Book review: Empire Of Storms by Sarah J Maas
Something different again, only my third book review and it's the next instalment of the Throne Of Glass series by Sarah J Maas, book five Empire of Storms.
First thing to say is that this will contain spoilers, so if you have not read any of the books and plan to I suggest reading them first.
This book doesn't introduce any new main characters however it does bring several characters back from previous books. Captain Rolfe of Skulls Bay and Ansel of Briarcliff from the Assassin's blade prequel book. Gavriel and Fenrys from Heir Of Fire the third book in the series, also Erawan is no longer using Duke Perrington's body and no longer hides who he is.
The points of view during this book are Aelin Galathynius, Rowan Whitethorn, Dorian Havilliard, Aedion Ashryver, Manon Blackbeak, Elide Lochan, Lorcan, Lysandra (for a couple of chapters) and Gavrial (for half a chapter). This is the only book in the main series that does not feature Chaol Westfall as he and Nesryn Faliq feature in book six Tower Of Dawn which takes place at the same time as Empire Of Storms so by default none of the other characters appear in it, making it the only book not to feature Aelin Galathynius and Dorian Havilliard.
If you don't want to read my summary of the book feel free to skip to my comments below it.
Empire Of Storms picks up soon after Queen Of Shadows, Aelin, Rowan, Aedion and Lysandra are in Terrasen, following a meeting where Aelin is told she needs to prove herself by raising an army she starts a journey to do just that. Elide is travelling to Terrasen to find Aelin and Celaena (not knowing they are the same person) while being followed by Lorcan, after saving each others lives they travel together as a means to an end. Manon is still working for Erawan and is ordered to attack Rifthold and bring in Dorian. Aelin learns of the attack on Rifthold and sends Rowan to save Dorian and take him to Skulls bay where she, Aedion and Lysandra will meet them. Rowan arrives during the attack while Manon tries to get to Dorian, killing two other witches to do so, they arrive at the same time and so do three other witches, Rowan kills them and Manon tells them to escape, she will deal with the mess. Manon is punished for her 'mistakes' in Rifthold, initially she is sentenced to death but upon reconsideration Asterin (Manon's Cousin and second in command) is sentenced instead. The following day as Asterin's execution is due to be carried out Manon attacks her grandmother allowing Asterin and the other members of her thirteen to escape. Manon fights her grandmother who reveals her father was a Crochan Prince and that makes her a Crochan Queen but half Iron Teeth also, following this Manon is dealt a vicious wound to her stomach and jumps over a cliff to be caught by Abraxos who she instructs to take her somewhere safe. Meanwhile Aelin, Aedion and Lysandra continue to travel south, stopping at Illium and taking it back for Terrasen, then board a ship bound for Skulls Bay. Elide and Lorcan join a travelling circus going north towards Terrasen. Rowan and Dorian travel to Skulls Bay and upon arriving discover Fenrys and Gavriel already there conducting business with Captain Rolfe on behalf of their Queen Maeve, who is sailing for Eyllwe and has also ordered them to kill Lorcan. Aelin, Aedion and Lysandra arrive in Skulls Bay and after a few days of meetings and discussions Captain Rolfe agrees to join them, just as some of Erawan's army arrives to attack. They all fight the fleet of ships who are travelling with three sea wyverns. Aelin reaches deep into her and Rowan's power and looses some control destroying half the ship they are on and half the enemy fleet. Lysandra in the form of a sea dragon kills the sea wyverns but discover they were young and three adult ones had been hiding, Lysandra kills one then lures the second within range or Dorian who freezes it whit his magic and the third she lures into the bay and Aedion shoots it in the head with a harpoon. When the group is recovering and in one room Aelin summons Elena who reveals more to them and that they must go to the stone marshes of Eyllwe to find the lock for the Wyrdkeys to stop Erawan. They all leave the next day to and while travelling they spot Abraxos flying towards them and Manon fall off of him unconscious into the sea.
Elide and Lorcan leave the circus and start travelling alone again, they discover that Aelin is in Eyllwe so steal a boat and start travelling south to find her, after an argument Lorcan reveals that Aelin and Celeana are the same person. On the way Elide's uncle Vernon finds them with four ilken (creatures in Erawan's army) of which Elide kills two and Lorcan another leaving one to escape with Vernon. After Manon recovers and she has told Aelin and the others what she knows they are attacked by several ilken, many of them are injured, Fenrys the worst and Aelin heals him.
