Empire of Storms (ToG #5) - Sarah J. Maas [Review]

Book: Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Published: 6th September 2016

Publisher: Bloomsbury PLC

Pages: 693

Rating: 4/5 stars

I'll preface this review by saying that I am a massive fan of this series. It was a bit of a slow burner for me, but I found myself absolutely loving the books (Heir of Fire was a real winner for me), and although this book is not as good, in my opinion, it's not truly awful either. I know there's been a lot of divided opinion and I think this mainly stems from the character development in this novel (a la A Court of Mist and Fury), as opposed to the plotting or general themes of the book. 

For me, it's important to point out that, yes, the characters are similar to those of ACOMAF, however this did not affect my enjoyment of the book too much as I absolutely loved ACOMAF and so I enjoyed the parallels. Having said this, did it become slightly repetitive over time? Perhaps. Aelin and Rowan are indeed kindred spirits with Feyre and Rhys (from ACOMAF), and you could interchange the dialogue between the two books and you would not notice the difference. Again, not necessarily a criticism, merely an observation. However, because of this point, it does seem that Aelin (and indeed Rowan) do some things that would seem slightly out of character for them, and this theme continues among the other characters as well. The most notable individual this affects is Dorian. His behavior is sporadic, at best, with some truly cringe-worthy flirting and sexual referencing, and gone is the sweet and honorable prince of past days. Now, again, this did not bother me so much, because Dorian has never been one of my favorite characters, but I can imagine if you did have a soft spot for him, this might take some getting used to. 

As previously mentioned, this book definitely has its string of sexual references and NSFW content. There is a 'mature content' warning on the back of the novel, so this is definitely not young adult, and is more typical of new adult writing. I don't necessarily mind more mature themes, however, like ACOMAF, some of the sex scenes are a bit cringe, and there's a lot of growling (is this a thing?), so just bear this in mind. Although it might be your cup of tea, it seemed a bit out of place. Along similar lines, there is a lot of 'relationship pairing' in this novel, and all of them are heterosexual. Again, not every character has to be paired up in a book with another, and if you are going to go full hog, it might be worth pairing characters up realistically, particularly in Dorian's case, as he began as a character that could seemingly be gay, or bisexual, and ends up in this novel engaging in a pretty standard heterosexual relationship (or at least, as standard as it can be in a land filled with fae, witches, and the equivalent of Voldemort). 

However, some of the characters do truly shine throughout this book, and my favorite is definitely (and shall hopefully always be) Manon. She is truly a unique and layered character, who neither fits into the 'hero' or 'villain' archetypes. I very much enjoyed her story-arc throughout this book, particularly with regard to her role as Wing-Leader, and her witch heritage, and I am so excited for this to be explored further in the sequel. Her relationship with Aelin makes up some of the best parts of the books, and I liked their prickly and witty interactions, and have enjoyed these elements in previous books. Lysandra is also in her element here, and we get to see further extensions of her shape-shifting abilities, including one really awesome section in Skull's Bay. Other characters that take on more of a role in this book include Elide and Lorcan - now, although I don't really enjoy their dynamic together, I do like their characters individually. Elide has been through a lot, and she's not necessarily got anything that amazing or special in her arsenal - she's got average fighting skills, she feels fear, she's had a damaged history - and this makes her more relate-able to the average reader than the rest of the cast that includes mystical, seemingly all-powerful fae and cut-throat witches. Lorcan, I believe, has a lot of potential, and I'm looking forward to how he will develop in the sequel following the final developments at the end of this book. 

Although I would have appreciated more villain-elements in this book - Erawan and Maeve do feature, but they are a bit more of a side plot, in Aelin's quest for the keys/lock. However, the ending (which is arguably the strongest part of the whole book) sets up these elements nicely, and really makes you pine for the sequel. Ideally, this level of pace and tension would have been distributed equally throughout the novel and not clumped together towards the end. Despite the fact that there are some interesting action-elements and twists and turns scattered throughout the book, these do mainly appear at the end which serves to make the pace a little meandering and and foggy in the first two thirds of the book. Although I felt compelled to keep reading in hopes of some clarity, pages could have definitely been cut and the novel would have been no worse for it. 

Despite these aforementioned shortcomings, the story elements and that ending helped to raise the quality of the book for me, over what would have ordinarily been a 3 star rating, and thus, I have awarded 4 stars, but only just. I have faith that the sequel to this book will help to address some of the issues raised - particularly with regard to character development, which seems to be a common theme among other reviewers I have encountered. Based upon the events of the finale, it seems like there is a lot of promise for the next book, and I feel confident that with some alterations and an attempt to make this series a bit more distinct from her other series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Maas can deliver a solid, engaging, and enthralling read that will do Throne of Glass fans justice.