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Hannah Azerang's Reviews > Empire of Storms
Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)
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Wow. Just wow.
I'll be filming a full video review for this so I'll keep my thoughts here brief.
I didn't have high expectations going into this because, as this series has gone on, I've increasingly lost interest in most of the characters and the plot.
But this took everything I didn't like in the series and multiplied it by 10000 and took everything I loved and shattered it to pieces.
For a while, I actually really enjoyed the direction of the plot. It seemed like the world would actually start expanding and some things would start to make sense. However, by the end, things just started to get ridiculous, plot lines were wrapped up in the most convoluted ways possible, and of course there had to be a little "fate" added into the mix to render everything else irrelevant.
The romance was insufferable and made up at least 70% of the book. It was just a bunch of brooding, "hot," Fae men, standing around being jealous of the other men when they spoke to their girlfriends. Speaking of which, EVERYONE in this book had to be in a relationship (a heterosexual one, of course), because you can't have a group of attractive royals in the same room unless they're all making out with each other.
Like the book did, let's just ignore the fact that one of the main characters of the series wasn't even in this, and talk about the characters that were. The characters, which had always been my favorite part of the books, were all intolerable. All the male characters are pretty much just carbon copies of one another with different color hair/eyes. They're all "walls of muscle" who have temperament issues and are way too territorial over the women they've "claimed." As for the female characters, they're mostly brushed aside to make more room for Aelin and her ego. By the end, Manon is the only one I still truly like, and I bet you I'll end up hating her too by the end of the next book.
The thing is, this isn't the same series as the first two Throne of Glass books. I'm all for a series progressing, changing, and growing. But when your characters are unrecognizable, when your new plot lines negate almost the entirety of some of your previous books, then there's a problem.
I'll be filming a full video review for this so I'll keep my thoughts here brief.
I didn't have high expectations going into this because, as this series has gone on, I've increasingly lost interest in most of the characters and the plot.
But this took everything I didn't like in the series and multiplied it by 10000 and took everything I loved and shattered it to pieces.
For a while, I actually really enjoyed the direction of the plot. It seemed like the world would actually start expanding and some things would start to make sense. However, by the end, things just started to get ridiculous, plot lines were wrapped up in the most convoluted ways possible, and of course there had to be a little "fate" added into the mix to render everything else irrelevant.
The romance was insufferable and made up at least 70% of the book. It was just a bunch of brooding, "hot," Fae men, standing around being jealous of the other men when they spoke to their girlfriends. Speaking of which, EVERYONE in this book had to be in a relationship (a heterosexual one, of course), because you can't have a group of attractive royals in the same room unless they're all making out with each other.
Like the book did, let's just ignore the fact that one of the main characters of the series wasn't even in this, and talk about the characters that were. The characters, which had always been my favorite part of the books, were all intolerable. All the male characters are pretty much just carbon copies of one another with different color hair/eyes. They're all "walls of muscle" who have temperament issues and are way too territorial over the women they've "claimed." As for the female characters, they're mostly brushed aside to make more room for Aelin and her ego. By the end, Manon is the only one I still truly like, and I bet you I'll end up hating her too by the end of the next book.
The thing is, this isn't the same series as the first two Throne of Glass books. I'm all for a series progressing, changing, and growing. But when your characters are unrecognizable, when your new plot lines negate almost the entirety of some of your previous books, then there's a problem.
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Reading Progress
May 30, 2016
– Shelved
May 30, 2016
– Shelved as:
to-read
September 6, 2016
–
Started Reading
September 7, 2016
–
19.16%
"Are they just going to keep referring to Chaol or is he ever going to show up??"
page
132
September 7, 2016
–
31.49%
"Update: there hasn't been enough Manon for a while and I'm still waiting for Chaol"
page
217
September 9, 2016
–
71.84%
"Update: it took too long for Manon to come back, there was more smut, and apparently were not even going to mention the other guy"
page
495
September 9, 2016
–
88.1%
"If what I think is going to happen actually happens, I'm going to be so upset"
page
607
September 9, 2016
–
Finished Reading
September 17, 2016
– Shelved as:
owned
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Sarah
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Sep 09, 2016 06:18PM
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I just commented on your QOS discussion video and I can't wait for your discussion video for this one!
you are hilarious. i can't wait until the discussion video
I stopped reading the series after Heir Of Fire.
@Steph, I was considering Queen of Shadows, not so much anymore. :\
I felt so bad for not loving this book but I'm glad someone else feels the same way.
How is it that I completely agree with most everything you said but I still couldn't help but love this book???
Steph wrote: "I stopped reading the series after Heir Of Fire."so did I and I don't think I missed out on too much
I was so ticked this wasn't the last book -_-
I'm currently reading it and it's taking me forever to finish the book. I'm rolling my eyes every other page.
Glad someone else was brave enough to say this, and so articulately. Nicely done.
I agree 1000%. I despise the "possessive male" theme that's been going around lately. It's a serious issue, and it's so unhealthy that it's being romanticised. Thank you for this :)
A whole book to announce that rowan and aelin are mates. Dorian probably destined to the butchering block on the next book so rowaelin can have their happy ending and produce heirlings. Chaol? maybe maas will bury him alive. Or make him king over a distant continent, who knows?
i agree with you- I was loving this series by the third and fourth books, but EoS was kinda trash, especially with all the romance. I liked angsty Aelin better honestly
i agree with you- I was loving this series by the third and fourth books, but EoS was kinda trash, especially with all the romance. I liked angsty Aelin better honestly
I started the series out of curiosity, since a lot of booktubers were talking about it. Two paragraphs into the first book and I hated it, but kept on reading to hate it properly. The second book I actually liked and was expecting something from the third. Well, everything went undone and let's start a different story from now on. Ok, Celaena (I hate it that she had an epiphany and got back to her old name, no hassle, no going back, like changing the actor in the middle of a soap opera, who'll notice) had a couple of romances that seemed to be the ONE but now this is the one to shatter her world. Oh, let's mislead everyone by making them hate each other, we'll blindside everyone! I don't know, every book I'm more and more disgusted by this cheesy, cookie cutter, deeper than life (and now doomed by fate) romance. I'll keep going two more books, but seriously it's like we've traveled in time and are reading about a different generation.
Tower of Dawn is actually about Chaol. But yeah, I agree. I still liked the series by the end but not nearly as much as I did too.
Soumia wrote: "How is it that I completely agree with most everything you said but I still couldn't help but love this book???"That is exactly how I feel.
I actually enjoy the romance as I feel it has come out more in this book, but I think it’s preference and I understand people might want the book to focus more on the fantasy aspect. In her defense she did say that Fae males in their culture naturally are territorial even in platonic relationships like with Aelin and Aeidon, so when there are more Fae characters in the plot there will be more territorial situations.