They reach the stone marshes and have a two day journey through the marshes. Elide and Lorcan arrive at the stone marshes and while they make their way to the others Lorcan senses an army of five hundred ilken approaching, he sends a warning to Aelin's group as he can also sens them. With Aelin blasting her fire in a constant stream, Rowan and Dorian using their magic to pick off any that escaped and Aedion, Fenrys and Gavriel firing arrows to get the others going back to the middle, they destroy all of them in less than two minutes. Having witnessed this Elide is in shock and awe, then she reunites with Aelin and Aedion who she has not seen in eleven years. Gavriel and Fenrys attack Lorcan but Rowan stops then and Aelin puts him under her protection for saving Elide. They find the chest that should contain the lock but they find a witch mirror instead, when they exit the marshes someone is waiting for them, it's Ansel of Briarcliff as a result of Aelin calling in her life debt.
As they begin travelling north to Terrasen they are approached by Maeve's armada and while waiting for her demands Rowan flies to each ship belonging to one of his cousins asking them to turn on Maeve and help them, they each say they will consider it. Dorian figures out the riddle of the mirror, Aelin and Manon can use it to see the future, they walk hand in hand into the mirror, just as Maeve demands surrender, Rowan refuses and Maeve attacks. While the battle rages Aelin and Manon are in the past seeing the events of the previous battle against Erawan and discover that the lock is Aelin or Dorian as they share a blodline, and they must give their life to send Erawan back to where he came from and end the war. During the battle Lysandra is in sea dragon form again attacking the ships from below and Rowan's cousins turn their ships round to fight on their side making the battle turn in their favour. Lorcan notices that Maeve's ship is not their, he sees Maeve near the beach where Elide was sent to stay safe, he goes for her as Gavriel and Fenrys are called back to Maeve. Manon's thirteen arrive and help win the battle. Aelin and Manon arrive back in the real world, on the beach where Meave is holding a knife to Elide's throat. Aelin and Maeve fight but Aelin is on magical reserves and soon is unable to fight back. Lorcan frees Elide and Manon stays out of the fight after Maeve says she'll leave her be if she does so. Maeve releases Gavriel and Lorcan from their blood oath and reveals she knew all about Aelin before she was born, including everything about Erawan and She orchestrated everything that lead to this point. Maeve says she is taking Aelin, but says if she comes willingly she will not take Elide too, Aelin agrees and is whipped by Cairn (Rowan's replacement in Maeves cadre) but refuses to count as instructed so Maeve only stops Cairn when she hears others approaching and orders Aelin put in an iron coffin she has prepared, then leaves. Rowan, Aedion, Lysandra and the thirteen arrive and take in all that happened from Elide. Rowan reveals that he and Aelin married days ago, also Aelin suspected she would need to die and asked Lysandra to take her form so that Terrasen had their queen with a king by her side. Manon reveals that Aelin gave her the wyrdkeys which is why she didn't assiste her, then asks her thirteen to follow her to rally the Crochan witches to follow Aelin and repay the life debt, they agree and Dorian joins them. Another boat arrives with Galan Ashryver, the crown prince of Wendlyn and a cousin of Aelin and Aedion, he is answering Aelin's letter calling for help. More people arrive, the silent assassin's of the red dessert led by Illias the son of the silent master, they are also repaying a life debt they owe Aelin. Lysandra transforms into Aelin to greet them and before taking all the allies off with Aedion she tells Rowan to retrieve something for her, meaning the real Aelin. Gavriel, Lorcan and Elide join Rowan, they hope Fenrys will drop clues for them. This leaves them all split up again.
I absolutely loved reading this book, so full of twists and turns and giving so many answers, really preparing for the events that are going to happen in the final book. I found it strange not having Chaol in this book however as I am halfway through Tower Of Dawn I can see why the story was split into two books, I will review that when I have finished it. This story was definitely gripping and with two big battles and three key fights each revealing something new, there was a lot of action and information. There was also a lot of character development, particularly with Manon, Lorcan and Elide. We saw Manon become even less hard hearted, defying her grandmother and even become mildly romantically involved with Dorian, I found it really interesting seeing Manon change and willingly help Aelin and the others, especially when she saw Elide again there was her being fiercely protective. Then at the end when Manon openly admits that she believes in Aelin and she is worth following so she is going to use her position as the last Crochan queen to unite the Crochan army a fight for Aelin. Then Lorcan as he starts to fall in love with Elide and protect her we see the development of a softer edge to his personality, which is noted by Rowan when he sees him again. I found it really interesting to see Lorcan develop from a bad guy in the previous book to an ally in this one, he almost seems to believe in Aelin aswell making him even more useful. Then we have Elide, we saw her grow stronger over the course of the previous book but that was in a confined space, here we saw Elide in the open and using all the skills she has, lying, trickery, fighting etc she is much stronger than I initially gave her credit for and travelling with Lorcan made her a stronger character and person overall I think there may be even more growth as she travels with three Fae males to save Aelin.
