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RedditIn this Empire of Storms book review I share my thoughts on the fifth book in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. This review may have small spoilers in it so read at your own risk. For a completely spoiler free review, check out my Throne of Glass Series Review here.
“‘The world,’ Aelin said, ‘will be saved and remade by the dreamers.”
Sarah J Maas, Empire of Storms
This young adult fantasy series just keeps giving and giving. I absolutely love how involved I got in this series. This book was fast paced with twists and turns throughout. Yet again in this series the book left me crying and reaching for the next book.
Make sure you keep comfort food and tissues nearby when you read this book because it will try to destroy you.
Trigger Warnings
Since we don’t always get trigger warnings on books I like to give trigger warnings in my reviews. This can help people avoid certain triggers that could hurt their mental well being.
Possible Triggers in this book are:
- Slavery
- Demons
- Gore
- Murder
- Torture
- Violence
- Death
- Physical Abuse
For a list of the triggers I look for you can check out this link here.
Synopsis and Author
Empire of Storms picks up right where Queen of Shadows leaves off. While Aelin is finally home in Terrasen, not everyone is thrilled she’s back. With war against Erawan on the horizon Aelin needs to build her army to keep her home and kingdom safe.
This is the fifth book in the Throne of Glass series written by Sarah J Maas. The original chapters of Throne of Glass were written and published on a website when Sarah was just 16 years old. 10 years later the book was picked up by a publisher and Sarah began writing the epic fantasy series.
Reading Experience
Our setting for Empire of Storms is in Terrasen, Skulls Bay, Eyllwe and the Oakwald Forest as we follow Celaena, Dorian, Manon, Rowan, Elide, Lorcan, Aedion, and Lysandra through the story. It really seems like a lot of points of view here but Sarah J Maas does a stellar job at keeping it easy to follow along.
Between Aelin looking to build an army, people traveling to try to reach Aelin, and the entire cast trying to find a way to stop Erawan, this book moves quickly. There are some people that recommend reading Tower of Dawn and Empire of Storms in tandem.
I personally could not imagine doing that because of how fast Empire of Storms moves. Adding 3 more points of view to the story and turning it into an almost 1400 page book would be very difficult to handle.
It’s also only really possible to do that if you have either two tablets and a guide, or the physical copies of the book.
I personally felt both books stood well on their own. This book was especially good throughout the whole thing. The whole chosen family theme with a splash of Fate Vs. Free Will just makes this book even better.
Writing Style
This book is 704 pages in 75 chapters and it is actually pretty easy to read and follow along even though there were a lot of things going on. Sarah J Maas is still a master at world building and it continues in this book as well.
I could not put this book down because of the twists and turns and plans coming together. If you like a fast paced read, this book is absolutely that. However, before you start this book make sure you have a day or two to be able to dedicate to reading it. You won’t want to put this book down either.
Empire of Storms Book Review
As usual I am all about Celaena. I love this character for her strength and her wit. She is coming up with plans, putting them in motion, keeping those secrets because she doesn’t want to let anyone down. Girl, you can’t do that to yourself though, the world shouldn’t rest solely on your shoulders and your friends are all here to help you carry that burden.
My Rowan, he’s just a perfect supportive and amazing character. I do love his interactions with Dorian early on in the book. Rowan will do anything he can to help carry the burden that Celaena has.
Aedion still tops the list of favorite characters. Small spoiler ahead but I can’t resist talking about this.
When Aedion is talking about his sexual preference with Lysandra and he says that he doesn’t have a preference, his preference is people. Yes! My bisexual KING! This felt like a natural progression of this character and I love him even more.
Lysandra is a badass and I don’t believe it’s physically possible to not like Lysandra. She is fierce, creative, and loyal. I need a Lysandra as my sidekick because every woman should have a friend like this.
Elide comes into this book with such strength. After being dropped off in Oakwald forest by Manon in the previous book she is setting out to find her queen. Lorcan is making his way through Oakwald himself in search of one of the wyrdkeys. So naturally these two spend the majority of the book together.
In this book, Elide made me like Lorcan… briefly.
My hated characters take a turn and since I don’t want to have any big spoilers I will just name them. Elena, Maeve, and Cairn. I hate them all.
I was not expecting two of Rowan’s former… co workers to grow on me. But oh they did. Like I previously mentioned, Elide made me like Lorcan, briefly.
Fenrys though… I have a feeling I will live and die for Fenrys by the end of the series.
The way this group travels, the plot, the movement of the book and even a decent (for young adult) spicy scene, this book was fantastic. Sarah J Maas hit her stride in the last book but it’s made even clearer in this book.
I absolutely love the story in this book and Sarah J Maas did an amazing job with it.
My recommendation is based on the entire series. If you like flawed characters, the fae, mate romance, rebel and revolution stories, this series is for you.
Star Rating
Before I rate this book I want to give you a bit of background about what my rankings mean. I typically read books that I check out through the Libby app with my local library or through Kindle Unlimited.
I rarely buy ebooks unless they are cheaply priced or on sale. I also very rarely buy physical copies of books. I’m a bit of a minimalist so I have to absolutely adore a book to buy a physical copy that will be proudly displayed in my home.
So my ranking system is as follows:
- 5 Stars equals I am buying a physical copy of this book. I will read this book at least 10 more times, it is the best ever.
- 4 stars equals a great book. I might buy an ebook version when it’s on sale so that I can re-read it at least one more time.
- 3 stars equals a good book. I likely won’t read again but I appreciate the story.
- 2 stars equals “Meh.” I will not read this book again, it had a lot of problems and I did not care for it.
- 1 star equals a bad book. I barely finished this book and I will never recommend anyone waste valuable book reading time on this book.
- 0 stars is a did not finish book. I will never finish that book and it is banished.
Empire of Storms gets 5 stars from me. This book strapped you in and then hauled ass to take you for a ride. The twists, turns, hills, and valleys that this book takes you through keeps the story moving and enjoyable throughout. Then it leaves you with a cliffhanger ending.
Likes:
- Aelin’s brilliant mind at work in this book.
- Aedion… that is all I need to say about that.
- The feeling of family and closeness in this group of characters.
- The action. This book just keeps giving and giving.
Dislikes:
- Because this book was so fast paced there were a few times I had to go back and reread just to make sure I didn’t miss something.
- Sometimes the time table didn’t make sense during traveling scenes.
Final Thoughts on Empire of Storms
Sarah J Maas does a fantastic job about character development and world building and this book makes that clear. I was sucked right into the story and everything around me just disappeared while I was reading.
I love when a story just sucks you in so that the world around you disappears. It’s a magical escapism and release from the stress of the world. Sarah J Maas keeps doing that through the majority of this series.
Have you read Empire of Storms? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite book boards.
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