Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Empire of Storms

My biggest note when it comes to SJM is that all her books could stand to be 200 pages shorter. I like her ideas and always have a fun time, but I think I would really enjoy her work with a tighter edit.

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annamary54's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

okay i almost wanna give it a 4.99 stars. it’s like almost 5 stars for me, but not quite. I also did this as a tandem read with Tower of Dawn, so my brain is kinda muddling plots together. all I can really say is in the last chapter I suddenly was sympathetic toward huge Marvel fans…I get it. This is Marvel for me. I think the lack of 5 stars for me

is the relationship between Rowan and Aelin. yes I love them, but it was honestly giving me yawn boring. like it was the same thing from them every time. Although idk how to get around that i guess. I also didn’t like the Celeana attitude that Aelin kinda sported the whole book, especially after meeting up with Rolfe. I just felt like cocky instead of confident y’know. I’m also not sure how I feel about Elide and Lorcan, it honestly felt very Jeff and Annie from Communtiy

overall I had a great time, a lot more action packed and gripping than the first books, it didn’t just wait for the last 100 pages to pick up the pace. I was flipping pages like mad the whole time. I guess that’s just a compliment to SJM’s world building skills, she really created an intricate web of characters that I couldn't have anticipated when starting this series.

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yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this one. All of my favorite characters together fighting for each other and for a better world. There were definitely some raw and emotional moments and a few slower moments where I wasn’t as interested but overall it was a great read. Aelin really made good on her promises and proved although not perfect she is a force to be reckoned with. So many relationships forming has me a little scared for the future but these characters deserve love and peace.

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infjkiki's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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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readwithde's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny 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

Empire of Storms feels like the start of a sequel series: the stakes are so much higher, and the setting stretches across the continent. The cast of characters grows, and I found myself excited for different POVs.

I felt like Aelin's path was so jarring and chaotic at the beginning of the book, but by the end

after seeing her "fetch quest" of speaking with Brannon, securing Skull's Bay, and seeking the Lock and Elena

her journey made much more sense.

Lysandra, Elide, and Manon shone brightly in this book; I was happy to see each of them step fully into their potential.

Elide and Lorcan had some of the best action and storylines. Every time it cut back to them, I had to keep reading.

As nice as it was to have so many other POVs, I would have loved a bit more Aelin. She controlled many of the plot twists, and I would have loved a bit of extra foreshadowing or even just getting to see her thought process.

I did read this in tandem with Tower of Dawn; I feel like both books benefited from that system, getting extra action in this book to balance the extra lore in Tower of Dawn. I highly recommend reading these together.

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clursternhop's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I think I liked this one more than some of the others, not the best one tho. Maybe that'll change as I read on but I found the new POVs nice and I liked when characters were more spread across the world. More classic "Aelin did shit in the background that you don't find out until later" nonsense, but at least I saw the "Nameless" one coming.

Also, lol, so much sex compared to any of the other books.

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