The other developments I found really interesting, Aelin and Rowan's relationship just grew stronger and stronger throughout the book especially with their marriage towards the end to cement them a king for Terrasen. Lysandra mastering her powers and using them to take various animal forms, in fact she spent more time as an animal than human in this book, clearly to test her powers and try out as many forms as possible. It was also really interesting how the familial relationship between Aelin and Aedion developed, especially as he was able to say things others wouldn't be able to get away with but also the disagreements which really made them seem more like brother and sister than cousins, it adds another dynamic to the group. Dorian developing his powers and ability to control them was great as he is so powerful so him being in control made the group even stronger, especially now they have thirteen iron teeth witches and two Fae males with no blood oath to hold them back on their side.
The story as an overall then had me gripped throughout, the different aspects of each part and then the convergence of them all leading to the final harrowing battle and result. All the debts Aelin called in were really interesting, especially as they all come from when she was Celaena so they got to see the real person they were helping. Initially I wasn't sure how much Captain Rolfe could offer, especially as he swore to kill Aelin if he ever saw her again, however his lineage as a Mycenian who are historically lords of the sea. Once he had agreed to help Aelin and he left to find the rest of the Mycenians we next have Ansel returning her life debt, Aelin gave her one minute and so Ansel brings her one army, which prove invaluable when they come up against Maeve's armada. I also found it interesting that Rowan called upon his Whitethorn cousins to help and they all did, another large addition to the army, what stands out about this is that Rowan kept saying he is a prince who cannot offer her anything and yet he managed to get a small army for them just by telling his cousins about his love for his queen. Then we have the forces that Aelin's side are fighting against with one being a demon king from another realm and the other being a Fae queen who knows everything, both after the same thing and willing to do anything to get it. This is something I haven't really come across before, two very different baddies with the same goal who go about it differently but don't seem to want to work together, presumable because they want ultimate power for themselves and don't want to share it.
Everything from this side of things is set up to make the final book in the series very exciting and action packed, I am excited to see what Chaol and Nesryn will bring back from the Southern continent to help and how the final book will play out with all the threads needing to come together. For now though it is fair to say that this was an amazing book and my new favourite, just.
My rating for Empire Of Storms is 9/10
First thing to say is that this will contain spoilers, so if you have not read any of the books and plan to I suggest reading them first.
The points of view during this book are Aelin Galathynius, Rowan Whitethorn, Dorian Havilliard, Aedion Ashryver, Manon Blackbeak, Elide Lochan, Lorcan, Lysandra (for a couple of chapters) and Gavrial (for half a chapter). This is the only book in the main series that does not feature Chaol Westfall as he and Nesryn Faliq feature in book six Tower Of Dawn which takes place at the same time as Empire Of Storms so by default none of the other characters appear in it, making it the only book not to feature Aelin Galathynius and Dorian Havilliard.
If you don't want to read my summary of the book feel free to skip to my comments below it.
