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A review by jelkebooks
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
dark
medium-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
3.0
I think this is my favourite book in the series so far. I actually think it was pretty good. It was a very engaging read, and even though it is MASSIVE I don't feel like a single page was wasted, unlike Queen of Shadows which was WAY longer than it needed to be. This book was very action packed, and I genuinely didn't want to put this book down every time I everytime I was in the middle of reading it. I also just overall think this book did some interesting things with the story.
At the start of this book this did feel a bit scattered. We got so many different perspectives, in so many different places, doing so many different things. It could feel jarring a bit to switch between them. Just because you would get so into one part of the story, and then it would switch. However, throughout the book people started to come together, stories started to blend, and I actually really loved how it all came together. I also think at certain points in the books we got different team ups/pairs that we haven't really gotten before but were really fun as well.
My only real complaint for this book is that in this book Sarah J. Maas found it nececary to pair almost everyone up. Some of these pairings just felt so incredibly forced, and most of them incredibly disingenious. Especially because I don't think she actually put in any effort to develop them either. In one scene they are just all of the sudden like "I love you", and we're supposed to believe it. I think that's a shame because some pairing do actually make a lot of sense, and I would have loved it more if it got developed more. However, there are also definitely pairings that are definitely only together because they're the only characters left single, and it is so incredibly clear. Please, it's okay if some of your side characters don't end up fucking each other.
Depsite all of this, I just couldn't put this book higher than a three star, because I just don't really care that much about these characters. Especially because we're 5 books in, and most of them have been here since the start. I do have to say that some characters are starting to grow on me, and others I just feel indifferent about when I previously hated them so that's progress as well. But overall I just don't fully care about either of them. I am very excited to continue on with the series though because I truly feel like with the way we left things in this book, the rest of the series could be such bangers.
At the start of this book this did feel a bit scattered. We got so many different perspectives, in so many different places, doing so many different things. It could feel jarring a bit to switch between them. Just because you would get so into one part of the story, and then it would switch. However, throughout the book people started to come together, stories started to blend, and I actually really loved how it all came together. I also think at certain points in the books we got different team ups/pairs that we haven't really gotten before but were really fun as well.
My only real complaint for this book is that in this book Sarah J. Maas found it nececary to pair almost everyone up. Some of these pairings just felt so incredibly forced, and most of them incredibly disingenious. Especially because I don't think she actually put in any effort to develop them either. In one scene they are just all of the sudden like "I love you", and we're supposed to believe it. I think that's a shame because some pairing do actually make a lot of sense, and I would have loved it more if it got developed more. However, there are also definitely pairings that are definitely only together because they're the only characters left single, and it is so incredibly clear. Please, it's okay if some of your side characters don't end up fucking each other.
Depsite all of this, I just couldn't put this book higher than a three star, because I just don't really care that much about these characters. Especially because we're 5 books in, and most of them have been here since the start. I do have to say that some characters are starting to grow on me, and others I just feel indifferent about when I previously hated them so that's progress as well. But overall I just don't fully care about either of them. I am very excited to continue on with the series though because I truly feel like with the way we left things in this book, the rest of the series could be such bangers.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Slavery