Zaira's Reviews > Empire of Storms

I'm going to split my review in two halves so I can explain the good and the bad. I need to write this because I need to find peace after that ending which left me like:



To quote the amazingly badass witch that Manon Blackbeak is:
"Everything had gone to shit. Everything."

Back to our review.

The Bad:

1. The overly-written and excessively descriptive sex scenes
YES, this book has sex scenes. YES, this book is no longer marketed as a YA but has ventured into the NA territory. YES, this doesn't bother me one bit. But NO, they were done very well. I've now come to accept the fact that these type of scenes aren't Maas' forte. If the desired effect from these scenes was lusty and steamy-hot, they came off as unbelievable and boring. (At least, to me) I skimmed those pages. (view spoiler)[ I liked Manon and Dorian's sex scene a whole lot better than Aelin and Rowan's. (hide spoiler)]



2. Not a shipper of Rowaelin
I need to clear out that I'm both a fan of Aelin and Rowan respectively. I cherished their friendship in HoF and I was okay with them in QoS. In this book, my feelings towards them swung between "I don't really care about you. Let's move on to more important parts." to (especially towards the end) "Oh God. They need a happily ever after asap."



The Goody Goody Stuff

1. The devastatingly well written and developed side characters

I've come to sound like a broken record when it comes to this character but MANON BLACKBEAK is still my most adored character of this series and coming in very close, only-a-thin-line-separates-them is LYSANDRA, which is astounding in this installment. She has hands down one of my most favorite scenes in this book. And then we have Elide (She grows so much as a character and I adored her astute mind and determination), Dorian (I liked and enjoyed very much this darker version of him. He still remains my precious cinnamon roll.), Aedion (I liked him a whole lot more than in QoS and that's saying something.), the WHOLE CADRE HAS LAYERED AND COMPLEX CHARACTERS THAT BLEW MY MIND (Lorcan, Gavriel and Fenrys were a wonderful addition to the cast). I seriously think that one of SJM strong skills is writing remarkably complicated characters. Kudos to her:


2. The action scenes
These scenes were exceptionally well-written and had me on the edge of my seat most of the times. These scenes weren't just full of heart-stopping action but also had emotional stakes thrown in it which made them even more gripping, thrilling and a danger to my sanity. They always left me drained.



3. Aelin
When you've read the ending, you'll understand why. Suffice to say she's one of the most cunning, wise, wicked and selfless protagonist of any series that I've had the pleasure of reading.








4. THE FEMALE CAST
It's about time a fantasy book had diverse, bold, layered, strong female characters. This book is full of girl power and feminism and I loove loove loove it.


5. The World-Building
More intricate and vast than ever. If the other books were fantasy, this book is surely high fantasy.
Enjoyed it so much.


6. THE ENDING THAT LEFT MY HEART HURTING


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PRE-REVIEW

It's more of a 3.5 stars, actually.

I finished it. And after those last pages, I need some time to myself to think. This book certainly had its problems, but the ending made up for all my other complaints. That's why I gave it four stars actually. Review to come once I calm down.