Empire Of Storms picks up soon after Queen Of Shadows, Aelin, Rowan, Aedion and Lysandra are in Terrasen, following a meeting where Aelin is told she needs to prove herself by raising an army she starts a journey to do just that. Elide is travelling to Terrasen to find Aelin and Celaena (not knowing they are the same person) while being followed by Lorcan, after saving each others lives they travel together as a means to an end. Manon is still working for Erawan and is ordered to attack Rifthold and bring in Dorian. Aelin learns of the attack on Rifthold and sends Rowan to save Dorian and take him to Skulls bay where she, Aedion and Lysandra will meet them. Rowan arrives during the attack while Manon tries to get to Dorian, killing two other witches to do so, they arrive at the same time and so do three other witches, Rowan kills them and Manon tells them to escape, she will deal with the mess. Manon is punished for her 'mistakes' in Rifthold, initially she is sentenced to death but upon reconsideration Asterin (Manon's Cousin and second in command) is sentenced instead. The following day as Asterin's execution is due to be carried out Manon attacks her grandmother allowing Asterin and the other members of her thirteen to escape. Manon fights her grandmother who reveals her father was a Crochan Prince and that makes her a Crochan Queen but half Iron Teeth also, following this Manon is dealt a vicious wound to her stomach and jumps over a cliff to be caught by Abraxos who she instructs to take her somewhere safe. Meanwhile Aelin, Aedion and Lysandra continue to travel south, stopping at Illium and taking it back for Terrasen, then board a ship bound for Skulls Bay. Elide and Lorcan join a travelling circus going north towards Terrasen. Rowan and Dorian travel to Skulls Bay and upon arriving discover Fenrys and Gavriel already there conducting business with Captain Rolfe on behalf of their Queen Maeve, who is sailing for Eyllwe and has also ordered them to kill Lorcan. Aelin, Aedion and Lysandra arrive in Skulls Bay and after a few days of meetings and discussions Captain Rolfe agrees to join them, just as some of Erawan's army arrives to attack. They all fight the fleet of ships who are travelling with three sea wyverns. Aelin reaches deep into her and Rowan's power and looses some control destroying half the ship they are on and half the enemy fleet. Lysandra in the form of a sea dragon kills the sea wyverns but discover they were young and three adult ones had been hiding, Lysandra kills one then lures the second within range or Dorian who freezes it whit his magic and the third she lures into the bay and Aedion shoots it in the head with a harpoon. When the group is recovering and in one room Aelin summons Elena who reveals more to them and that they must go to the stone marshes of Eyllwe to find the lock for the Wyrdkeys to stop Erawan. They all leave the next day to and while travelling they spot Abraxos flying towards them and Manon fall off of him unconscious into the sea.
Elide and Lorcan leave the circus and start travelling alone again, they discover that Aelin is in Eyllwe so steal a boat and start travelling south to find her, after an argument Lorcan reveals that Aelin and Celeana are the same person. On the way Elide's uncle Vernon finds them with four ilken (creatures in Erawan's army) of which Elide kills two and Lorcan another leaving one to escape with Vernon. After Manon recovers and she has told Aelin and the others what she knows they are attacked by several ilken, many of them are injured, Fenrys the worst and Aelin heals him.
They reach the stone marshes and have a two day journey through the marshes. Elide and Lorcan arrive at the stone marshes and while they make their way to the others Lorcan senses an army of five hundred ilken approaching, he sends a warning to Aelin's group as he can also sens them. With Aelin blasting her fire in a constant stream, Rowan and Dorian using their magic to pick off any that escaped and Aedion, Fenrys and Gavriel firing arrows to get the others going back to the middle, they destroy all of them in less than two minutes. Having witnessed this Elide is in shock and awe, then she reunites with Aelin and Aedion who she has not seen in eleven years. Gavriel and Fenrys attack Lorcan but Rowan stops then and Aelin puts him under her protection for saving Elide. They find the chest that should contain the lock but they find a witch mirror instead, when they exit the marshes someone is waiting for them, it's Ansel of Briarcliff as a result of Aelin calling in her life debt.
As they begin travelling north to Terrasen they are approached by Maeve's armada and while waiting for her demands Rowan flies to each ship belonging to one of his cousins asking them to turn on Maeve and help them, they each say they will consider it. Dorian figures out the riddle of the mirror, Aelin and Manon can use it to see the future, they walk hand in hand into the mirror, just as Maeve demands surrender, Rowan refuses and Maeve attacks. While the battle rages Aelin and Manon are in the past seeing the events of the previous battle against Erawan and discover that the lock is Aelin or Dorian as they share a blodline, and they must give their life to send Erawan back to where he came from and end the war. During the battle Lysandra is in sea dragon form again attacking the ships from below and Rowan's cousins turn their ships round to fight on their side making the battle turn in their favour. Lorcan notices that Maeve's ship is not their, he sees Maeve near the beach where Elide was sent to stay safe, he goes for her as Gavriel and Fenrys are called back to Maeve. Manon's thirteen arrive and help win the battle. Aelin and Manon arrive back in the real world, on the beach where Meave is holding a knife to Elide's throat. Aelin and Maeve fight but Aelin is on magical reserves and soon is unable to fight back. Lorcan frees Elide and Manon stays out of the fight after Maeve says she'll leave her be if she does so. Maeve releases Gavriel and Lorcan from their blood oath and reveals she knew all about Aelin before she was born, including everything about Erawan and She orchestrated everything that lead to this point. Maeve says she is taking Aelin, but says if she comes willingly she will not take Elide too, Aelin agrees and is whipped by Cairn (Rowan's replacement in Maeves cadre) but refuses to count as instructed so Maeve only stops Cairn when she hears others approaching and orders Aelin put in an iron coffin she has prepared, then leaves. Rowan, Aedion, Lysandra and the thirteen arrive and take in all that happened from Elide. Rowan reveals that he and Aelin married days ago, also Aelin suspected she would need to die and asked Lysandra to take her form so that Terrasen had their queen with a king by her side. Manon reveals that Aelin gave her the wyrdkeys which is why she didn't assiste her, then asks her thirteen to follow her to rally the Crochan witches to follow Aelin and repay the life debt, they agree and Dorian joins them. Another boat arrives with Galan Ashryver, the crown prince of Wendlyn and a cousin of Aelin and Aedion, he is answering Aelin's letter calling for help. More people arrive, the silent assassin's of the red dessert led by Illias the son of the silent master, they are also repaying a life debt they owe Aelin. Lysandra transforms into Aelin to greet them and before taking all the allies off with Aedion she tells Rowan to retrieve something for her, meaning the real Aelin. Gavriel, Lorcan and Elide join Rowan, they hope Fenrys will drop clues for them. This leaves them all split up again.
