BOOK DISCUSSION | Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas (SPOILERS!)

It is books like this that made me start blogging. How can a human being read a book like this and keep all of their thoughts and emotions inside, without someone to explode with excitement to?

EoS begins with Aelin and the gang heading to Terrasen to meet with Darrow and some lords, to try to rally some support. But what is a Sarah J. Maas book without some despair to start off the story? Rejecting her claim as rightful Queen, they deny her her throne and the support she needs for war. But by this point in the series, Aelin has become so strong in herself, that she completely brushes this off, continuing on her journey, and calling in the large number of debts she has earned for herself over her assassin years. Remembering some of that Celaena swagger was a delight to read in this book!

That said, this book felt as much about other characters, as it did about Aelin. My favourites, very surprisingly, were Elide and Lorcan. I don’t know what it was, but their chapters were my favourite in the whole book. I even found myself skimming through some of the other chapters, just to get to the next Elide and Lorcan scenes. I mean, half of their scenes are just the two of them annoying each other, wandering around some woods, but I just LOVED them. And I adored the growth of their relationship throughout the book. I was completely rooting for them the whole way through, but was convinced one of them was going to be killed off by the end. I think I was so relieved that they both ended the book alive, that I kind of just ignored the fact that Lorcan betrayed everyone, and Elide now hates him, because THEY MADE IT! I’m really hoping they reunite in the final book, and that Lorcan redeems himself. (I literally have so many hopes and expectations for this final book, I’m now really scared!).

Another strange pairing in this book: Manon and Dorian. I mean, separately, they are two of my favourite characters. Together…ummmmm…kind of uncomfortable? I don’t know why, but I just felt really squirmish whenever they started flirting. And I know Dorian is described as really tall, and manly, etc., but I always just pictured him as tiny and little and Manon as towering over him, and when those later scenes came up I just started laughing because I could not picture it at all! I don’t hate the idea of them together, it just felt a little forced, to me. That was the same with Aedion and Lysandra (like, they were the only single characters remaining, so they had to fall for each other?).

A lot of this story seemed to be based on behind the scenes, but what is it with Sarah J. Maas and behind the scenes weddings??? I mean, it had the right shock factor, but I wanted to read it!!! Maybe we can hope for a short story? Which brings me onto these apparent scattered short stories in various editions of the book (an edition, of course, that mine isn’t). I’ve heard some brilliant things about them, so I’m hoping to find them online somewhere! To satisfy my yearly TOG withdrawal symptoms!

I could go on and on about all of the individual scenes that I loved, but I thought I would bullet point my favourite things, so this review isn’t about 10,000 words:

• “Lorcan reached out, grasping her chin and forcing her to look at him. Hopeless, bleak eyes met his. He brushed away a stray tear with his thumb. “I made a promise to protect you. I will not break it, Elide.”
  “I will always find you,” he swore to her.
  Her throat bobbed.
  Lorcan whispered, “I promise.” 
  – Do I need to say more?
•  Dorian’s maturity and seriousness (it’s almost foreign to read to start, but it’s so raw and real by the end) and in particular at the end when her takes responsibility for the keys and the power and danger that will hold.
• Lysandra shifting into some mad sea creature, damaging ships in the battle with Maeve’s forces at the end. Lysandra is super cool!
• That scene where everyone wants to claim Elide, and Manon and Aelin look at Lorcan like: you’re gonna have to wait in line!
• When Rowan storms onto the scene like:
  “Where is Aelin.
  Where is my wife?”
• And the closing sentences which brought tears to my eyes, so I’m going to finish with them here:
  “Chaining the wind to him, swiftly catching up with his companions now flying down the coast, he committed her scent to memory, committed that flicker in the bond to memory.
  That flicker he could have sworn he felt in answer, like the fluttering heart of an ember.
  Unleashing a cry that set the world trembling, Prince Rowan Whitethorn Galathynius, Consort of the Queen of Terrasen, began the hunt to find his wife.”