A review by milli33
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

4.0

Well. Well. WELL. What a whirlwind. Hell, this was a tornado.

The only thing I can think of right now is "boyo". "Boyo" was said multiple times. Boy? o?

I recently saw a couple of posts about the lack of lgbt+ characters in Sarah's books, and I'm guessing that her publishers also said something, because she made every character she plausibly could bi/gay. I counted 4. It actually got kind of ridiculous towards the end. There's nothing wrong with it, it just felt kind of forced. And rushed. And irrelevant. Moving on.

This book was freaking awesome. There where multiple different storylines going on, but unlike Heir of Fire, I was excited for every single one. I could be totally enthralled by Aelin and Rowan, and switch back to Elain and Lorcan without losing a single bit of interest (even when we were left on that baby related cliffhanger. Jeez, that gave me a heart attack). My favorite part was definitely the battles. Especially Skull's Bay. (YES LYSANDRA). They had me on the edge of my seat, I was reading so fast that I had to reread whole paragraphs.

I loved all the surprises. I have no idea how Sarah does it, I was totally ready for Ansel to turn up, but I still practically screamed when she arrived. Same for the Thirteen at the end. Speaking of unexpected scheming, HOW COULD AELIN DO THAT JUST LEAVE ROWAN TO PLAY WIFE TO LYSANDRA AND AEDION WHAT ABOUT AEDION!!!! I was almost in tears thinking about Rowan having to lose his mate again, only to have to see her face every single day.

DORIAN AND MANNON OHMYGOD THE CHAINS THING.

ROWAN AND AELIN YES TURN THAT SAND TO GLASS! (nooooooo your back your tattoos that coffin I'm crying inside)
MAEVE I HATE YOU I HATE YOU HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ROWAN YOU MANIPULATIVE ANCIENT WORM.

Anyway, I enjoyed every minute of this book. And I hate to say it, but I didn't even miss Chaol that much. I am SO excited for book 6. It's going to be freaking awesome.