Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Die Sturmbezwingerin by Sarah J. Maas

22 reviews

aksmith92's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

I read Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn as a tandem read, as requested by most BookTokers I've seen out there. Many recommend this because they love Aelin and Rowan and didn't want to be a part of them for one whole book; plus, there will ALWAYS be Chaol haters. I honestly don't care much about Aelin and Rowan (sorry!), and I am notoriously known for thinking there is more than meets the eye with Chaol. But, I will admit it: the tandem read slightly improved my experience with my Throne of Glass journey. While reading nearly 1400 pages, give or take, seemed daunting, I did fly through this read (these reads?).

Set up: The main characters are thrown into every direction as war breaks out between citizens and the infamous Vlag. Empire of Storms follows Aelin, Rowan, Dorian, Manon, Lysandra, Aedion, Elide, Lorcan, and others we know and love. Tower of Dawn follows Chaol and Nesryn as they trek to the southern continent to, hopefully, gain support from the kaghan there in the upcoming war. Also, to see if they can get Chaol walking again. In this book, we meet Yrene again after briefly meeting her in The Assassin's Blade.

What I liked: Lysandra. I also  enjoyed Elide's and Lorcan's characters. I liked their romance. Theirs didn't feel forced per se, but their POVs were sometimes redundant. Finally, I was invested in this plot. I wanted to see how SJM wove in all the moving pieces and how it would end. I was invested. I didn't see TOO many plot holes. This is some decent high fantasy plotting.

What I didn't like: Aelin. Always. She's so annoying, even if she spouts some funnies occasionally. I didn't enjoy Rowan and Aelin either. "Just bang!" I would say throughout this novel, and THEN they did, and I was underwhelmed. Something about velvet-strapped steel also just....yuck.

"She really tortured them, she realized, by shoving her way into danger whenever she felt like it. Perhaps she'd try to be better about it if this dread was at all like what they felt." LOL, yeah, AELIN.

This (these) book(s) also did teeter on the ROMANCE scale so much. I was finally glad not to have a love triangle anymore, and thankfully, those (kinda) went away, but everybody is paired with somebody. I'm not sure why it annoyed me because I've read other books where this happens (Roots of Chaos - Samantha Shannon), but I don't think anybody quite hypes it up and makes it a considerable plot point like SJM. I also wished I counted how many kisses characters gave at the "corners of mouths."

"She thought of the new, delicate scars on his back - marks from her own nails (*cough* sex *cough*), that he'd refused to heal with his magic, and instead had set with seawater, the salt locking the scars into place before the immortal body could smooth it over. Her claiming marks, he'd breathed into her mouth the last time he'd been inside her. So he and anyone who saw them would know that he belonged to her. That he was hers, just as she was his." WHAT. First. What? Second. How would people look at his back and be like THOSE ARE FROM F'in! Third. What. Fourth. The dramatics. Fifth. What. Lastly, they can do that with salt water? Since freaking when? This internal monologue was also the start of a BATTLE IN WAR. Lol. Just lol.

Lastly, there is a plethora of toxic perseverance and the glorification of war, which is something I must get used to with SJM writing. In addition [I'm putting a spoiler on this just in case],

but 
kind of healing Chaol's injury wasn't done super well in my opinion. He was disabled and then "magically" healed, yet still tied to Yrene's life and it can still go wrong? It's honestly a cop out of him being healed enough to still be mr macho man yet then things can go wrong? I don't know, it didn't quite sit well for me.

Overall, though, it was fine. This was a solid read (reads). However, I have officially decided that my TBR is too long for any more SJM. I will finish this series with Kingdom of Ash, and I will stop reading her works. Fated mates, toxic perseverance, and unnecessary romanticism of war simply isn't for me and I will officially put the books down after. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Vomit, War, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Slavery, and Cursing

Minor: Pregnancy and Toxic relationship

annikenr's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual content

tiredtori's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Torture, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

Minor: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Cursing, Sexual violence, Confinement, Grief, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Slavery

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I did the tandem read of this book & Tower of Dawn and enjoyed them immensely. Though this series started a bit slower than I typically like in a fantasy, I starting to really appreciate all the ways that SJM set up multiple plot points and characters early on in the series. The call backs to characters and situations from earlier books throughout Empire of Storms was really expertly done. The world building by the time you get to EOS is immense and I really was constantly on the edge of my seat during this book. The action was intense and the end a real cliffhanger.

This book reminds me in many ways of Empire Strikes Back and really beautifully sets up the final fight between good and evil and the battles that Aelin and her friends will have to wage to save the kingdom.

A really good book and I’m really looking forward to the final installment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Torture, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Slavery, War, Gore, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Colonisation

tupeloallie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, War, Cursing, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Torture, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Grief, Sexual content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Slavery, Gore, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement

mangofraiche's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Child death, Miscarriage, War, Confinement, Violence, Blood, Torture, Death of parent, Cursing, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

amethystbutterfly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Sexual content

katelynnelawson's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A slow start picks up for an adventurous and romantic second half full of memorable characters, not one of which I wasn’t excited to read about!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Vomit, Confinement, and Grief

Minor: Death of parent, Slavery, Death, and Animal death

ashleynp24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

I loooooved reading this in the tandem read. It really helped to keep both stories chronologically and helped to break up some chapters.

My favorite part of this book was all of the connecting plot lines finally coming together. We got to see a lot of previous characters resurface and see how they mesh into the story.

Absolutely thrown by the fact Aelin and Lysandra prepared a scheme knowing she’d die and that she’d be pretending to be Aelin. The other one that got me is that Maeve???? The VALG QUEEN???? I already knew that Aelin and Rowan had to be mates but the fact Maeve created everything with Lyria was crazy it was like she was playing chess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Cursing, War, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

britwalsh16's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

I read this in Tandem with Tower of Dawn. And I am SOOO glad I did! If I had to read TOD between this book & KOA, I would have died! & not enjoyed TOD, cause I’d be obsessing over what’s gonna happen with the characters in this book!
This book was sooo good! I love being able to read from all the different characters POV’s. 
I love all the couples & am so thoroughly enjoying them to settle in with eachother. The dynamics between the different couples are just amazing!! But Aelin & Rowan are still my favorite! 
But, all the revelations at the end, I AM NOT OKAY WITH THEM!!! This story really can’t end the way it’s leading to!! There has to be another way! I am not okay with that! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Death, Murder, Torture, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Blood, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, and Confinement