Today we are ending our week of Throne of Glass reviews with Empire of Storms. Tower of done didn’t fit into our schedule this year, but we will eventually reread. So after today our next review will be of Kingdom of Ash later this month.

Check out our previous reviews from this week: The Assassin’s Blade, Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows!

WARNING: This is a reread review for us, so if you haven’t read this series, you will encounter spoilers!

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don’t.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she’s to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.

Review

Candyce: Empire of Storms starts off where Queen of Shadows left off. The glass wall coming down didn’t end without any consequences. Dorian is still really confused and doesn’t know if he sees himself as King! Having something in his body make him do terrible things has him doubting himself.

Besides Manon’s journey and how much she grows, I think Elide became one of my favorite characters. She may have been a prisoner, but she will let nothing stop her. Even though she starts falling in love without wanting to.

There is a lot of action in this book and I loved how it was described. Lysandra turning into one of those sea creatures was such an amazing fight! I love how she developed during Empire of Storms. Moments between Rowan and Aelin were romantic and steamy. I love how sarcastic they are with each other.

Aelin got on my nerves at times. I know she wants to save everyone and no one to get hurt, but Aelin tries to solve too much on her own! If more people knew about her plan, things may have gone easier at times.

It’s clear these characters know that they may not all survive this fight, but they won’t go down without giving it their all. That ending left me heartbroken though. The author really knew how to torture us with that! Empire of Storms is a big book and I still wanted more.

Isabelle: Queen of Shadows ended so hopeful, but unfortunately that feeling didn’t last long after starting Empire of Storms. This book had so much going on and I was on the edge of my seat for most of it. So much twists and turns!

I love that these books don’t shy away from big fights, some other fantasy series talk up a war only to have it solved in no time. We have gotten some battles already and I can only assume what will wait for us in Kingdom of Ash.

We got to see some characters from the Assassin’s Blade and I couldn’t be happier about it! Captain Rolfe was such a fun character to read about and I was happy to him again. There were just a couple more characters missing but by now we know that they show up in the next two books. This once again shows all the planning that Sarah put into these books and it is wonderful.

While Aelin can be annoying with her scheming and keeping everyone out, I also really enjoyed her schemes! And isn’t wonderful seeing everyone (including me) react to the twists when she reveals her schemes?

Empire of Storms has my favorite bookscene ever, the moment Manon says ‘Run’ is the best thing ever. It just gives me chills and goosebumps and makes me yell out loud! Another very memorable scene is the ending… Where the ending of QoS left me feeling happy and hopeful, the ending of EoS just left me gutted. And then we had to wait two years!

A court that wouldn’t just change the world. It would start the world over.

Thoughts after the reread

Candyce: My first thought after this reread was: I’m glad I don’t have to wait two years again before getting Kingdom of Ash. This book is so intense. I think I had a harder time reading it than the first time around! These characters have become a family to me, haha. Empire of Storms left me with so many questions once again! I definitely will be doing another reread in the future!

Isabelle: This was my second time reading Empire of Storms and while it is an intense read I also loved it! I flew through it and was happy to brush up on all the details. It was also amazing to see all my favorite characters again, especially the ones that we only got to see in this one, I missed those babies! Apart from the characters I also loved reading my favorite scenes again <3

We can’t believe the next time we post a review it will be for the last book in this series. It’s so weird that we will be saying goodbye to this amazing series! What series did you have a hard time saying goodbye to?