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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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
dark
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
Tandem read. Probably my most fav reading journey. These characters & the beautiful magic are teaching me things about life. 7 down, 1 more to go!
adventurous
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Spoilers Ahead
Follow me on instagram: tjreads__
Finally Chaol time! I was wondering where he got to in the last book!
A bit of an info dump about the southern continent, khagan and his family at the start but, Chaol specifically states the big questions for the book. Firstly, can an army be secured and will he be able to walk again?
Excited that another character from the Assassin's Blade is back. Also happy to have a healer be a main character rather than someone involved in politics or combat! By the end of chapter 5 there is some tension between Chaol and Yrene because she is from Fenharrow and hates Adarlan for what they did to her mother and might not even heal him. Another enemy to lovers… I hope that not all romances are like this.
Skip to 100 pages in - and nothing much has happened - in terms of Chaol healing or trying to secure an army. He hasn't heard much about Dorian except that Rithhold has been ransacked. We only know surface level information about the khagan’s family (and not much about the mother - in fact by then she is barely mentioned).
One of my favourite settings is when Yrene goes to the bath house area, I loved imagining what it would look like.
Another great scene is the opiate room where Chaol and Yrene are letting their inhibitions out, great tension building. From here on I feel like we start to make progress with the Valg upon Yrene questioning whether the other 2 kings may come back to this realm if they haven’t been slain… (Forgive me if I am wrong but I don’t think we even touch this by the end of the book).
About 300 pages in and the love stories are going pretty smoothly. I never felt too attached to Chaol and Nesryn to begin with because they mostly felt like friends with benefits and we don’t see them having much more of a connection than that. It feels like a bit of a weak barrier from them coupling off with others.
Also now ~500 pages in, there hasn’t been one attack on Yrene but nothing after that and no real progress on finding if Valg are hanging around Torre or the town. After finishing the book SJM kinda made it seem like they wanted to go unnoticed - according to Duva’s demon. But surely they could have spared more than one demon. If the younger sister noticed things about Duva (then subsequently killed off) then how come the husband didn’t catch on? Even Kashin had his suspicions…
When Chaol is feeling shameful for sleeping with Yrene I was confused because Nesryn wrote in her letter that she doesn’t hold him to any promises and neither will she. Which I interpret as ‘Oh, it’s like weren’t really together in the first place’. What would this be like if the main character had flaws that made me actually question their morality?
In one of the final scenes where Yrene drops the knife against Duva, Hafiza blows a slumber-inducing kiss upon Duva to make her immobile. I’m surprised this worked against the Valg? Surely she wasn’t fast enough for her to fight back?
Another near death save but I feel a bit more consequence surrounding it in a cute romantic way, with the whole death bond between
Also two mentions of love at first sight/before they met? I feel like I am noticing this as a theme and the way characters are paired off.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, but just wanted to write out some things that stood out to me. A nicely rounded out ending including Chaol about to reveal who’s wrote Yrene’s note, Nesyrn and Sartaq getting together and even Kashin clearing the air with Yrene. And lining up with the end of the empire of storms!
Follow me on instagram: tjreads__
Finally Chaol time! I was wondering where he got to in the last book!
A bit of an info dump about the southern continent, khagan and his family at the start but, Chaol specifically states the big questions for the book. Firstly, can an army be secured and will he be able to walk again?
Excited that another character from the Assassin's Blade is back. Also happy to have a healer be a main character rather than someone involved in politics or combat! By the end of chapter 5 there is some tension between Chaol and Yrene because she is from Fenharrow and hates Adarlan for what they did to her mother and might not even heal him. Another enemy to lovers… I hope that not all romances are like this.
Skip to 100 pages in - and nothing much has happened - in terms of Chaol healing or trying to secure an army. He hasn't heard much about Dorian except that Rithhold has been ransacked. We only know surface level information about the khagan’s family (and not much about the mother - in fact by then she is barely mentioned).
One of my favourite settings is when Yrene goes to the bath house area, I loved imagining what it would look like.
Another great scene is the opiate room where Chaol and Yrene are letting their inhibitions out, great tension building. From here on I feel like we start to make progress with the Valg upon Yrene questioning whether the other 2 kings may come back to this realm if they haven’t been slain… (Forgive me if I am wrong but I don’t think we even touch this by the end of the book).
About 300 pages in and the love stories are going pretty smoothly. I never felt too attached to Chaol and Nesryn to begin with because they mostly felt like friends with benefits and we don’t see them having much more of a connection than that. It feels like a bit of a weak barrier from them coupling off with others.
Also now ~500 pages in, there hasn’t been one attack on Yrene but nothing after that and no real progress on finding if Valg are hanging around Torre or the town. After finishing the book SJM kinda made it seem like they wanted to go unnoticed - according to Duva’s demon. But surely they could have spared more than one demon. If the younger sister noticed things about Duva (then subsequently killed off) then how come the husband didn’t catch on? Even Kashin had his suspicions…
When Chaol is feeling shameful for sleeping with Yrene I was confused because Nesryn wrote in her letter that she doesn’t hold him to any promises and neither will she. Which I interpret as ‘Oh, it’s like weren’t really together in the first place’. What would this be like if the main character had flaws that made me actually question their morality?
In one of the final scenes where Yrene drops the knife against Duva, Hafiza blows a slumber-inducing kiss upon Duva to make her immobile. I’m surprised this worked against the Valg? Surely she wasn’t fast enough for her to fight back?
Another near death save but I feel a bit more consequence surrounding it in a cute romantic way, with the whole death bond between
Also two mentions of love at first sight/before they met? I feel like I am noticing this as a theme and the way characters are paired off.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, but just wanted to write out some things that stood out to me. A nicely rounded out ending including Chaol about to reveal who’s wrote Yrene’s note, Nesyrn and Sartaq getting together and even Kashin clearing the air with Yrene. And lining up with the end of the empire of storms!
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes