Title: Empire of Storms
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Goodreads Summary: The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.
As the kingdoms of Erilea fracture around her, enemies must become allies if Aelin is to keep those she loves from falling to the dark forces poised to claim her world. With war looming on all horizons, the only chance for salvation lies in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.
Rating: 2.75-3 out of 5 stars
Review:
Okay, we're five books in now. This non-spoiler section is going to be short. If you saw my review for Queen of Shadows, you'll know that I wasn't a big fan of it. As someone who really enjoyed the first three books of the series, it was heartbreaking to have an installment be so disappointing. Having said that, I did enjoy this book more than QoS, but it still doesn't feel the same as the earlier books of the series. The series took a big shift in QoS and we kind of just have to deal with it now, but I also just don't enjoy it as much anymore. I really like how the world has built and the complex plots that have surfaced, but the characters feel harder to connect to (some moreso than others, of course) and I am pretty tired of a lot of the romances occurring. I've decided I can still enjoy some parts of this series if I accept this difference but it's just never going to spur the same love I had for it in the beginning. I also feel like some of the plot points mirrored those in ACOMAF (which I wasn't fond on either), which bothered me a lot because it shows SJM struggling to keep her two series separated.
Okay, onto spoiler stuff so I can actually discuss my feelings instead of being super vague! Warning: this will probably be long. I have a lot to talk about!
Speaking of sacrifice, I'm not sure how I feel about this whole deal with her needing to sacrifice herself to re-create the Lock and make the world a better place again. Only because I can see it not happening. Too many series always find a loophole, no matter how ridiculous it actually is. It's not like I dislike her character that much now that I want her to die, but I do like the idea of her taking the ultimate sacrifice for her world and not cheapening the ending by there being some other way. That being said, I do understand that people don't always take nicely to that kind of ending and want some hope at the end (also SJM seems to shy away from ever killing her good characters...unless they somehow further Celaena/Aelin's story *cough* Nehemia...oops). So, my two theories are: 1) Both Dorian and Aelin have to sacrifice their magic to pay the debt. They keep their lives but in order to pay the full debt, they need more than one person's magic so they take it from both the heirs, or 2) It's basically confirmed that Aelin is going to Settle in the next few years (ie. become immortal) and she has to give that up to pay the debt, along with her magic. So, she's doomed to live a mortal life while Rowan remains immortal. Those are my main theories at the moment but I'm open to hearing others.
But okay, I'm not huge on our main character anymore but can we please give it up for the side characters? Honestly, the side characters in this one are amazing. Especially the ladies. I feel like this book really showcased how strong of a character Lysandra is. That whole scene at Skull's Bay was one of the most intense scenes SJM has pulled off in this series. I was genuinely worried for Lysandra's life, while simultaneously in awe at being shown the reaches of her shifting power as well as her intelligence in a fight scenario. It was badass. It was also cool to see the glimmers of moments that show how strong the bond between her and Aelin is. At the end when it was revealed that she had agreed with Aelin to shift into her to take her place after Aelin sacrifices herself! I don't think enough people are giving her credit for how insane that is that she both has to accept that her friend is going to sacrifice herself for everyone (and not be able to share this info with anyone, I might add), but also agrees to take on her role, all the while trying to grieve a lost friend when she will literally have to look at her face in the mirror for the rest of her life! I just think Lysandra is an unappreciated strength.
But my bae is Manon. I legit live for Manon's chapters. She's probably my favourite character of this series now. Her whole storyline in this book was fascinating. Standing up to her grandmother! Refusing to take out any of her Thirteen even if she has to die for it! Ditching the witches, finally! Honestly, that was all so great and I felt for her so hard being separated from her clan for a lot of the book. But when they came back! I mean, as soon as the confrontation started and Abraxos was still missing, it started to click in my head where he'd probably gone to and I was just waiting for those wyverns to emerge from the clouds. And they did and it was glorious. Although, how does Abraxos seem to keep finding exactly what he needs to? Are we meant to just accept he has some six sense at finding the exact people Manon needs or is something else at play, guiding him? I don't know, it just felt too...easily done for it to be coincidence. Also, I've been rooting for Manorian since HoF but so far, I'm a little underwhelmed but I'm hoping for some warmer scenes between them in the next book. I don't want them to be super mushy with each other (that just makes no sense), but I'd like some genuine feelings to develop.
And Elide! Oh, how I felt for Elide in this book. I am honestly surprised at how much I felt for her as a character. She has such a strong will and just needs to be protected at all costs. And my heart broke a little at the scene where her uncle tried to kidnap her and she grabs for the knife. The moment you realise she wasn't doing it to put up a fight but to take herself out before going back to that place...Oh man. That was A Moment. I'm a bit up in the air about how I feel about her and Lorcan. At moments, I like them but they're just a bit of a shaky relationship and I think I need a bit more to make my feelings concrete.
On that note, let's discuss the romance, ie. what I feel this book could have used less of. I honestly feel like I would have enjoyed this book more had there been like 80% less romance. It's not that I'm against the ships that are forming (okay, I lie, I'm still bitter about Rowaelin), I just feel like the way SJM writes romantic tension is flawed. Rather than showing us the characters' feelings, we get these long passages just telling us how they feel. Particularly with Rowaelin, I'm sick of hearing how undying and powerful their love is and how it could "burn the world". Like, chill tf out. Give me scenes with warmth between characters. Give me well done tension. Please stop having sex of the beach and in the ocean. You can't tell me faes are immune to sand all up in the ass cracks or lost in their vaginas. Come on! It's not sexy. Please stop (especially if you're going to use the term 'velvet-wrapped steel' to describe a dick).
And of course, I'm bitter about the romance because my main ship of this series has been crushed to dust forevermore and to make it even worse, one party just gets completely scrapped from this book. Yeah, I'm talking about Chaol. I knew before I started that he wasn't going to be in it but that didn't make it any better. It feels ridiculous that he isn't included in this book. He's supposed to be a main character of this series. He's always played an integral role. Not only is he a former love interest of Aelin, but he's also meant to be Dorian's best friend. And aside from a few passing mentions, we get nothing from what he's doing in the South. This just goes along with my bitterness about what happened to his character in the last book. It felt like SJM just completely changed him to both split apart him and Aelin, but also to now just write him out of one of the novels. He's apparently rallying troops down south so why didn't we get to see that? I would've even taken just one POV chapter if SJM wants to keep what he's doing mysterious, but nothing at all feels cheap. I don't care that he's getting a novella. That doesn't justify cutting one of your main characters from a whole book of the series.
But we did get a very short cameo from Nehemina. And that made my heart hurt. I loved Nehemia so much and getting even just the smallest snippet of her made me really happy. I think it's interesting that she knew all about the Lock and the sacrifice before we were even introduced to her but I'm still not fond on the reasons for her sacrifice of herself to 'break' Celaena. That still feels weird and not a good enough reason for why she's dead.
Okay, so overall, this book sits on very neutral ground. I really enjoyed some bits and stuff that's set up for the final book but there's also A LOT of flaws I can't ignore (I didn't even get to ranting about how much the word 'male' is used in this novel, omg). I don't think this series will ever have the same pull for me that it did in those first few books, but I can enjoy it enough that I haven't entirely given up on it. Plus, we've only got one more book to go and I'm interested to see how SJM plans to wrap this whole thing up.
What did you all think of the book? Loved it/hated it/neutral ground like me? Let me know some of your thoughts on Empire of Storms and if you want to hear my opinions on things I might have missed out in this discussion.
Until next time!
- J, xxx
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