A review by keddy4306
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

I'm gonna review this book with everything I love about Chaol since this is his book. 

I love Chaol's growth as a character throughout the series. He does make mistakes, but never breaks character to rapidly become something else (like Rowan and Aelin both do). I honestly think the mistakes he does make are super minor and outside of his control, yet every character in the series immediately turns on him (except Dorian) and acts like he's scum for it. No one else gets that level of hatred for their MUCH BIGGER mistakes. 

Everything surrounding Chaol's thoughts on
Nehemia's death
in CoM made complete sense to me.
I genuinely expected that Aelin would struggle with "forgiving him" (although imo he didn't do anything to be forgiven for) through her grief and that would be the end of it, but she holds this grudge for the entire series and never really stops being shitty to him about it
.

Chaol would do anything for anyone,
including being the only character besides a literal child who cares about the dog - my man risks his life twice to ensure Fleetfoot's safety and doesn't ever get a thank you for that.


He has internal struggles that I can relate to surrounding mental health and self-worth, and I thought how SJM wrote his
inner struggles with his disability to be such a good character arc - better than any other character gets.


I also really enjoyed Chaol's thoughts surrounding his
relationship with Nesryn and how he regrets how he treated her. Its very human, and normal, and *makes sense*. It gives him a lot of depth and makes him feel *real*


And personally, it was also *very* charming how much Chaol adores Dorian. I found it equally funny and endearing. I meme about it, but a good gay "bromance" brings up a series a lot for me. They're seriously soulmates and
Yrene and Manon
are lovely side pieces.