Empire of Storms Review.

*Disclaimer: I doubt that this post will make much sense.*

But, hi anyways.

OKAY OKAY OKAY. KEEP CALM, LU.

So… number five. finished. done and dusted. case closed.

(by the way I will be doing a spoiler section at the end, so be careful if you haven’t read it yet!)

I don’t think that May 2018 is coming fast enough yet. (release of book 6 for all of you who don’t read ToG).

I found that this book was a lot of piecing things together, and things mainly happened at the beginning. But first…

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 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.

(goodreads)

Sooo…

The pace of this book was both slow and fast. At the end that pace was so quick and tense, but I found that the beginning of the book was slower. This is what I find with SJM books. It’s her style. In the beginning she started to grab attention with little things, that built up, and built up, and up.

I think that the perspectives had a lot to do with this. The perspectives were much more interesting than the last book I found. Well, I think that I just preferred them in this book. I warmed to the new perspectives and had new favourites among the old ones. There was one in particular that I had not expected to love as much as I did, and it was full of great character development and world building.

In Empire of Storms we got to see a lot more of the world, and it as excellently written.The settings were so vivid and real, and what I really like about SJM’s style is that she doesn’t blab about the place for 1000 pages, and bore you to tears. In a way, she lets you make your own interpretations—I personally find—and not impact the pace like many other novels.

The characters were all great in this book. I feel like even the ones who were classed as “bad” were great in the beginning and were still great at the end, but turned out to be evil. But still great—don’t worry!

There were some aspects of the book that were semi-predicatble, but I feel like they were hinted obviously to make the unexpected parts even more dramatic. If that makes ANY sense whatsoever.

The ending. Oh, my.

What the actual hell? I couldn’t have been more distraught. I was flicking through all the pages, certain that it hadn’t ended already. It was so dramatic. Why does SJM do this to us?

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Spoiler Section:

So the perspective that I mentioned above was Elide’s. I totally knew that her and Lorcan would end—for, however, a brief time—and I couldn’t believe his betrayal. I thought that he had changed. I really believed it. And I was happy for him. And for Elide. And thennn….

But yeah… I guess I should have seen that coming. BUT I SHIPPED THEM!

Aedion and Lysandra… can we just appreciate… The scene on the beach. With the marrying thingy and her as some massive beast and him just professing his love. It was so romantic.

It made the last scenes even more dramatic, when Aelin’s plans were revealed. I couldn’t believe it.

Aelin is just… HOW DOES SJM EVEN COME UP WITH THIS?

The whipping scene was so powerful. I was so shocked, and I was NOT prepared for that. The whipping was just…

ROWAN. My poor Rowan. He was so devastated. I felt for him so much when he arrived late, after he begged his cousins for her. Married her. And all that. Only for her to be taken. And he couldn’t protect her. He wasn’t there.

But, however devastating it is, it leaves so many possibilities for the final instalment, which I cannot wait to read.

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End of Spoilers.

This book was, I’d argue, the best ending do far in the ToG series, very close with Heir of Fire, but not the best all round.

However, I still loved it, and I think that it’s proved in the speed at which I read it, and the fact that I couldn’t put it down!

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Have you read it? Let me know!

Thanks for reading,

Lu x