Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
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
4.5! I wasn’t expecting to step away from the story line of the previous book into a whole new world with more story and atmosphere building, but once I got into it I really loved the focus on some of the more important side characters and their journeys that tie back into the main series plot. Definitely feel like tension is mounting and setting the scene for the series finale and that plot twist!
I have to say that I'm really impressed with Sarah, I went into this book dreading all the time we would have to spend with Chaol but in the end I feel in love with all the new and returning characters!
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
2⭐️
Sarah J. Maas’ ability to turn a semi-interesting premise and plot into the most boring slog you can’t wait to end needs to be studied. I’m blown away that I hated this book as much as I did by the end because for the first half of it I was actually kind of enjoying it.
Chaol is genuinely interesting. I like characters who used to be a cog in the machine coming to the realization that the machine is horrible and needs to be dismantled. Another reason I like Dorian (my favorite character) who is criminally missing in this.
Yrene is fine. She’s boring and extremely stereotypical but she’s fine. I didn’t even remember that she was in Assassin’s Blade until another review reminded me. That’s how memorable she is.
I think some of the narrative choices with Chaol’s disability were disappointing. There was a wealth of potential with his character coming to terms with the fact he would never fight again. Learning to help in other ways. Learning to grow as a person. 90% of that gets thrown out the window and that sucks. Disabilities in fantasy are unfortunately hard to find and this would have been a great opportunity to explore that.
I honestly couldn’t tell you what the plot of this book is. How does it take up almost 700 pages? Chaol is with Yrene and falling in love sure. That's one plot. But also that other girl (can’t be bothered to look up her name) is off climbing a mountain? with some prince? and some spiders? It all felt very disjointed and wasn’t enough to warrant an entire book. I wish this was A Court of Mist and Starlight (Frostlight?) whatever Christmas special length. It just needed a few chapters of Chaol healing and falling in love with Yrene, discovering the Volg plot, and meeting the other shapeshifter. 3 things happen in this book and it could’ve been majorly condensed.
This book needed an editor baaad. I think SJM was too big at this point to have to listen to her editors (or they’re all yes-men) and that sucks. So much wasted potential. That’s my opinion on most of these TOG books. Wasted potential.
The prose is so repetitive and literal. Every interaction between characters is told twice and then repeated again. Feelings are repeated and repeated both in internal monologues and then again in external dialogue. It feels like a childs writing or a first draft, not a finished product. If AI existed when SJM wrote this I would probably accuse it of that.
Have the TOG books gotten better since the first one? Absolutely no doubt. But that doesn’t mean that SJM is a good author or that these books are good.
"He had made one promise. He had not broken it yet. To save them. His friend, his kingdom. He still had that. Even here at the bottom of this dark hell, he still had that.
After the castle came down in Rithfold, Chaol and Nesryn have sailed to Antica to try to rally more allies for Aelin and Dorian, and to seek the legendary healers to try to get Chaol walking again. But Chaol is broken, beyond just his physical limitations and Nesryn is the windseeker, she was not meant to be caged. Their paths end up taking them down different directions than they had expected, but they know Antica is there only hope.
I didn't expect to like this book. I liked Chaol in the first couple books, and in fact was not a huge fan of Rowan to begin with, but then Chaol turned into a mopey man and I always found Nesryn a little boring. However, I think what Maas did with Chaols story was amazing. Sure he still moped, but he was broken, and the story was a tale of him repairing himself. I still find Nesryn a tad boring, but even her story got good towards the end. A lot of things were answered in this book, so while it is a companion novel, I'd say reading it is extremely important to he overall story
After the castle came down in Rithfold, Chaol and Nesryn have sailed to Antica to try to rally more allies for Aelin and Dorian, and to seek the legendary healers to try to get Chaol walking again. But Chaol is broken, beyond just his physical limitations and Nesryn is the windseeker, she was not meant to be caged. Their paths end up taking them down different directions than they had expected, but they know Antica is there only hope.
I didn't expect to like this book. I liked Chaol in the first couple books, and in fact was not a huge fan of Rowan to begin with, but then Chaol turned into a mopey man and I always found Nesryn a little boring. However, I think what Maas did with Chaols story was amazing. Sure he still moped, but he was broken, and the story was a tale of him repairing himself. I still find Nesryn a tad boring, but even her story got good towards the end. A lot of things were answered in this book, so while it is a companion novel, I'd say reading it is extremely important to he overall story
This book might just have been my favourite in the series, holy shit! I loved Chaol all through the series and yeah, he was whiny and annoying at some points, but he's still a 10/10 characters!
Seeing his redemption and growth through this book was one of the highlights, and I loved the lore drops we got. Yrene quickly became one of my favourite characters as well, I really enjoyed how she had a power that can sometimes be seen as more secondary (healing) but how that was turned on its head to be completely integral.
Then you have Nesryn and Sartaq and the ruk riders - amazing! I was so invested in that side plot with the kharankui that I was not expecting those twists and they hit so good
That ending? Oh my god, my jaw was on the floor
I tandem read this book alongside Empire of Storms and I am so glad I did, I can't imagine experiencing those two books any other way. They 100% should have been published as one massive book, not two separate ones
Seeing his redemption and growth through this book was one of the highlights, and I loved the lore drops we got. Yrene quickly became one of my favourite characters as well, I really enjoyed how she had a power that can sometimes be seen as more secondary (healing) but how that was turned on its head to be completely integral.
Then you have Nesryn and Sartaq and the ruk riders - amazing! I was so invested in that side plot with the kharankui that I was not expecting those twists and they hit so good
That ending? Oh my god, my jaw was on the floor
I tandem read this book alongside Empire of Storms and I am so glad I did, I can't imagine experiencing those two books any other way. They 100% should have been published as one massive book, not two separate ones