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beckyyreadss's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
4.0
I wanted to read this book as I’ve never read any of Sarah J. Maas’s work and I was interested to see what the hype was all about. I was kindly gifted this series and A Court of Thorns and Roses by my parents. So, I thought I would start at the beginning. I’ve been really enjoying this series and this tandem reading stressed me out from page one and now I'm nervous for the final book of the series.
This book follows Chaol Westfall and he has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered, since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken. His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica. The stronghold of the southern continent’s mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them. But what they discover in Antica will change them both and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.
I love Chaol, since the first book, I have loved Chaol and just wanted him to be happy and at peace. I love multiple POV and loved that Sarah did this and gave us Chaol story at the same time with Aelin being back home. I think his emotional healing journey was needed and I know some people don’t like or struggle with this book, but I adored this journey. I was wondering when we would see Yrene after the start of her journey in Assassin’s Blade and holy smokes the way that she comes into and the tension between Chaol and Yrene at first, ooof. I loved it. I cannot wait for Yrene to reunite with everyone in the next book and the fact that Chaol knew who helped Yrene, I was squealing.
It took quite a while for me to get into this book and I don’t know if it was the Tandem read, or just because it took a lot for the catching up of the previous series and trying to remember where all the characters were and all the dilemmas. I am so scared for Chaol and Manon and Elide. I wanted more of Yrene and was hoping she would kick ass. This book dropped a bit with all the planning and the healing, and I wanted more action, but once all the planning had been done, the plot twists and the actions were so jaw-dropping.
I am so ready for the last book of the series as well as not ready because I don’t want this series to end but I also want to see if everyone is going to survive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
Minor: Vomit
sacredgriefsociety's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
This may be my favorite book of find series though I did tandem read it with Empire of Storms which likely made it better.
It was so fun to leave Adarlan and Terrasen behind to go to the southern continent. To know that more exists out there mostly untouched by valg and such. But holy hell some of the twists in this one.Maeve is a fucking valg queen?!?! Even I didn’t see that coming and I usually figure out most “twists” immediately or before they happen
So yes a really good book and one I’d read again which i don’t know if I can say about the rest of TOG
It was so fun to leave Adarlan and Terrasen behind to go to the southern continent. To know that more exists out there mostly untouched by valg and such. But holy hell some of the twists in this one.
So yes a really good book and one I’d read again which i don’t know if I can say about the rest of TOG
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Grief
neko_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
3.75
So I read this book in the tandem with eos, and honestly I think that it’s the only way to enjoy this book the best. Anyway onto the actual review
I DONT UNDERSTAND THE CHAOL HATE. He got so much character development in her book and by the end I was grinning at this book lol.
I also love how yrene made such an amazing comeback and honestly she’s one of my new favourite characters (as someone who wants to be a doctor)
Anyway this is amazing and a criminally underrated book. Anyone who didn’t like it read it again. But tandem read it this time. If you still don’t like it your out of luck
I DONT UNDERSTAND THE CHAOL HATE. He got so much character development in her book and by the end I was grinning at this book lol.
I also love how yrene made such an amazing comeback and honestly she’s one of my new favourite characters (as someone who wants to be a doctor)
Anyway this is amazing and a criminally underrated book. Anyone who didn’t like it read it again. But tandem read it this time. If you still don’t like it your out of luck
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Ableism, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Minor: Vomit
anndreya's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Ableism, Grief, Medical content, and Sexual content
Minor: Vomit, Murder, and Pregnancy
mangofraiche's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, and Vomit
infusionofviolets's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, and War
Minor: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
liesthemoontells's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
3.75
A welcome disruption to the drawn out repetition of the previous book. The worldbuilding of a new civilisation and continent injects some variety into the series, although at times I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief at the glowing descriptions of the khaganate's empire and political structure.
While I don't know if Chaol *needed* a redemption arc, this book executes one remarkably well for a character who was so insufferable in earlier .
While this book at times felt like it is just moving the chess pieces into place for the finale, it also includes some delicious twists and revelations to be explored in the next book.
I took half a star off for the overuse of classic Maas phrases such as "eyes lined with silver" and characters saying something "too softly" - girl needs to pick up a thesaurus.
PS: lampshading the irony of me accusing Maas of needing to pick up a thesaurus when I use the word "book" five times in four paragraphs
While I don't know if Chaol *needed* a redemption arc, this book executes one remarkably well for a character who was so insufferable in earlier .
While this book at times felt like it is just moving the chess pieces into place for the finale, it also includes some delicious twists and revelations to be explored in the next book.
I took half a star off for the overuse of classic Maas phrases such as "eyes lined with silver" and characters saying something "too softly" - girl needs to pick up a thesaurus.
PS: lampshading the irony of me accusing Maas of needing to pick up a thesaurus when I use the word "book" five times in four paragraphs
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Colonisation, Death, Sexual content, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Violence, and War
Moderate: Medical trauma, Racism, Infertility, and Medical content
carlyjoann's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-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: Blood, Murder, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Pregnancy and Ableism
Minor: Vomit
hollymileham's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
was a bit unsure on what to rate this bc 3 stars felt too harsh but 4 feels a bit extreme for me, the overall reading experience was really positive but i just found myself always wanting to go back to empire of storm because i found it a lot more interesting, i think the focus on less storylines compared in this one made it feel a bit slow paced, and though i did enjoy this book for what it had to offer it think it would have been more interesting interwoven into empire of storms rather than doing it as a tandem read. things i did really like about this book was yrene, chaols character development and how everything in the tog is linked that's something i really appreciated finding out about, the plots twists were really good too. but i do think this book was maybe just a bit too much world building for my liking tho i do think it was a good story
ps why were there so many spiders in this. literally traumatising
ps why were there so many spiders in this. literally traumatising
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, War, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood and Grief
noetical's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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: Gore, Grief, Violence, Torture, Vomit, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Death, and Sexual content