5 Star Book Review: Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)

Author: Sarah J Maas

Website, Twitter, Instagram

Edition: Hardcover

Buy Links: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Book Depository

Goodreads

Related Reviews: The Assassin's Blade - Throne of Glass - Crown of Midnight - Heir of Fire - Queen of Shadows

Rating: 5 Stars

It shouldn't be any surprise that this was one of my most anticipate releases of the year, since I am absolutely gaga over this series. Sure, it's somewhat problematic (but we're not going to talk about that in this review) and that aspect of this series should see the light of day, but overall it's one of my favorite series' of all time. Not only does it give women emotional agency and power that I don't see replicated everywhere, but it delivers the full force of escapism and good storytelling.

There won't be any spoilers in this review for this book, but there may be SPOILERS for previous books in the series, so read on at your own risk.

I had no idea what to expect going into this book. I mean, how could I? The way Queen of Shadows ended was crazy and while it closed a bunch of plot lines it also opened even more. And this book did not fail to deliver on any of them. It was nearly constant action and motion on every page and it flowed smoothly. Many questions were answered and the whole story is finally starting to fall together- as heartbreaking as that is.

The characters were the shining point in this novel, as always. I love Aelin, Rowan, Lysandra, and Aedion, don't get me wrong. In fact, they're some of my favorite characters among all the characters I love. But this book was easily stolen by Elide and Lorcan, and also Manon and Dorian. First of all, I adore Dorian as much as ever (he may be my favorite character in the history of characters, so that's no surprise) but I've often had swaying thoughts about Manon. This book, not at all. She was awesome! I see why people have loved her all along. During the first half of the book the Manon chapters were some of my favorite and I was on the edge of my seat. As for Lorcan and Elide: they are my new favorite ship. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give it away, but they went from being two of my least favorite characters to me wishing they had a series all about them.

One of my favorite things about this book was finally seeing characters and plot lines from Assassin's Blade coming into play. I don't want to say exactly how or who shows up, but it did not disappoint. Another thing I loved is that the characters seem to be settling or are settled into the roles that they're going to play in the final book.

TL;DR

I loved it (no surprise) and still recommend this series. Things are beginning to tie up and certain characters I disliked have now wormed into my heart.