The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. 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.
With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.
In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.
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I told myself I'd re-read the Throne of Glass series in preparation for Kingdom of Ashes, the final book in the series. I have officially completed the last book that will be a re-read for me and hear on out the story will be completely new to me which I am really excited about. However, Empire of Storms was not my favorite of the books so far. I think it has actually gotten the lowest score from me so far. It was a bit of a miss for me, personally. I'll start with the characters because they're where a good chunk of my issues reside with Empire of Storms as a whole.
"The world, will be saved and remade by dreamers."
Aelin as a character is one I am definitely a bit inconsistent with when it comes to my feelings on her. One one hand, I'd be lying if I didn't talk about how I really like her brash and often confident sassy personality she often has. I like that she is quick witted, adaptable, and empowering. My favorite part of Aelin is her compassion towards others, especially people who are underdogs. She often is extremely generous and a bit of a bleeding heart and I think that makes a really compassionate and understanding leader. On the other hand, I am sick of her in so many ways. One of those ways being that she is trying to leave Celeana Sardothian behind and acting like she and Celaena are two different people when they're not. Her past as Celaena is still her, and the fact that Maas is basically making the events of the first two books not matter at all to the story as a whole because she wanted to completely change the tone of the story seems like a bad move. I think Aelin is an example of a bad queen pretty often in this book which made me understand the criticisms others had of her qualifications of being a good queen of Terrassen. Sure, she has great moments where she's thought steps ahead of her enemies and is prepared for anything, but it has a price. And the price is lying to not only to her court, her people who have sworn their loyalty, but to the reader. I am all about a good unreliable narrator but it didn't work in this story. She lies to them and the reader in order for Maas to shock us with twists and turns but honestly it gets really annoying after the three or four times. It made her court like fools and her look smart but also untrustworthy to even her people. I am also really sick of her and Rowan thinking about having sex in moments where we have things to do and things to worry about. Like saving the world. There are many moments where having sex really shouldn't be the top priority but there they are, having sex. One moment in particular, without giving too much away, one of our court members is gravely hurt and needs to get through the night to heal after a huge battle and there is Rowan and Aelin, having sex multiple times. It felt so inappropriate. Not the sex (although when did this young adult story which is published by Bloomsbury Children turn into a new adult series?) but the fact that they were having sex when someone they loved could have died.
Rowans best moments were left in Heir of Fire. In both Queen of Shadows and Empire of Storms he's wet cardboard. I feel like we were really getting to know him in Heir of Fire, but since then he's just been resorted to Aelin's love interest. He has no other purpose in the story other than to be sworn to Aelin and that is his whole personality now. I did enjoy some moments we got between him and Dorian during their travels because I feel like we got a glimpse of the Rowan in Heir of Fire, but that was shortly lived. I honestly don't have much to say about him. Aelin and him have great chemistry, it just seems to happen at weird times throughout the storyline. He's a bit boring to me and I think him and Aelin are perfectly boring together. However, the quote below is one I absolutely love and will forever love.
"Even when this world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars, I will always love you."
Aedion is a character I enjoy in some apsects and really don't like in others. I don't like his attitude sometimes towards not only Aelin but also Lysandra. I understand that he's a general, and he's used to having power. But if he is sworn to Aelin and believes in her why does he not act like it? He's constantly questioning her and fighting with her. I'm sick of the territorial Fae bullshit Rowan, Aedion, and Lorcan possess. I think that it could be sexy, if it was less pushed on the women and more of a consensual thing. The Fae men both say that their women are strong beautiful goddess-like women while also trying to limit their decisions and don't believe they can handle themselves. It's infuriating. I love me a protective but respectful love interest but the men in this series not only take it too far but sometimes leave out the respect portion. I do like that Aedion has come out as bisexual. Being bisexual myself it's nice to see bisexual characters, I just wish he was less of a jerk.
Lysandra is a character I actually really love a lot. I think her backstory makes her such a strong character and I love what she did for Evangeline in the previous book. However, I think some of her personality has been watered down and she is often seen as a loyal follower of Aelin and that is it. She is also often in animal forms in this story (which I love by the way, her shapeshifting abilities are so cool) but between not having as much page time and being different animals other times I feel like she was barely in the story. I hope we get more of her in Kingdom of Ash.
Manon has become maybe my favorite woman character in this series. Which is so funny because when I read HoF for the first time I hated her chapters and wanted to skip them. And now, I die for more Manon chapters. I love her loyalty to Abraxos and her Thirteen. I love how her Thirteen is so loyal to her but not blind loyalty. They check Manon when she's messing up and although Manon is prideful and often doesn't accept criticism well, in the end her character development is always great to see. I also love her newfound loyalty to Elide, and I am really excited for them to have more moments together in Kingdom of Ash. However, besides her loyalty to Elide she, like Rowan, gets resorted to a love interest in Empire of Storms. She is injured and out cold for a chunk of the story and when she is back a lot of her scenes are with Dorian either flirting or having sex. Which is a bummer because I feel like if Manon knew what Maas dwindled her down to she'd put her iron teeth and claws to good use.
