Review: Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #5)

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #5)
Publisher: Audible Studios
Publication Date: September 6th 2016
My rating: 4.5 stars. 

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those don't. As the kingdoms of Erilea fracture around her, enemies must become allies if Aelin is to keep those she loves from falling to the dark forces poised to claim her world. With war looming on all horizons, the only chance for salvation lies in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear. Aelin's journey from assassin to queen has entranced millions across the globe, and this fifth installment will leave fans breathless. Will Aelin succeed in keeping her world from splintering, or will it all come crashing down?

To be honest I really wasn’t going to pick up Empire of Storms, I really was left disappointed with Queen of Fire, I had lost faith in the characters I’d grown to know and adore, but Audible really twisted my arm, on a whim I decided to pre order a copy. I’m also the fussiest person ever when it comes to a narrator’s voice, Elizabeth Evans in my eyes did an excellent job, her voice for the male characters was good too, at times she could speak quite quietly that I would miss what she has said (but that could also be because I listened to the audiobook everywhere I went it was a mammoth 25 hours long, so walking on busy streets  with buses zooming by really didn’t help) but Evans will definitely go onto my list to look out for audiobook narrators.

So onto the book; what I liked: as I said I had lost faith in certain characters and the direction that things had gone in, but I’m glad that Maas came through with other characters such as Elide and Manon. Whereas in previous books I wanted to skip over their chapters, here their perspectives were ones that I was really looking forward to, and some other characters which I really didn’t expect I would like at all!.

The introduction of new characters too was also fantastic, it’s always refreshing when you get to know new characters, but more so when you quickly become attached to them and don’t want anything to happen to them. Two in particular really stood out for me in Empire of Storms. Once again Maas created a read which full of action packed scenes, always something come along which would surpass what had previously happened. Some scenes would leave you reeling with a sucker punch blow that I didn’t want to continue with the everyday things like going to work; I just needed to know what was going to happen next! I’m a huge fan of a good romance within a story and you could say I was really surprised with what happened in Empire of Storms. The romances I least expected to happen I ended up being a fan of the most and the one’s that had been apparent for some time, those unfortunately not so much.

There were some kickass female characters, there are several strong fae characters around, but these ladies aren’t ones to take a back seat, they go on to show that they don’t need a guy to fight their battles. I was thoroughly impressed with their strength and determination!

And the not so much.

There were two characters; Aelin and Rowan that I just found myself not being able to deal with, I know a lot of readers are huge fans and were impressed with the development of their story. But like I said, I enjoyed it when other characters were with them in their chapters and I was eager in finding out how things would go, but when these two were alone together, I just couldn’t feel their relationship anymore. I think I’ve just lost that connection that I had with them in Heir of Fire, which is sort of disappointing.

Overall Empire of Storms was a really surprising read for me, it definitely got me excited about continuing with this series with the influx of new characters and the development of others that I didn’t expect. I for one can’t wait to join them on their next journey!