Empire of Storms (TOG#5) Book Review

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

2016

Young Adult Fantasy

Things I liked

• Empire of Storms establishes more about what is possible in the TOG world. I thought the large battles of the book were well written and well paced.

• Manon the witch is such an interesting character and a lot of fun to read about! Her journey from a villain to an ally is, in my opinion, one of the best character arcs of the book.

• The plot twists and reveals were really great. Maas knows how to keep a reader on their toes.

Things I didn’t like

• The romantic pairings between characters were predictable and felt forced. While I know novels need to have characters to ship together, the fact that every single character was set up felt unrealistic at times.

• The book was filled with deus ex machinas. Empire of Storms followed a pattern of Aelin reaching out to previously unheard of allies who show up at the last minute to save the day.

• The scent stuff with the fae. In the lore of the books, you can smell if someone is scared, attracted to someone etc. I personally found the detail to be cringey and the opposite of romantic like it was intended, plus at the end of the day being able to smell your enemy added very little to the plot

Rating 3.5/5: Empire of Storms is a solid edition to the TOG series