, Dorian has to pick up after the events of the previous book. He is now officially the new king of Adarlan, but trouble is right around the corner.

Like with the previous books, EoS is written from multiple perspectives, and I do believe this works best for stories like this. Still, I would have loved each character to just have one POV chapter, and not for the POV to change halfway throughout a chapter. There are of course people who enjoy this, but honestly I still find it really annoying. I do now know all the characters who have POV's in this book, so that makes it a little more bearable, but I don't think another character/POV should be added in the upcoming book.

This book was full of action, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It didn't feel at all like a 700-page book, and there were only a couple of moments where I felt like not continuing for a moment which were the sex scenes. I knew they would be in there, and I was honestly hoping they wouldn't be somewhere in the beginning, because that was the reason I put down ACOMAF, but they weren't but other than that I really enjoyed this book. I was feeling a bit down while reading this book, and there were enough parts that made me sort of come back to life.

Please don't hate me, but I still don't like Aelin and Rowan, and I still kind of root for my ship to happen, though I now know that will just not happen anymore. But I don't know, I just don't like Rowan that much, at least not him being with Aelin. He's kind of grown on me as a character throughout this book, but yeah I don't feel anything at all when they have scenes together, sorry not sorry. It was such a shame Chaol wasn't in this book at all, by the way. I know he's hurt and on his way to the Southern Continent, but still I wanted to know how he is. I liked him being mentioned by several characters in this book, but I honestly hope we'll see more of him in the next book!

LET ME JUST TALK TO YOU ABOUT THAT ENDING THOUGH BECAUSE SARAH WTF YOU DO THAT TO ME?! I knew this book would end in a cliffhanger, because I believe the previous two/three books did the same. But I had never expected this. And then all the people from the previous books showed up, like Ansel and those monks from the Red Desert and the prince from Wendlyn and I CRIED BECAUSE OH MY GODS.

Sarah's writing was amazing, as usual, and I honestly flew through this book. It's kind of made me want to give ACOMAF another try. I recommend this bookseries to everyone who loves Game of Thrones and YA literature. Because honestly, I think we can call ToG a sort of Young Adult answer to Game of Thrones, right?

My opinion in one gif:

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 13 September, 2016: Finished reading
  • 13 September, 2016: Reviewed