Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)

by Sarah J. Maas

Review originally posted at Simply Adrift.

Alright, I've been trying to wrap my head around my thoughts for Empire of Storms and I've been finding it a bit difficult.

I've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this series. I wasn't the biggest fan of the first two books Throne of Glass & Crown of Midnight, but I fell in love with Heir of Fire and book four Queen of Shadows is my favourite so far. So Empire of Storms had a lot to live up to. Do I think it made the cut? Did I love it as much as I expected to? Did it surprise me? Well if you saw any of my goodreads statuses while I read this book then you may already know.

I loved:

I loved the point of view changes chapter wise. I really loved getting to see what each character was up to and how their story was going to converge with the overall story. Switching POV every few chapters kept me interested in the story and interested in each character.

I loved Elide's chapters the most. I guess because her story was really only just starting, she was fighting to get to her queen, she was bad-ass, and I actually just liked her. She was likable and I could connect with her.

There was a satisfyingly slow burn romance. I don't want to spoil who the romance was between, but I loved that it was slow burning. It wasn't a surprise at all but the characters didn't pine after each other, in fact they mostly hated each other until they started to understand each other. And even then, the romance crept up on them.

Mannon was still bad-ass but I loved watching her character growth. I've loved reading Manon's chapters the last few books. I've loved getting to see her change and grow, I definitely think Mannon is the character that has grown the most in this series. And while I think Maas planned it this way, I still really enjoy reading her chapters.

There were surprises that I really hadn't even thought of. Empire of Storms had a number of surprises. A lot of them felt like they were there to fill the story and to make something happen. However, there were a few surprises that I loved and were so intelligent that they blew my mind.

Maas is a very smart storyteller. Maas has clearly planned this series very, very well. She set things up right from the beginning, things that happened in earlier books suddenly only make sense now. It blew my mind and it made me respect Maas' storytelling skills.

The ending had me on the edge of my seat. By now I know how Maas likes to end her books. With a shocking surprise that no one could see coming, and a cliffhanger that has a few loose ends tied up but with just enough left loose that you still want to read the next book straight away. So while I wasn't surprised that the book was going to end with a cliffhanger, I was still surprised at how it ended.

Meh:

I couldn't connect with Aelin and so I did not like her. She became this near untouchable character that knew she wasn't really in any danger. I felt like she was never in harms way. I felt no connection to her at all and lost my interest in most of her chapters where we read her point of view. Am I crazy?

Aelin confided in absolutely no one. She kept too many secrets and it constantly felt like we were missing out on mostly everything Aelin was thinking, until the moment she revealed herself. We were completely blind and each new reveal was a surprise to everyone in the story, except Aelin. Nearly no other character had any idea what she was planning.

The story came together but I didn't like how 'planned' everything was. I didn't like that Aelin was barely ever surprised, because apparently she was able to think of nearly everything that could ever go wrong, and plan sufficiently for it. This bored me. I mean there were a few unexpected events, but even then I felt like Aelin had still planned that something might go wrong.

Dorian is meant to be a King yet he practically holds no authority, unless Aelin agrees. I really wanted Dorian to have more of a say, more authority, and more of a voice. He was so silent throughout the book, he just went along with the ride and tried to help as much as he could. We got to understand more of what role he was playing in this story, but he nearly felt like a different character.

Dorian's and Aelin's relationship did not exist. Where did their friendship go? Where did the love for each other go? Where was their connection? They barely looked at each other let alone talked to each other. Aelin saw him more than nothing but a pawn in her plans, I felt like when she was with him she did not respect him as a King at all. This bothered me a lot.

Nearly everyone is paired up. Yep. I mean it was nice and all, but it also felt too strategic.

I lost respect for Rowan. How? Well when we first meet Rowan, he's this bad-ass fae warrior who listens to no one. Well unless Maeve calls on his blood oath then he physically cannot ignore her. My point is Rowan was his own man, he was independent and was following his own path as much as he could. In Empire of Storms I felt all of that went out the window. I hate to say this but I really felt like he was Aelin's underling. He would do anything for her, and while it was nice that he loved her this much, it also felt like he lost his independence. He could do nothing without her, in fact he did not want to do anything without her. I feel so conflicted about this.

There was a lot of action but the story still felt like it was moving at snails pace. Is this weird to think? I felt like there was so much action and there was always so much going on. However, I felt like the overall story was relatively slow. Not a lot happened to make the story progress as fast as I wanted it to, the action actually felt like it delayed the story from progressing.

Did I love it or not?

Honestly? I've been feeling so mixed about this! There are many things I loved about Empire of Storms but also, there are a very many things that I really did not like. So I have to say that I did not absolutely love this book. But I also did not hate it.

I've thought about it and I've decided I actually really enjoyed Empire of Storms. I had fun reading it, I loved some characters more than others, and I was surprised at a number of times. However I do have to acknowledge that I did not love Empire of Storms like I expected I would, I cannot rave about how amazing this book is. But I definitely can't wait to see what happens next in book six.

Empire of Storms is a satisfying read, and also a frustrating read. It moves the story a long enough that book six can actually not come fast enough.

What did you think of Empire of Storms? Did you like it? Were you disappointed? Were you surprised? Did it live up to your expectations?

Always,
Jordon

This review was originally posted on Simply Adrift