This is a review on book 6 of the Throne of Glass series. With the timeline of this book, you need only to have read books 1 – 4 to understand this review and not get any spoilers.
Synopsis
Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered, since his men were slaughtered, since the king of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.
His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica – the stronghold of the southern continent’s mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them.
But what they discover in Antica will change them both – and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.
Review
Going into this book, I was worried that it would be hard to get through since it focuses on Chaol, but I actually enjoyed it. I’m not sure why I was surprised since Sarah J. Maas is amazing. This book is all about what Chaol was doing during Empire of Storms since he was not with the group. Because of that you can read it at the same time of Empire of Storms if you want. I did not to the tandem read and read it after Empire of Storms.
Writing Style
The main thing I don’t like about this book, and the others in the series, is the multiple POVs. While they make the story richer, it can make it kind of boring and hard to get through when you reach a POV that you don’t like. For this book I liked Chaol and Yrene’s POVs but not so much Nesryn’s.
I liked everything else about the writing style though. It is relatively fast paced and I laughed a lot even though the story is getting really serious.
World Building
This book is in a complete different part of the world and I found that really interesting. The city was really cool and I loved the library, apart from it being slightly creepy. I liked the beliefs and the technology of the city because it’s way different than the other parts of the world we have seen so far.
Characters
Even though Chaol isn’t my most favorite character of the series, I still really like him. I liked his character development throughout the story and how he learned to navigate his disability. Along with healing, Chaol also finds his true love in this book.
I love how fierce Yrene is and her healing powers are amazing. Before reading this book, I had not read The Assassin’s Blade yet so I didn’t know who Yrene was. If you have read that book before reading this one, then it will surely be even more fun to read about Yrene’s story.
I liked how Nesryn got to see family and finally got to connect with the city of her culture. She really decided to step up in this book and go outside of her comfort zone and she helped uncover some really important things because of that. She also got her own little side romance which was so cute.
Plot
The main reason Chaol and Nesryn traveled to this part of the world was to create allies and for Chaol to heal, but it of course ended up going deeper than that. It was dark, dangerous, and very mysterious. In the end, this book uncovered many important revelations needed to hopefully win the war.
Overall Thoughts
This book is not my favorite of the series, but I still really enjoyed reading it. After finishing it I was definitely ready to get back to Aelin, especially after the ending of Empire of Storms. If you made it this far, let me know what your thoughts are on this book and if you prefer to do the tandem read or not.