This book pulled the whole series together for me. All the subplots, the deviations from the main storyline, it all came together in an incredible way. ( )

I get it now! I understand the hype for the Throne of Glass series. I am very happy with Empire of Storms, and reading it made me realize that I’ll get a lot more enjoyment out of the entire series (especially The Assassin’s Blade) the second time around. ( )

"Would this be the cost? Not just in blood shed, but in dreams yielded?"

I love and hate this book so much. And for that reason it is now my favorite of the series. This book had me in the feels constantly. I went through so many emotions throughout. At one point I'm pretty sure I felt like ten emotions in like two pages. I really enjoyed this one. It starts out giving us more background into the Elena and Gavin war with Erawan. I enjoyed the different perspective and the background because it felt like the perfect time to get to know more. I liked seeing more connections to that generation and our current group.

All the main players experience some dramatic shifts in this one. Elide is still making her way to meet Aelin and she has an insane journey to get there. Manon and the Thirteen experience some insane moments I didn't see coming; she is going to face some intense repercussions for her decisions. Aelin is forced to face some hard truths about becoming queen. A lot of this one is Aelin and group trying to find the third key and follow the new instructions to search for something called the Lock. All while our dear sweet Aelin is trying to find a few alliances to fight with them against Erawan.

The number of shocks this book gave had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Aelin is still her scheming self and I love it. She is clearly working on something and each time we get the reveal I am shook. My brain could not handle all the information I was getting in this one, because it was just one "oh my god" moment after another. Once they were revealed they made perfect sense. Each one was either beautiful or devastating. I don't think I will recover from this one anytime soon. It was just so amazing. ( )

I'M SORRY SARAH BUT YOU ENDED THE BOOK LIKE THAT AND EXPECT ME TO READ ABOUT SOME DUDE IN THE DESERT FOR A WHOLE BOOK?????

THANK GOODNESS I'VE BEEN DOING THE TANDEM READ CAUSE I FORGET CHAOL AFTER THAT.

This was a very horny book, but disappointingly it wasn't even good erotica.

Aelin Galathynius travels north towards her homeland of Terrasen but turns out the nobility there aren't super inclined to accept this random teenager as their queen, especially given her lush lifestyle in the capital of their conqueror. Rather than flame broil the doubters, she decides to prove them wrong and them some by calling in all her old debts to raise armies against what's brewing in Morath. Meanwhile, Auntie Maeve is also in play with her armada.

In some ways, this reminded me of the midsection of Breaking Dawn- gathering coalitions of people from all over, with the return of characters from the other novellas in [b:The Assassin's Blade|18243700|The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5)|Sarah J. Maas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1384362444l/18243700._SX50_.jpg|25691778]. This was also where we consolidate our plot lines- Elide runs into Lorcan as she crosses the continent, Manon Blackbeak learns something about her heritage as her grandmother casts her off for daring to defy a kill order and Abraxos flies her to the immortal sexual tension boat making its way to find the McGuffin in the swamps of Eyllwe.

ON THAT NOTE: I still really hate how Eyllwe is essentially white guilt for Aelin- she couldn't save the actually-fighting-for-her-people Princess Nehemia and therefore feels beholden to freeing Eyllwe at some point. It angers me still that Nehemia was fridged so Aelin could remember that she had people to fight for and learn how to be a functional royal. I don't think we've had a named Eyllwellian character since Nehemia... and people of color on the party boat are likely going to be any time I can get tan/golden skin descriptions. :|

Besides consolidating plotlines, this book was all about hooking up!!!1!1 or almost doing so before getting cockblocked by battle. There's nothing wrong with sexual content in a YA book because teens are doin' it whether you like it or not, but s0me pairings felt like putting together the spare people who didn't have an obvious partner earlier. Lowkey spoiler: Aelin and Rowan finally get it on and... it's the least sexy scene I've read. Yes, I get that they're both magic users and oooh dangerous things are going to be flaring around them, but beach sex where climax turns it into glass via flame? Pfffft that's just goofy. Everyone in this series is described as being incredibly attractive, and there's a lot of talking/murmuring into partner's mouths which is also a very unsexy thing (especially when it's a several sentence monologue...!)

We end on a cliffhanger, shortly after learning that Aelin is the chosen one who must die to save the world from Elena's mistake, but our party isn't gonna let that happen! Find in... two books, I guess, given the next one appears to be "what was Chaol up to during this entire book".

I talked with a friend about how I don't intentionally drop books even though I hate parts of them because I prefer completing and mmmm. Two stars here because I still really like the witch plotline and delight in Lysandra continuing to learn how to use her powers but there was a lot of muddling around and unsexy sexy scenes to keep me from pretending this is actually a good book. ( )