"The fear of loss...it can destroy you as much as the loss itself."
Dorian is a character I have never liked. That's not a secret if you've read any of my reviews of the other books in this series. I find him boring and unoriginal. However, something I never expressed was that I really appreciated that Dorian (and Chaol, however he wasn't in this book and a bit out of character-ish in the last one) wasn't a territorial jerk romantic interest. He was sweet and honestly even a little sexy at times with Sorcha. He was a good boyfriend, despite their relationship being a little insta-lovey for my tastes. But now that we have entered the New Adult genre (despite being published by a "Children's" publisher) he's an absolute ass. He says some pretty problematic and transphobic things about women's bodies. I honestly don't want to type it up because of how gross it is but if you're interested ask and I'll comment it under your comment. He also steps over the line of consent when Manon explicitly says "I'll do it" in reference of taking off her own shirt and he restricts her hand movements with his magic and does it for her. If this was some sort of well developed relationship that maybe already set their rules and boundaries it could have been sexy but it was the first time they went from flirting to intimate so it felt too new for him not to be respecting what she's saying.
Elide is another character I like, but it tends to come in batches. I loved her in QoS but i do admit she got a bit boring in EoS. There were definitely good moments between her and Lorcan but overall I didn't care too much. There's one moment where Elide gets her period and Lorcan rips his shirt so she could bleed without making a mess of her own clothes. Look, not only do I love that Maas does occasionally talk about women's menstrual cycles (last time I think was the first book with Celeana). I think that's a really cool thing because talking about periods can be a taboo topic. And the fact that Lorcan didn't go "ew gross" but because hes an old ass man (Fae man, so he's like hot, of course) he isn't bothered because he's been through enough that a woman's period isn't going to affect him. I enjoyed that. I found the simple act to be sweet and touching. I also really like her loyalty to Aelin. Her motives to be so loyal to her make sense because of who Elide's family are, so I found it heartwarming and even cried at the reunion.
"Do not be afraid of what makes you shine brightly."
Lorcan is a character I don't have too much to say about. I think he's a bit boring on his own but shines with Elide. I don't mind their romance although like I have mentioned earlier the territorial Fae thing needs to go.
The plot slowed down considerably for me in the middle of the story and it took me a long time to get through the book. I am currently in a bit of a funk both with reading and blogging so this certainly didn't help motivate me to do either. Sometimes I feel like these books are far too long. There were moments in the plot I really enjoyed but overall a lot of my feelings were mixed with the character developments (or lack thereof) and that made it a difficult reading experience. I got frustrated a lot and rolled my eyes even more, but I am still going to keep reading. Mostly because I own all of the books on my kindle, but also because I am a masochist. But hey, maybe I'll love the next two books in the series. Just because I disliked this one doesn't mean I'll dislike the rest. I just hate that I have such a love/hate relationship with this series because the parts I like, I really like.
I still like Maas's writing style but with this weird insert of smut I definitely like it less. I have nothing against smutty books, but I think they have their place. Their place is not in Bloomsbury Children and I know I've brought this up a lot but it's an issue I have. I am not against young adults reading smutty stories, it happens. But the problematic romances in this story are not good examples of healthy relationships. And the smut writing isn't even that great at all. It's so bad that it's honestly laughable and I know for a fact there are healthier better written romances out there in the young adult genre. I think Maas can write really powerful women empowering moments (granted - often cis straight white women, so it's not a great example of feminism) that I have occasionally connected to. There are even romantic moments sprinkled in all of the overprotective annoying moments. I personally think she has writing talent, which I believe is evident in all of the really great quotes I've used in my review. However, with her lack of talent writing the smut scenes and her limited 'feminism' I think there's a lot of improvement that needs to happen.
One of my biggest issues with Empire of Storms is something I still have an issue with. And that's the fact that the ending of EoS is almost exactly the same as the ending in A Court of Mist and Fury. ACOMAF is her other Fae series and came out months before EoS. There are specific bullet point "twists" that happen in both books that are exactly the same. It's not only incredibly lazy writing but I think the ending suited ACOMAF more than EoS. It still bothers me and I am honestly shocked no one on her team of editors picked up on it, and if they did why they didn't think to get her to fix it.
"We shall create wonders that will make the world tremble."
Overall, I had a lot of issues with this book as a whole. There were aspects and moments I enjoyed but those aspects and moments are overpowered by the amount of bad stuff in this book. Like I said, I own all the books on my kindle so I do plan on finishing the series. I didn't put all this time and money into these books to not know what happens at the end. And I am overall entertained by the storyline even if I see so many issues with it. I would recommend it if you're into young adult fantasy that is really easy to read, because this is an easy to digest story. I think if you're new to fantasy it could be a great beginners story as well. However, I think it's important to know not only does it get smutty, the first two books become completely irrelevant and yes you need to read the collection of short stories before reading Queen of Shadows.
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