Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

131 reviews

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!

---

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

---

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

jordan_uhden's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, War, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

neko_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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? No

4.75

so im doing the tandem read with tower of dawn, so a lot of parts from this book also feel like tower of dawn BUT HERE IS MY OPINION (considering it took me almost 2 months to read because i was so busy and i dont remember half of what i felt reading this book)

THIS WAS AMAZING ok? pretty mcuh every pov is amazing and there is so much fun stuff going on ALL THE TIME. this book had me sacrificing my sleep and honestly im not mad, but it does provide even more insight into how obsessed i am.

now the ending to this book. it literally makes me feel sick because HOW COULD SOMEONE DO SUCH A THING. when i find one certain person in kingdom of ash i am going insaneeeee

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Torture and Sexual content

khaben31's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

anndreya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit, Confinement, and Death

ect625's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

There have been storylines of side characters running parallel to Aelin's through the last few books, and they all come together in an incredibly meaningful way in this book. It's quite possibly my favorite book of the series so far.

There is a lot of debate in the fandom about reading Empire of Storms on its own or as a tandem read with Tower of Dawn. I chose to read it as written in the series and loved the uninterrupted unfolding of the story. SJM wrote each book with its specific content and pacing for a reason, and I ultimately decided to trust her expertise of her own work.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

chapters_and_pages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

5.0

Sarah J. Maas is honestly a mastermind… this series just gets better and better! 

As this is a sequel, I won’t go into the storyline. This was my second time reading this book, and my first tandem read, with Tower of Dawn, and I have to say, even though it took awhile, tandem reading is the way to go with these two books!

My favourite thing about this series is the characters, honestly Sarah J. Maas never fails when it comes to writing her characters. Sometimes when books follow so many characters, it can be difficult to differentiate them as readers, and make them unique as writers, but I never have an issue with these characters! 

Overall, I absolutely love this series and have loved rereading it! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Torture, Blood, Grief, Slavery, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

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

---

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

victoriapi909's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This was fast-paced, had tons of action, and is the first book in the series to have smut (and lots of it!), which are all things I love, but I have some gripes with this book namely because it broke my heart so many times and in so many ways. 

I tandem read this with TOD, which helped alleviate all the intense emotions I had while reading. I personally would recommend reading the two books together. 

One of the other major things that bothered me about this book was Aelin herself- she was quite insufferable. Granted, she had a ton depending on her and she frequently had to make difficult decisions, but it frustrated me that she continued to navigate so much alone, despite having a Court. All the other characters made up for my feelings about her though, and I do love all the other characters.

A lessor thing that bothered me was that some character relationships/plots felt like fan service. This series has had very little romance up until this book, and suddenly all the characters were getting together. While I was delighted by the romantic developments, some of them felt more forced than others.

Although this book emotionally destroyed me, I did enjoy it overall. 

---

Content Warnings

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