Though released a year apart Sarah J. Maas’s most recent instalments in the Throne of Glass series work in parallel to one another within the story timeline. Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn combine to take two great novels to next level story telling in a fantastic mix of adventure, action and romance that will appease any major fiction readers.
Empire of Storms picks up where previous novel Queen of Shadows left off, following main character Aelin in her ongoing fight against the King of Darkness and his legion of monsters while trying to regain her rightful throne.
Empire of Storms sees the reintroduction of characters from the side novel The Assassins Blade, alongside characters such as the Fae Queen, Manon Blackbeak and lands outside of Rifthold.
Readers will further be overjoyed to find that some of much loved Celaena Sardothien’s characteristics are reborn within Aelin, adding a darker side to this character once more with all of her snake like charm.
While Aelin moves across the continent, accompanied by her court and Prince Dorian, we see the story arc grow both in intensity and complexity like nothing before, introducing a build up to what appears to be a climatic sequel.
While her court is ever growing, much loved and long term character Chaol Westfall and new Captain Nesryn Faliq are absent from Empire of Storms, leaving a gaping hole in the group.
Tower of Dawn is the first novel in the acclaimed series to not feature Aelin as the main character, instead hosting Chaol and Nesryn at the forefront of the stories arc.
Chaol and Nesryn venture across the ocean in hopes of raising an army to join Aelin and Dorian in the war to save their lands. Throughout Tower of Dawn we are not only introduced to new and amazing characters but are further left amazed by this new land and its complex traditions.
The beautifully written Tower of Dawn coexists with the Empire of Storms story line, answering many questions raised across the sea by Aelin and her court while further stunning readers with new realizations filling in major gaps within the ever complex plot. As ever Maas does not fail to leave readers in awe of her many talents and desperate for more, finishing both novels on major cliff-hangers that leave us unable to wait for the next entry in the incredible series.
We give Empire of Storms Five Stars. We give Tower of Dawn Five Stars. Both books available individually as eBooks. Both books hold an individual cover price of £7.99