I absolutely loved reading this book, so full of twists and turns and giving so many answers, really preparing for the events that are going to happen in the final book. I found it strange not having Chaol in this book however as I am halfway through Tower Of Dawn I can see why the story was split into two books, I will review that when I have finished it. This story was definitely gripping and with two big battles and three key fights each revealing something new, there was a lot of action and information. There was also a lot of character development, particularly with Manon, Lorcan and Elide. We saw Manon become even less hard hearted, defying her grandmother and even become mildly romantically involved with Dorian, I found it really interesting seeing Manon change and willingly help Aelin and the others, especially when she saw Elide again there was her being fiercely protective. Then at the end when Manon openly admits that she believes in Aelin and she is worth following so she is going to use her position as the last Crochan queen to unite the Crochan army a fight for Aelin. Then Lorcan as he starts to fall in love with Elide and protect her we see the development of a softer edge to his personality, which is noted by Rowan when he sees him again. I found it really interesting to see Lorcan develop from a bad guy in the previous book to an ally in this one, he almost seems to believe in Aelin aswell making him even more useful. Then we have Elide, we saw her grow stronger over the course of the previous book but that was in a confined space, here we saw Elide in the open and using all the skills she has, lying, trickery, fighting etc she is much stronger than I initially gave her credit for and travelling with Lorcan made her a stronger character and person overall I think there may be even more growth as she travels with three Fae males to save Aelin.
The other developments I found really interesting, Aelin and Rowan's relationship just grew stronger and stronger throughout the book especially with their marriage towards the end to cement them a king for Terrasen. Lysandra mastering her powers and using them to take various animal forms, in fact she spent more time as an animal than human in this book, clearly to test her powers and try out as many forms as possible. It was also really interesting how the familial relationship between Aelin and Aedion developed, especially as he was able to say things others wouldn't be able to get away with but also the disagreements which really made them seem more like brother and sister than cousins, it adds another dynamic to the group. Dorian developing his powers and ability to control them was great as he is so powerful so him being in control made the group even stronger, especially now they have thirteen iron teeth witches and two Fae males with no blood oath to hold them back on their side.
The story as an overall then had me gripped throughout, the different aspects of each part and then the convergence of them all leading to the final harrowing battle and result. All the debts Aelin called in were really interesting, especially as they all come from when she was Celaena so they got to see the real person they were helping. Initially I wasn't sure how much Captain Rolfe could offer, especially as he swore to kill Aelin if he ever saw her again, however his lineage as a Mycenian who are historically lords of the sea. Once he had agreed to help Aelin and he left to find the rest of the Mycenians we next have Ansel returning her life debt, Aelin gave her one minute and so Ansel brings her one army, which prove invaluable when they come up against Maeve's armada. I also found it interesting that Rowan called upon his Whitethorn cousins to help and they all did, another large addition to the army, what stands out about this is that Rowan kept saying he is a prince who cannot offer her anything and yet he managed to get a small army for them just by telling his cousins about his love for his queen. Then we have the forces that Aelin's side are fighting against with one being a demon king from another realm and the other being a Fae queen who knows everything, both after the same thing and willing to do anything to get it. This is something I haven't really come across before, two very different baddies with the same goal who go about it differently but don't seem to want to work together, presumable because they want ultimate power for themselves and don't want to share it.
Everything from this side of things is set up to make the final book in the series very exciting and action packed, I am excited to see what Chaol and Nesryn will bring back from the Southern continent to help and how the final book will play out with all the threads needing to come together. For now though it is fair to say that this was an amazing book and my new favourite, just.
My rating for Empire Of Storms is 9/10
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