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maeeflower's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
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
5.0
liddydoyle's review against another edition
5.0
SJM can rip my heart out any day. I want 900 more pages.
lucysmart05's review against another edition
4.0
Okay I loved how everything wrapped up, but honestly a lot of this book felt like she could have used far fewer words to say the same thing. Or I felt like she was constantly reiterating what she said and it was so unnecessary. The story itself? Great. Feeling like it could've been shortened to half the size? Mmhmm.
lomoney16's review against another edition
4.0
IM SO SORRY!!!! This book was good but honestly anticlimactic and SO LONG. I’ve heard SJM doesn’t like to kill characters and I can tell… nothing drastic or devastating happened. I expected more I guess.
kellbell222's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars --> I cant believe i'm done reading this series. I love these characters and this world so incredibly much. This was such a beautiful end to a beautiful book series. Aelin is such a fucking girlboss queen. Lysandra is also good. Dorian and chaol and manon and like, everyone elses growth. I have so much to say. I love so much idk what to do with myself now. The middle of the book was mildly boring so lost half a star but i loved the beginning and end so so so much.
froggiez8396's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
brewedupbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I am going to be honest, this will not be a well thought out review… I just finished this after a month & some change of trying to get through its This thing was too long. It felt longer than the tandem read. At least the tandem read taught us new things or advanced the plot. We all knew what ultimately was coming (the stand off) and it took entirely too long to get there once Aelin was released. Until that point things felt interesting. But once both the crews tried getting north it became monotonous. The endless battles, the random fastforwarding days to build plot armor to get Aelin & crew to Orynth was just sloppy to me. All that being said, the sacrifice of the 13 had me sobbing for about 20 minutes and that’s really not like me at all. The imagery of peace in the flowers was absolutely stunning. The descriptions of the scenes with character reactions were absolutely incredible & helped me to build an actual movie in my mind. True to SJM the plot armor is strong & we don’t really lose the truly most likely to die characters. However, the losses of the 13 & Gavriel were emotionally gut wrenching. Overall, this book felt like 7 mini books which took the wind out of the sails for me. It was like listening to a song with a great intro and verses only to be let down by the choruses. It didn’t flow and some parts were better than others. Reading it on the Kindle was a mind warp because I just never knew and couldn’t sense how much further we had no matter how many times I checked the progress footers. As a series whole, The Assassin’s Blade through Heir of Fire were the strongest for me with AB, ToG, & CoM being the best of the series. I’m so so glad I accomplished this goal of reading all of ToG this year. I feel like I’ve climbed Everest!
Some random character notes:
-Aedion is a spoiled cry baby who withholds love from his father & Lysandra as punishment. Lysandra deserves better, but due to her traumatic background I can see why she would be with someone like him.
-Darrow’s redemption?! I was so angry at him at the beginning of this book (or was it seriously Empire of Storms… yeah it definitely was. Please refer to my “too long” note above)
-It was jarring to go from so much character development and POV from Chaol to suddenly have very little. I’m biased as he’s my favorite character, but objectively speaking he grew so much as a character. I truly do not and never will get the Chaol hate.
-As much as I don’t get the Chaol hate, I equally do not get the love for Rowan. He’s a hot Fae male and *gestures vaguely* what else? He truly was doomed from the beginning though in Heir of Fire when he quite literally assaulted Aelin as part of her “training.” He’s just nothing special IMO. He definitely redeemed himself when Aelin was burning out & he cooled her down & then cared for her. However, I was so over his snarling anytime someone dare question Aelin. He became a simpering puppy in this book, besides skinning Cairn alive. That was cool, I guess.
-Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought Lorcan would have been one of my favorite characters, but here we are.
-Aelin, oh Aelin. I truly miss the Celaena you used to be. Granted she’s been through a ton that adds to her changing personality. I had sympathy for her after she got out of Maeve’s clutches and enjoyed watching her come back into her own. But, I think SJM’s choice to have less POV chapters during the tandem read really damaged my empathy for, understanding of, & liking of Aelin. When we weren’t in her shoes she just came off as the swaggering, cranky woman she appeared to be to everyone else. I also absolutely hate that she lost her powers… SPOILER FOR A COURT OF SILVER FLAMES… Ala Nesta. However, this makes far more sense in this series because a ruler with such powers left “unchecked” after having an absolute dictator isn’t… great. But I do wish perhaps we would have seen a rise in her water powers. How poetic would it have been to have more of a balance in her water and fire. It would certainly herald a maturity in Aelin.
Some random character notes:
-Aedion is a spoiled cry baby who withholds love from his father & Lysandra as punishment. Lysandra deserves better, but due to her traumatic background I can see why she would be with someone like him.
-Darrow’s redemption?! I was so angry at him at the beginning of this book (or was it seriously Empire of Storms… yeah it definitely was. Please refer to my “too long” note above)
-It was jarring to go from so much character development and POV from Chaol to suddenly have very little. I’m biased as he’s my favorite character, but objectively speaking he grew so much as a character. I truly do not and never will get the Chaol hate.
-As much as I don’t get the Chaol hate, I equally do not get the love for Rowan. He’s a hot Fae male and *gestures vaguely* what else? He truly was doomed from the beginning though in Heir of Fire when he quite literally assaulted Aelin as part of her “training.” He’s just nothing special IMO. He definitely redeemed himself when Aelin was burning out & he cooled her down & then cared for her. However, I was so over his snarling anytime someone dare question Aelin. He became a simpering puppy in this book, besides skinning Cairn alive. That was cool, I guess.
-Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought Lorcan would have been one of my favorite characters, but here we are.
-Aelin, oh Aelin. I truly miss the Celaena you used to be. Granted she’s been through a ton that adds to her changing personality. I had sympathy for her after she got out of Maeve’s clutches and enjoyed watching her come back into her own. But, I think SJM’s choice to have less POV chapters during the tandem read really damaged my empathy for, understanding of, & liking of Aelin. When we weren’t in her shoes she just came off as the swaggering, cranky woman she appeared to be to everyone else. I also absolutely hate that she lost her powers… SPOILER FOR A COURT OF SILVER FLAMES… Ala Nesta. However, this makes far more sense in this series because a ruler with such powers left “unchecked” after having an absolute dictator isn’t… great. But I do wish perhaps we would have seen a rise in her water powers. How poetic would it have been to have more of a balance in her water and fire. It would certainly herald a maturity in Aelin.
lawfullygoodbooks's review against another edition
5.0
I have rewritten this review a dozen times because I'm not sure how to express how I feel about this book. I think, first and foremost, I loved it. I loved the way everyone and everything came together. I loved that the end was foreseeable but not predictable. I love every single one of these characters and I feel personally proud of how they all have grown and how far they've come. This book also made me cry multiple times and I almost never cry at books, let alone repeatedly. It's difficult to wrap up a series like this - one wholly unencumbered by any editing process. But SJM did it, and did it in such a satisfying way. The book was entirely too long, there were too many battles, too much travel, and way too much detail. But that's exactly what I've come to expect and I think, because the series was ending, it didn't bother me as much as it usually does. Overall, I'm thoroughly impressed and I absolutely loved this epic conclusion to an epic series.